Malawi said on Wednesday that there were risks of having the Rift Valley Fever (RVF) enter the country from neighbouring Tanzania where the authorities have been struggling to stop RVF from spreading further for months.
RVF is a disease caused by a virus which can affect both animals and human beings, health officials said.
According to Secretary for Agriculture Patrick Kabambe, the RVF outbreak in Tanzania is currently progressing in the northern-southerly direction towards Malawi.
In order to strengthen preparedness and ensure adequate capacity to deal with the RVF, the Malawi government through its Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development has put in place preventive and control measures for the virus, Kabambe said.
Among the measures, Kabambe said importation of animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and pigs from infected countries, including Tanzania, has been suspended for now.
He added that the cited animals would not be allowed to move in or out of Karonga and Chitipa districts, which border southern Tanzania.
"Government will continue to intensify awareness campaigns, conduct disease surveillance and border patrols so as to keep the disease out of Malawi," the official said.
RVF can be transmitted from animals to humans through mosquitoes which are the major reservoir hosts.
Direct contact with infected animals and their meat is also another route for animal-human infections.
Malawi’s livestock officials learnt of the spreading RVF from their Tanzanian counterparts, according to agriculture ministry officials here.
Wednesday 18 July 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment