March 2, 2007
 
Tanzania assures cattle meat safe to eat
 

 

The Tanzanian livestock development minister has assured the public that cattle meat is okay to eat as the government had not banned beef consumption because of the Rift Valley Fever.

 

Local English newspaper The Guardian quoted Livestock Minister Anthony Diallo as saying that all meat is thoroughly checked before it is taken to butcheries.

 

Cattle meat is safe for human consumption seven to 10 days after the animal has been vaccinated, the minister added.

 

Tanzania has dispatched South Africa-made vaccines against the Rift Valley Fever to northern regions where infected cases have been reported since early February.

 

Minister Diallo said a total of 2 million cattle are set to be vaccinated against the virus in the first phase.

 

Tanzania has some 18.5 million heads of cattle.

 

The Rift Valley Fever has so far claimed the lives of four people in northern Tanzania since January 31.

 

The regions of Manyara, Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Tanga, all bordering Kenya, have reported Rift Valley Fever infections in cattle. A total of 104 cattle have so far been confirmed to have contracted the viral disease.

 

In 1998, the Rift Valley Fever broke out in the Arusha region in northern Tanzania following a similar outbreak in Kenya and the disease killed at least 10 people between January and March that year.

 

The Rift Valley Fever is a viral disease that affects mainly animals such as cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats. But it can also affect humans.

 

The disease is most common during years of heavy rainfalls.

 

People get the disease mainly from bites of infected mosquitoes and the disease can also be spread through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected animal.

 

The Rift Valley Fever can cause serious eye infection, inflammation of the brain, severe bleeding (hemorrhage) and death.