The federal government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced the confirmation of the detection of Anthrax case in a farm in Suleja, Niger state.
It also stated that the farm has been quarantine and anthrax spore vaccines deployed to the affected and adjoining farms to vaccinate contact animals.
A statement by the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Dr Columba T. Vakuru, Monday in Abuja, said the case was in a multi-specie animal farm comprising of cattle, sheep and goats located at Gajiri, along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, Suleja LGA, Niger state, where some of the animals had symptoms including oozing of blood from their body openings – anus, nose, eyes and ears.
He said a rapid response team comprising of federal and states One Health Professional Team visited the farm to conduct preliminary investigations and collected samples from the sick animals.
“Subsequent laboratory tests by the National Veterinary Research Institute laboratory confirmed the diagnosis, marking the first recorded case of anthrax in Nigeria in recent years and after the report of an outbreak of anthrax in Northern Ghana few weeks ago. All animals affected have died,” he revealed.
He said further that the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the Niger state government has taken proactive measures to ensure the outbreak is controlled and contained quickly in Nigeria.
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