Anthrax affects livestock and humans. It leads to sudden death of animals, economic losses, disruption of livestock markets and an immense impact on food security and nutrition.
Seeds of Gold spoke to Dr Rinah Wangila the National Epidemiologist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
The bacterial disease mainly affects warm blooded animals, including cattle, camels, goats, sheep, pigs, dogs and wild herbivores like antelopes, warthogs and buffaloes.
Climate change has been one of the key drivers, with notable cases of adverse weather conditions – for instance El-Nino phenomenon – witnessed recently.
Regions that experience intense soil erosion are prone to anthrax because an infected carcass that is not buried well or disposed of may be carried to the lowlands.
Prolonged droughts also prompt animals to graze closer to the ground, especially when grass is scarce. The animal ends up ingesting soil that is contaminated with the pathogens.
Some counties record higher cases of anthrax than others mainly because of varying ecological conditions. Soils in these counties support the thriving of anthrax for a long period.
Dr Rinah Wangila the National Epidemiologist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Photo credit: Richard Maosi | Nation Media Group
In Murang’a, for instance, the ecological conditions give room for anthrax spores to survive for years, notwithstanding that this is a high potential county for dairy farming.
Human activities like Infrastructure development – including the expansion of roads and excavations – also accelerate spread of the deadly disease.
This is so because anthrax spores can survive in the soil for more than 60 years. During excavations or construction of roads and buildings, the spores are taken from the ground. That is when outbreaks of anthrax are reported.
An increase in anthrax cases was reported in Bomet County during the expansion of the road network. Most of the cases were reported in the excavation areas.
Anthrax is transmitted in several ways, including contact with infected animals or animal products. This can be getting into contact with the dead animal through slaughtering, skinning or handling contaminated materials. Animals can get the disease by feeding on contaminated pasture or water.
People can get the highly contagious disease through consuming meat from an infected animal as happened in Murang’a, Nakuru and other counties. Lastly, you can get the disease by inhaling anthrax germs from contaminated hides and skins.
Being zoonotic, what can we do to prevent the illness from spreading to humans from animals?
Kenya has a list of priority zoonotic diseases. These include anthrax, rabies and the Rift Valley fever.
Like said earlier, these illnesses spread from animals to humans. With Kenya being an agricultural-driven economy, a majority of rural households have livestock.
FAO supports the country in surveillance of the disease among the livestock and human populations. We also do so through laboratory diagnosis of suspected cases.
It is an acute disease in livestock whose symptoms are not overt. Animals that appear healthy suddenly die. This causes huge financial loss to farmers, considering the high value of animals as investment.
With an animal having shown no symptoms of a disease, some farmers resort to skinning the carcass and selling the meat, unaware that it is infected with anthrax. Such cases have been reported in several parts of the country.
Surveillance, monitoring, outbreak response and diagnosis are important in ensuring the deadly disease is kept at bay.
Preventing anthrax requires close collaboration between the public and relevant stakeholders, including the government. What measures has FAO and other players put in place to stop anthrax?
Among the major efforts FAO has been keen on is developing a disease control plan. The Anthrax Control Strategy was launched in 2022.
Stakeholders and key players in the control and prevention of priority zoonotic illnesses align with the strategic plan and guide on their interventions in the control of anthrax.
FAO also supports the main pillars in the control strategy. Among them is creating awareness about the disease, informing, supporting operational research and conducting knowledge attitude practices for the affected communities.
Counties with the highest cases of anthrax include Kakamega, Bungoma, Meru, Nakuru, Nandi, Kiambu, Narok, Bomet, Murang’a and Tharaka Nithi.
As a country, we have witnessed a positive step towards Information, Communication and Technology unlike the traditional ways of relaying messages.
Ancient channels like using smoke, songs and drummers were unreliable. We also want to come up with short messages which can be sent to livestock keepers by mobile phone.
We are exploring channels in which we can develop skits for learning institutions and forums such as National Music and Drama Festival.
This can be done by supporting a high-risk area with the key messages revolving around the risk of anthrax.
FAO and other stakeholders believe this is an innovative way of reaching the masses as far as anthrax is concerned.
Which avenues are the Directorate of Veterinary services and other key players using to sensitise farmers?
Communication channels used include exploring messages to national and vernacular radio and TV stations.
We are also in touch with farmer cooperative societies, Community-Based Organisations, village barazas, religious centres and schools.
In addition, we have also developed communication materials of operation research such as journals, policy briefs, posters and visual aids.
Because of community socio-cultural differences, some carcasses are not disposed of. A case in point is a pregnant cow. Many believe such a cow cannot be buried without having the foetus removed.
Some people do not dispose of the carcass as advised by veterinary and health authorities, leading to the spread of the disease. This causes contact and also contamination of the environment.
There is also a widespread belief that a carcass must first be skinned before it is buried. It is said burying an animal with the skin is a bad omen.
