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Foot and Mouth Disease: Namutumba extends vaccination drive deadline
Dr Emmanuel Mawogore, a veterinary oficer, sprays cattle during mass vaccination of animals against FMD in Nakyere Village, Namutumba Sub-county, Namutumba District on Tuesday. PHOTO | RONALD SEEBE.
What you need to know:
- The exercise started in June and was supposed to end in July, but it has been extended to end of August so as to have all animals vaccinated.
Veterinary officials in Namutumba District have extended the campaign to vaccinate at least one million cattle against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) before the end of this month.
FMD is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids, causing a high fever lasting between two and six days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and near the hoof that may rupture and cause lameness.
The Namutumba District veterinary officer, Dr Samuel Kibwika, said the campaign follows an outbreak of the disease in some parts of the country, prompting the government to roll out countrywide vaccination.
In Namutumba District, the exercise started in June and was supposed to end in July, but it has been extended to end of August so as to have all animals vaccinated.
“More than 5,000 cattle out of the one million in the district have been vaccinated,” Dr Kibwika said on Tuesday.
He added: “The exercise is free [of charge] because the government gave us enough drugs. Farmers are reminded to bring their animals to all our gazetted vaccination centres in the district. We are vaccinating and spraying ticks because infections from the ticks cause death in animals.”
The Namutumba Sub-county veterinary officer, Dr Julius Mwanja, said they are using a vaccine called FMD, which he said contains FM1, 2 and 3, and cautioned farmers not to put their vaccinated animals under direct sunshine.
“We caution farmers who have already brought their animals for vaccination against rearing them under direct sunshine because the FMD drugs we are administering do not work under high temperatures and can cause the death of animals,” he said.
Dr Emmanuel Mawogore, also a veterinary officer, said vaccination is taking place at all cattle dips in all the 20 sub-counties in the district.
He, however, decried the fact that farmers only bring cattle, leaving behind their goats and sheep, especially in Kibaale Town Council and Kibaale Sub-county where he said more sheep are reared compared to cattle.
The Namutumba District chairperson, Mr David Mukisa, said they routinely carry out sensitisation, but farmers allegedly do not take vaccination of goats and sheep against FMD seriously.
Mr Stephen Mukembo, a dairy farmer in Nakyere Village in Namutumba Sub-county, said farmers value cattle more than goats and sheep to an extent that they do not mind losing them.
Mr William Maganda, also a dairy farmer, said they don’t get enough sensitisation about vaccinating sheep and goats.
Background
The disease is endemic in Uganda, where livestock movements through porous borders and beyond play a key role in the spread of transboundary animal diseases.
Namutumba last had a serious outbreak of the disease in 2017, during which movement of animals within and outside the district was restricted (quarantine). Subsequently, vaccination of animals against the disease was done in 2017 and 2018. Last year, the district carried out more inoculation after an outbreak in districts of Butaleja and Budaka.
Traders then turned to Teso Sub-region for animals and their products.
