Zimbabwe : A severe blackleg disease outbreak has hit Silobela, with cattle farmers in the area suspecting that it could have been triggered by wet conditions caused by incessant rains in the country.
The coming of the rainy season brings relief and joy to most farmers across the length and breadth of the country. But this joy can be short-lived or tinkered with headaches to livestock farmers who lose their stock to disease outbreaks. The rainfall season is characterised by soil diseases and tick-borne diseases.
Blackleg is an acute, febrile, highly fatal disease of cattle and sheep caused by Clostridium chauvoei and characterized by emphysematous swelling, commonly affecting heavy muscles (clostridial myositis). It is found worldwide.
Silobela district veterinary officer Marvis Namarare confirmed that the disease had affected the whole district due to the rains.
“Farmers must team up and buy the vaccine to control the disease, it is a winter disease that thrives in humid conditions and must be controlled before the outbreak spreads,” Namarare said.
