By Alex Byakatonda
The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has
confirmed an outbreak of Peste des petit ruminants-PPR disease in
Kabale District.
PPR, also called ‘Goat Plague’, is an acute, highly contagious, and
transboundary viral disease that can affect affects goats and sheep. It
is severe, fast-spreading, and causes high morbidity and mortality among
the affected animals.
According to the Acting Kabale district veterinary officer, Dr. Jimmy
Obwooya, an animal infected with PPR, presents with signs including,
sudden onset of depression, fever, discharge from the eyes and nose,
which can form a crust, and sores in the mouth, breathing difficulties and
forcing eyes shut, coughing, very bad-smelling breath, diarrhea and
death.
He says that the “goat plague virus is excreted in bodily fluids of
infected animals especially tear, mucus from the nose, coughs, and it
can spread by close contact, and especially by airborne droplets of
the virus. An infected animal can die between 3 to 8 days depending on
its immunity.
Dr. Obwooya adds that PPR disease was confirmed in the district, after
one of the samples picked from 12 animals slaughtered at Kabale
municipal abattoir two weeks ago, and taken to the National Animal
Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology Centre -NADDEC for examination,
turned positive.
He is now calling on the farmers to be on high alert and inform
veterinary doctors in their areas, once their animals present with any
of the signs of the disease.
Dr. Obwooya also says that most sheep and goats that show signs of the
the disease will die, although cattle and pigs can also be infected,
do not show signs of disease.
He adds that they are now engaging with officials in the ministry of
Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, to provide the district
with vaccines to vaccinate all animals against the disease.
