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General News of Wednesday, 5 February 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Seven-year-old boy killed by rabid dog in Gombe state

Rabid dog Rabid dog

Amidst the scarcity of anti-rabies vaccines in Gombe state, a seven-year-old boy identified as Yahaya Abubakar has been killed by a rabid dog.

The incident happened in the Jamari village in the Dukku Local Government Area of Gombe State.

According to reports, the same dog sent two other victims to the hospital. They are currently receiving treatment in a medical facility in the state.

A director in the Gombe State office of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Musa Inuwa, spoke about the incident during the commencement of vaccination for animals in Gombe on Tuesday.

He urged the state government to expedite action on the procurement of anti-rabies’ vaccines to arrest the situation.

The ongoing vaccination is targeted at the contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia (Ciwon Huhu), (CBPP) in Cattle and Pesti des petits Ruminant (PPR) in sheep and goats for the year 2020.

Inuwa said, “The most recent reported incident was that of a seven-year-old child, Yahaya Abubakar, and two others, who were bitten by a suspected rabid dog in the Jamari village, Dukku Local Government Area of the state. Unfortunately, Abubakar, who displayed classical signs of rabies, died while receiving treatment at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe.

“We want to draw the attention of the general public to the dangers of non-vaccination of dogs against rabies.”

He appealed to relevant agencies of government, especially the security agencies, to enforce dog control laws.

Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, in his address at the event, said, “The event is meant to vaccinate livestock across the state. We have over a million cattle and other livestock in Gombe State and over the years, they have been neglected.

“We have decided to resuscitate the effort in order to boost livestock production and productivity.”

“The government has bought enough vaccines from the National Veterinary Research Institute. We have made sure that they are the correct vaccines that are being utilised to carry out this service; with the traditional rulers, the Myetti Allah and all farmers’ associations involved, we have the buy in of everyone,” Yahaya stated.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Muhammad Magaji, also said the annual vaccination was designed to control trans-boundary animal diseases.

Punch