adminCASES of cattle measles are on the upsurge in Bubi District in Matabeleland North due to the high presence of gold panners that defecate in bushes due to lack of proper ablution facilities.
Cattle are infected with measles upon consuming grass with eggs passed from the faeces of an infected person. Human beings are host to the measles tapeworm. Zimbabwe Abattoirs Association chairman Mr Roger Tavares said about 20 percent of the beef obtained from cattle purchased from auction sales in Bubi has either been condemned or detained after being found to be infected with measles.
Cattle or beef measles (cysticercus bovis) are small cysts found in muscles of cattle mostly found in muscles with high blood supply. These cysts are a stage in the lifecycle of a tapeworm of man (taenia saginata) which grows from four to 10 metres in length producing up to 100 000 worms per day. Within three months of infection cyst mature with the eggs remaining active and infective for up to 70 days producing between
100 000 and 150 000 eggs per day.
“When the Foot Mouth Disease broke out we decentralised all our sales and we had auctions being held at Bubi in Turk Mine. So we went there and we have been subsequently checking on what we got as good animals and of those good animals when everything came 20 percent are either condemned outright or detained. The steers that we bought from there are coming through the system because it takes 90 days for steers to come through, we got like 10 percent condemnation rate or detain rate either way, there is loss further down the line to the producer and certainly to the abattoir at the moment,” Mr Tavares said.
Information obtained from the Bulawayo veterinary office states that 1 584 cattle were slaughtered in Matabeleland region’s abattoirs last week of which four were condemned with 11 being detained for measles. Carcasses containing few cysts must be frozen at -10 degrees Celsius for 10 to 14 days before the meat can be used for human consumption. If many cysts are present, the entire carcass is condemned.
According to Matabeleland South provincial veterinary officer Dr Mbuso Moyo’s preliminary findings for 2012 and 2013 of the 109 010 cattle slaughtered at registered abattoirs 585 had measles, a prevalence rate of 0,54 percent.
However, Matabeleland North provincial medical director, Dr Nyasha Masuka said the Ministry of Health and Child Care had not received any reports of people affected by measles in Bubi district.
“If nurses suspect any case of a disease they send samples to the laboratory and we have a weekly disease surveillance whereby information is captured at district level to the province through our computerised system and I can confirm that we haven’t received any reports of measles,” Dr Masuka said.
Online Reporter