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Precious Manomano-Herald Reporter
THE Veterinary department has urged farmers to vaccinate their livestock from lumpy skin disease before commencement of the rainy season to prevent outbreak of the disease.
Midlands provincial veterinary director Dr Martin Sibanda said vaccination of cattle is the most effective option for controlling the spread of lumpy skin disease and it is done before the rainy season.
He said farmers should vaccinate their cattle during the dry season so that they will produce enough antibodies that will fight the disease in wet conditions adding that more infections are also found in wet season.
Lumpy skin is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes, particularly during the rainy season. Symptoms include fever, discharge from the eyes and nose, skin lesions, edema of the limbs, and swollen lymph nodes. Lumpy skin disease vaccine is recommended by the livestock authorities to control the disease.
“We urge farmers to vaccinate their cattle when they are still strong and fit. Lumpy skin is not a disease you can treat when an animal has been infected. The only thing that you can do when an animal is infected is to give it antibiotics for secondary bacterial infection. But the advice which we always give to farmers is that cattle should be vaccinated against lumpy skin disease so that they generate enough antibodies towards the disease, that way they are not going to pick the disease.
There are other diseases that are also prevalent during this time of the year such as the January disease and tick-borne diseases so it is advisable that farmers dip their livestock to protect them from such diseases,” he said.
The rainy season poses a lot of challenges to livestock hence The Veterinary Department works hand in glove with farmers to control the outbreaks of diseases.
Dr Sibanda said if the livestock is in poor condition, farmers should not vaccinate them adding that the disease is deadly if farmers fail to take precautionary measures to vaccinate their livestock when they are still strong.
He added that a vaccine will not work as effectively if an animal is unhealthy and poor or has a high parasite burden, adding that these problems compromise its immune system.
The disease occurs in Zimbabwe and other southern and eastern African countries and it makes the animal uncomfortable, unable to eat well.
Widespread cases of the lumpy skin disease have been reported in Matabeleland South and North provinces which has resulted in the death of livestock especially cattle.
Last year, Matabeleland South province has been hit by the disease which has resulted in the death of livestock especially cattle. Statistics showed that more than 1000 cattle have succumbed to lamp skin disease last year country wide.
Online Reporter