Gov't starts Rift Valley Fever vaccination

The first batch of livestock vaccines against Rift Valley Fever has arrived in Tanzania and is being distributed nationwide, Livestock Development Minister Anthony Diallo said on Monday.

"We want to see it speeded up," he said from the northern town of Mwanza, referring to the pace of distribution.

The vaccines, ordered by the government two weeks ago, arrived on Friday and were immediately sent to the affected regions of Arusha, Manyara, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro and Tanga. Diallo said this batch of vaccines was part of the 500,000 doses the government had ordered from South Africa.

Veterinarians started vaccinating livestock on Saturday. So far, two people are thought to have died of the disease in Arusha and one in Kilimanjaro.

The fever was first identified in Kenya in 1931. Its initial symptoms include spontaneous abortions in sheep, goats and cattle. The World Health Organization says the virus can be transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito or through contact with infected animal material such as blood or other body fluids or organs of infected animals.

Consumption of milk, a staple among many pastoralists, is also a possible means of transmission. Symptoms in humans include bleeding through the nose and mouth and liver failure. WHO said: "Such contact may occur during the care or slaughtering of infected animals or possibly from the ingestion of raw milk."

jk/oss/mw