Iraqi Agriculture Ministry controls Congo fever causes
Veterinary team member during a disinfection compaign. AFP image.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture confirmed on Monday that it is able to control the causes of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in governorates where infections are recorded, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
“The ministry deals with the hemorrhagic fever through an annual plan managed by the veterinary department, the plan is financed by the Ministry of Agriculture and provides its completely free services to livestock owners,” Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mithaq Abdul-Hussein, said in a statement cited by INA.
The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture also confirmed the application of a plan to spray livestock in order to kill ticks which are the cause of hemorrhagic fever. The plan also includes a program to raise the awareness of farmers in different governorates of Iraq.
“Cattle slaughter outside slaughterhouses is the responsibility of municipal and health departments,” Hussein added in his statement.
“Unfortunately some vendors take advantage of some places in cities to slaughter livestock animals away from the supervision of the veterinary department, endangering citizens to the risk of infection,” Hussein explained in his statement.
The official in the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture stated that the ministry prevented cattle movement, and the sale of meat for a specific period of time to contain the infections, but still focuses on the awareness of people to stay away from the causes.
Official in the Iraqi Ministry of Health, Ruba Falah, in a statement to Earth News last week, explained that infections with hemorrhagic fever disease have been recorded since the seventies until today. Small number of infections with this disease are recorded every year, but the numbers rose this year compared to previous years.