Suspected Newcastle Disease Outbreak in Zimbabwean Province

ZIMBABWE - A suspected Newcastle disease outbreak has hit Domboshava, killing large numbers of poultry daily.
calendar icon 7 October 2013
clock icon 3 minute read

The Herald reports that the disease is affecting indigenous, broiler and layers chickens, leaving fowl runs empty in Shumba, Molife and Pote areas. Some farmers said poultry has been dying for the past two weeks and most of them no longer have any birds.

Shumba villager Room Chigwinya said he lost 35 chickens in seven days and is afraid he is going to lose the whole flock if veterinary officers do not attend in time.

"The chickens show a sign of weakness, loss of appetite, sneezing with swollen glands, have problems in walking and within a few hours they die," he said.

Mr Chigwinya said the liver of the affected birds are yellowish and the droppings have an offensive smell.

Another affected farmer, Sabina Mutete, said she resorted to other traditional ways of treating chickens but this has not helped the situation.

"I had 100 chickens and I lost them. At times 20 chickens would die on the same day and the fowl run has been swept clean," she said.

Some villagers are consuming the affected chickens while others are burning them for fear of contaminating the disease.

Others are reportedly slaughtering and eating their chickens before they are affected by the disease.
The people in Shumba area complained that the veterinary officers were not attending to farmers.

Further Reading

Find out more information on Newcastle disease by clicking here.

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