Tana River,KENYA:Department of veterinary in Tana River county has confirmed closing down all slaughter houses and meat market in Tana Delta following rift valley fever cases.
Speaking to Baraka Fm through a phone call, the department director in the county Dr. Anthony Kinyua said that there was one incident where officers from the area discovered an animal infected with the fever.
Mr. Kinyua disclosed that already the department had banned livestock movement in and out of the region to minimize threats of the infectious disease.
Though the department head did not put clear the number of suspected cases but he insisted that the movement should be banned saying could not be aware of possible suspected cases of the infectious fever.
The officer said he had made arrangements with other stakeholders from county government specifically from health department to carry out sensitization activities on Saturday to make the residents aware of how to protect themselves from the infectious fever.
“We closed down all meat slaughtering site in the Delta region and markets as well as banning livestock movement in the area to make the fever stopped from the spreading.
My department has planned with health department to sensitize the residents on issues of protecting themselves from being infected,” said the director.
The director also warned that the disease is mostly spread by mosquitoes which bite people in day times especially in the floods affected areas.
The move comes some weeks after the fever killed at least thirteen people in the north eastern part of Kenya and others who were admitted in various hospitals in the region.
The disease left hundreds of victims surviving in the North Eastern region while other Wajir neighbouring counties like Marsabit were warned after the fever attacked Wajir County.
According to reports by the veterinary officers, those who died had consumed infected meat.
Tana River county is most commonly prone to diseases that affects Counties from the larger North Eastern region due to animals movement.
