At least 16 cattle have succumbed to a lung sickness outbreak in the Ncamagoro and Musese Constituency of the Kavango West region, while 20 more are showing clinical signs, the Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) has announced
The disease, according to the government department, affects cattle and water buffaloes and is caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides SC, a type of bacteria that attacks the lungs of susceptible animals.
“In Africa, lung sickness is known to cause greater losses in cattle than any other disease because it is highly contagious and with a mortality rate of 50%,” DVS Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Albertina Shilongo said.
As part of its containment measures, Shilongo said a complete ban on the movement of live animals around the affected areas had been put in place until further notice, with surveillance teams deployed and vaccination of all cattle in the region against lung sickness expected to be conducted in the next few weeks.
“The Directorate of Veterinary Services under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform would like to urge farmers and the general public to cooperate and assist with measures put in place to control this outbreak,” she said.
The lung sickness outbreak comes as the Directorate of Veterinary Services last month cleared the Zambezi region of a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak and lifted all animal movement restrictions.
This was after the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform had imposed restrictions in May last year following the detection of Foot and Mouth disease in the Zambezi region, where more than 150 cattle are reported to have died due to FMD related causes.
