October 8, 2013

Zimbabwe reports Newcastle disease outbreak

Zimbabwe's Domboshava was hit by a suspected Newcastle disease outbreak, killing large numbers of poultry daily.

It was reported that the disease is affecting indigenous, broiler and layers chickens, leaving fowl runs empty in Shumba, Molife and Pote areas. Some farmers said that for the past two weeks, poultry has been dying 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.

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.

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.