The Federal Government has alerted the public on the outbreak of Anthrax disease in some neighbouring countries in the West African sub-region.<\/p>\n
Dr Ernest Umakhihe, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, announced this in a statement in Abuja on Monday.<\/p>\n
He said that the affected countries are Northern Ghana bordering Burkina Faso and Togo.<\/p>\n
Umakhihe said that the disease which had claimed some lives, is a bacterial disease that affects both animals and man.<\/p>\n
He said that Anthrax spores are naturally found in the soil and commonly affects domestic and wild animals.<\/p>\n
Umakhihe said that people could get infected with Anthrax spores if they come in contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products.<\/p>\n
He said that anthrax, being a bacterial disease would respond to treatment with antibiotics and supportive therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201d It is primarily a disease of animals, but because of man\u2019s closeness to animals, non-vaccinated animals with anthrax can easily be transmitted to man through the inhalation of anthrax spores.<\/p>\n
\u201d It could also be through consumption of contaminated or infected animal products, such as hides and skin, meat or milk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said annual vaccinations with anthrax spores are available at the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau .<\/p>\n
He said that it is the cheapest and easiest means of prevention and control of the disease in animals, adding that infected animals cannot be vaccinated, but animals at risk can be vaccinated.<\/p>\n
\u201d There is a need to intensify animal vaccinations along border States of Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states, because of their proximity to Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the disease is not contagious and one cannot get it by coming in close contact with an infected person.<\/p>\n
\u201cSigns of anthrax are flu-like symptoms such as cough, fever and muscle aches, \u201c he said.<\/p>\n
He said if not diagnosed and treated early, it will lead to pneumonia, severe lung problems, difficulty in breathing, shock and death<\/p>\n
The permanent secretary said annual vaccinations with anthrax spores are available at the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau .<\/p>\n
He said that was the cheapest and easiest means of prevention and control of the disease in animals, adding that infected animals could not annot be vaccinated, but animals at risk can be vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a need to intensify animal vaccinations along border States of Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states, because of their proximity to Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Umakhihe urged other states in Nigeria to join in the exercise to prevent the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n
He advised that infected dead animals should be buried deep into the soil, with equipment used in the burial after applying chemicals that would kill the anthrax spores.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public is strongly advised to desist from the consumption of hides (pomo), smoked meat and bush meat as they pose serious risk until the situation is brought under control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Umakhihe urged the public to remain calm and vigilant as the Federal Government had resuscitated a Standing Committee on the control of Anthrax.<\/p>\n
He said that relevant institutions and collaborators had been contacted with the aim of controlling the outbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is in addition to the sensitisation of State Directors of Veterinary Services nationwide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government has alerted the public on the outbreak of Anthrax disease in some neighbouring countries in the West African sub-region. Dr Ernest Umakhihe, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, announced this in a statement in Abuja on Monday. He said that the affected countries are Northern Ghana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discussing-all-health-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2190,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions\/2190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}