Anthrax: Medical expert calls for strict observance of farm bio-safety measures

As Nigeria confirms the index case of Anthrax disease, a medical expert, Dr Tunji Akintade, has called for strict implementation of on-farm bio-security and bio-safety measures to reduce the transmission of the disease.

Akintade, who is the Medical Director, Hamaab Medical Centre, Ikorodu, made the call in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos.

According to reports, anthrax is primarily a zoonotic disease in herbivores caused by a bacterium called bacillus anthracis which primarily affects animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats.

Anthrax disease can also infect humans who come in direct contact with infected animals or consume contaminated animal products.

The disease can also be transmitted through contaminated pasture, feeds and water.

Akintade noted that farm bio-security management were practical measures used to prevent and limit the spread of infections to humans and animals.

According to him, bio-security is a key component of animal and public health strategy and disease prevention and control programmes.

Akintade said that the confirmation of anthrax in animals in Nigeria echoed the need for cautious practices, like avoiding contact with affected animals and refraining from home slaughtering.

“This is the period for the public to reduce meat sharing at homes because heightened surveillance is critical at the human-animal interface for quick detection and response to emerging infections, using One Health approach,” he said.

The medical practitioner also advised the public to avoid contact with bush meat and be careful with animal by-products.

He appealed to livestock owners to remain vigilant and promptly report any suspicion of illness or deaths on their farms.

“They should put public health ahead of profit making because some unscrupulous ones might want to quickly slaughter and sell sick cattle so as to reduce their losses,” he said.

Akintade warned that slaughtering sick animals could expose people to anthrax spores, noting that the disease was lethal in humans, causing overwhelming gastrointestinal or pulmonary disease.

Report has it that the Federal Government had, on July 17, confirmed the detection of the index case of anthrax in Nigeria in a farm in Niger.

It said that the case was in a multi-specie animal farm, consisting of cattle, sheep and goats, and that some of the animals had symptoms, such as oozing of blood from their body openings – anus, nose, eyes and ears.

The federal government said it collaborated with the state government in taking proactive measures to ensure timely control and containment of the disease.

The measures listed included: quarantine of the affected farm; deployment of 50,000 doses of anthrax vaccines for ring vaccination of susceptible animals’ species around the infected farm and educating the farm workers using a one-health approach on the preventive measures.