The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo and Shepias Dube Farming Reporters
FARMING experts have raised concern over cases of cattle reportedly contracting measles in Matabeleland region which is fuelled by the lack of ablution facilities for human beings in most of the areas. Matabeleland South provincial veterinary officer Dr Mbuso Moyo said cases of cattle measles were mainly reported in areas with rampant gold panning activities.
“Cattle measles is mostly reported in areas where people don’t have sanitary facilities. As a result cattle become infected when they eat grass with eggs passed from the faeces of an infected person. Human beings are host to the measles tapeworm.
“It looks as if cases of cattle measles are most prevalent in areas where there are rampant gold mining activities and it makes sense because these people don’t have proper ablution facilities they just relieve themselves in the open.”
The measles infection, which is also called beef measles, cysticercosis or bladder worm, appears on an animal as bean-sized cysticerci. They are oval, greyish-white, fluid-filled bladder-like objects about 10 mm long by 5mm wide.
Cysts can be seen with the naked eye between two and four weeks following infection as nodules in the muscle of cattle, particularly in the heart, diaphragm, tongue and masseter. The cysts give the meat a measles-like appearance when they occur in large numbers. Each cyst produces one adult tapeworm when ingested by humans.
The cycticerci can survive in cattle anywhere from weeks to years and can present economic problems to the beef industry. Carcasses containing few cysts must be frozen at -10° C for 10 to 14 days before the meat can be used for human consumption. If many cysts are present, the entire carcass is condemned.
“About 60 to 70 cattle are condemned in a year in Matabeleland and this has drastic economic repercussions on farmers. Since the disease affects both animals and human beings there is a need for a multi-stakeholders approach in dealing with it and in this regard the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s involvement is of paramount importance,” Dr Moyo said.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union Matabeleland North provincial chairman Mr Winston Babbage said the disease was more pronounced in resettlement areas where people were still using the bush to relieve themselves and further stated it was also prevalent in mining areas.
“There has been a serious outbreak of cattle measles in both A1 and A2 where most farmers are forced to resort to bush toilets due to the absence of proper facilities such as blair toilets.
“What is tricky with the disease is that a farmer can put his cattle on a feedlot for three months only to realise that they are affected when slaughtered. Measles is not only a threat to livestock as business but it is also a catastrophic health hazard which is a threat to human life,” Mr Babbage said.
The ZCFU chairman had 12 of his fattened cattle condemned and burnt by the Cold Storage Company after the infection was detected.
He urged also the Department of Veterinary Services to control the influx of goats in the city to avoid the spread of zoonotic disease.
Mr Richard Wakefield of CC Sales in Bulawayo said the outbreak of measles had been a major obstacle to the cattle buying and selling business.
“If a buyer has his cattle condemned at the abattoir due to measles he will demand 100 percent of cost incurred from the auction which would have sold him the cattle.
“This is basically an issue of sanitation and hygiene and we are happy that the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the department of livestock production have taken up the issue,” he said.
