East Darfur cattle owners and state differ on reported ‘smallpox virus’

Cattle owners in East Darfur have made complaints about the emergence of a smallpox-like virus among their cattle. The state’s veterinary departments have not yet been able to verify the complaints.

A number of cattle owners complained about what they called smallpox infections among livestock, sheep in particular, and pointed to the lack of medicine in the veterinary pharmacies in the state.

However, the East Darfur minister of animal resources, El Fadil Khalfiya, has denied the outbreak of such a disease among livestock.

On Monday he told Radio Dabanga that his ministry had not received any reports so far from the directors of veterinary departments or vets in the nine localities of the state.

“There is a talk about the disease on social media, but there are no [official] reports so far,” according to Khalfiya.

Vaccinations

In South Darfur, the Ministry of Livestock has announced the establishment of pastoral camps for vaccinating more than 100,000 heads of livestock. The first phase starts at Sargila area of Tullus locality and will last for a week.

The aim of the temporary pastoral camps is to provide veterinary extension services to livestock owners and cattle herders. The veterinaries will conduct rangeland surveys, transfer veterinary technologies, and work to classify the quality of diseases prevalent in the pastoral areas.