Anthrax kills four cows in Bongo District

The Veterinary Services Department has started the vaccination of cattle in the Upper East Region after anthrax had killed four cows in the Bongo District.

The department has vaccinated 1,000 animals since the death of the four cows between March 18 and 20, this year.

The Upper East Regional Director of the Veterinary Services Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Dr Moses Agbordzi, told the Daily Graphic that the carcasses of the four cows were buried to prevent people from consuming the meat.

He said tests for anthrax on the four cows proved positive, hence the decision to vaccinate the other cows in the area against anthrax.

Dr Agbordzi said animals being vaccinated included cattle, donkeys, pigs, sheep and goats, and indicated that the vaccines for cattle and donkeys attracted GH¢1 per animal, while those for pigs, sheep and goats attracted 50Gp.

He said the department was logistically constrained in carrying out the vaccination exercise but indicated that the Bongo District Assembly had given an assurance to support the department to successfully carry out the exercise.

He said the Bongo and the Zebilla West districts, which were part of the Anthrax endemic zone in the Upper East Region, recorded four deaths from Anthrax infections last year and said contingency measures had been put in place to ensure no human casualty was recorded this year.

Dr Agbordzi said the region had enough stock of vaccines to take care of any emergency situation, as the vaccines were  now being produced in the Laboratory Department of the Veterinary Services Department at Pong Tamale in the Northern Region.

Story by Alhandu Abdul Hamid