Story from Sa’adatu MAINA, Damaturu
Dr Ibrahim, a veterinarian in Yobe State has made a passionate appeal to the Nigerian government at all levels and private sector to invest more in veterinary medicine to tackle zoonotic diseases.
The medical expert who works with Government House Veterinary Clinic, Damaturu, in an interview with Neptune Prime, noted that developing the infrastructure of veterinary clinics, equipping them and building the capacity of veterinarians would mitigate the cases of zoonosis in the country.
This is coming after recent emergence of a new variant of the Covid virus and the declaration of a third wave by the Federal government.
“75 percent of human diseases are zoonotic by nature; only about 25 percent are not communicable and this means infectious diseases can easily be transmitted just like the coronavirus pandemic.
“Due to the complexity of human anatomy and physiology, it is, even more, cheaper and easier to deal with these diseases at the animals level before they are transmitted to humans,” the expert said.
She also called for the involvement of veterinarians in policy formulation and implementation on zoonotic diseases.
“If veterinarians are adequately carried along, they will bring their knowledge and experience to bear in preventing zoonotic diseases.
“It may interest you to know that in advanced countries, veterinarians are always considered as frontline workers in any aspect of policy formulation on tackling such diseases.
“Unfortunately in this country, veterinary medicine is considered as inferior not only by policymakers but also members of the public,” she said.
The expert said there were over 200 zoonotic diseases across the globe, including leprosy, Covid-19, tuberculosis, brucellosis, ebola, trypanosomiasis, river blindness, elephantiasis, anthrax, SARS and MERS.
She charged government and community leaders to educate members of the public on safety measures in processing and consuming dairy products as causative agents of zoonosis was viral, fungal and bacterial, adding that the mode of their transmission included oral, aerosol, direct contact and sex.
“In severe cases, contact with certain animals is not advisable, let alone slaughtering them for consumption.
“When an animal is slaughtered, we must adhere to safety protocols for processing and properly cooking the meat for consumption.
“These must be done in order to prevent infections,” she said.
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