Adamawa begins vaccination of cattle against deadly animal-borne disease

The Adamawa State Government has begun a mass vaccination of cattle against the dreaded disease in the Local Government Areas bordering Taraba State and Camoroun Republic as part of measure to curtail the outbreak that recently killed over 1,000 herds of cattle in Taraba State.

Tijjani Marksha, Commissioner for Livestock and Aquaculture, who led a delagation of professionals, including perminent secretary, directors, veterinary doctors and officials of the Mininstry for the flag-off of the vaccinations exercise at Gongoshi in Mayo Belwa Local Government, expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance by cattle reaarers.

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BusinessDay reports that the vaccination exercise was carried out in order to prevent the disease penetration into the Adamawa State territory as the Commissioner noted that the Ministry of Livestock and Aquaculture had put all divisional vetenary officers and other personnnel on red alert and set machinery in motion for the mass vacination exercise.

The arrival of the drugs and equipment needed prompted Marksha and his team to be at Gongoshi with administration of vaccination on hundreds of herds of cattle, just as the Commissioner lauded Governor Ahmadu Fintiri for timely intervention, adding that the governor is always sensitive to the plight of his people.

He described Governor Fintiri as people-oriented governor while admonishing the herders to always support every policies and programmes of a leader that will always defend their interest.

Describing the dreaded disease, Aminu Mohammed Suleiman, a veterinary doctor, said the Hermorhegic Septicaemia has symptoms of sweat, hotness in the body of the animal and also has an incubation period of 24 hours to kill a cattle.

He urged people to report suspected cases to the nearest veterinary clinics or the Ministry at the State Secretariate in Yola.

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Also, Berthilimous Nyalas, a veterinary doctor and director, State Veterinary Services stated that the targeted Local Governments for the first phase of the vaccines t include, Numan, Demsa, Lamurde, Mayo Belwa, Toungo, Fufore, Maiha, Mubi North and Mubi South, because of their proximities to both Taraba State and Cameroun Republic.