Dealing With Animal Diseases Through Vaccination

A public lecture
organised by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN), in collaboration with the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), to mark the World Veterinary Day in Abuja highlighted some common animal diseases and their therapy.
Participants at the lecture underscored the need for people to give priority attention to the health of animals, while engaging in livestock production or keeping domestic pets.
They argued that animal vaccination would ensure the protection of livestock and humans in the event of outbreak of diseases.
Therefore, veterinarians at the lecture called for the organisation of public awareness campaigns on use of high-quality vaccines, monitoring of vaccinated flocks, controlling animals’ movement and provision of adequate financial resources.
They also agreed that effective and responsive veterinary services were essential tools for the success of animals’ vaccination.
However, the President of NVMA, Dr Gani Enahoro, stressed that emphasis should be placed on animals’ vaccination to prevent animal diseases and curb the spread of such diseases to humans.
For instance, Enahoro noted that the use of anti-rabies vaccines for dogs, cats and monkeys had reduced the incidence of people contracting the disease.
He said that technological breakthroughs in vaccine production had enabled the packaging of doses in smaller bottles and packs, which could be transported to any destination without the vaccines losing potency.
“We still have rabies in Nigeria and some countries in the world; we, however, believe that with time, we will be able to eradicate this disease.
“The only way to eradicate rabies, for instance, is by vaccination. This would prevent dogs from contracting rabies in the first instance and, of course, if rabies is not in animals, we also will not have rabies in humans.
“It is not compulsory that you must own a pet but if you choose to have one, you must be ready to provide the pet with basic needs, including feeding, housing and adequate veterinary care,’’ he said.
Sharing similar sentiments, a virologist and President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof. Oyewole Tomori, noted that the use of vaccines was responsible for the feats achieved in the eradication of both animal and human diseases.
In his lecture, Tomori underscored the need to expand the knowledge of veterinarians regarding the essence of vaccination, where vaccines were being produced and how best to access them.
He, however, lauded the groundbreaking efforts of the Nigerian Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, in vaccine production in the country.
Stressing the importance of vaccines, Tomori urged animal owners in the country to avail themselves of existing vaccination services and vaccinate their animals.
All the same, the Executive Director of NVRI, Dr Mohammed Ahmed, stressed that Nigeria would benefit more from vaccine production if the private sector was involved in vaccine procurement and production efforts.
He said that such involvement would increase the tempo of efforts to control and eradicate animal diseases, while reducing the pressure on the Federal Government to meet routine demands for vaccines.
“We want individuals to come into vaccine production so that we can join hands and produce more vaccines for our livestock.
“We have started meeting with some firms in the southwestern part of Nigeria which have shown interest in vaccine production; if they can go into the venture, vaccine production will no longer be the sole responsibility of the government,’’ he said.
“As at now, we produce two types of vaccines — the viral and bacterial vaccines. For the bacterial vaccines, we have a facility which, if developed, could produce a lot of vaccines, even for exports,’’ he said.
Besides, Ahmed said that the institute was looking into ways of getting appropriate and sufficient vaccines for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a disease of sheep and goats.
“We had a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Senegal on this disease; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have come in to support us in efforts to control this disease and we have started that with a laboratory in Botswana.
“The Botswana Vaccine Company has got the contract to produce the pilot vaccine for trials in Ghana and Burkina Faso; the aim is to have worldwide eradication of this disease.
“In the institute here, we have produced PPR vaccine but the government should help us to acquire more facilities so that we can produce more vaccines against the disease.
“Actually, the seed of the vaccine that is used worldwide for PPR emanated from NVRI, Vom; that is why it is called Nigeria 75,’’ he said.
The Registrar of VCN, Dr Markus Avong, said that those who had established commercial livestock ventures had benefited tremendously from existing veterinary services.
“Anybody involved in poultry production or any form of livestock farming must have an elaborate programme for veterinary services.
“If you leave it out, you will fail woefully; if livestock production becomes commercial, the need for veterinary services consequently becomes more imperative.
“Veterinary care and vaccination bring about increase in animal production; animals that are free of diseases would be beneficial to individuals and the country at large,’’ he said.
Analysts, therefore, underscore the need to foster the growth of veterinary services, as part of designed efforts to promote food production in the country and its food security.
Dariya is with  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Veronica Dariya