Control rooms for livestock vaccination

The Chhattisgarh Government has established a host of ‘Control Rooms’ for vaccination drive launched for livestock in various districts of State.

Every year, a month-long restrictive vaccination drive is organized in Chhattisgarh in the month of June-July to save livestock from contagious seasonal diseases, officials stated.

This year, this vaccination drive has commenced from June 25, officials stated.Under this drive, vaccination teams hold camps in villages to vaccinate livestock there. These teams also go door-to-door to ensure that each and every farm animal is vaccinated. The drive focuses on vaccination of cows, buffalos, goats, roosters, and swines.

livestock Development Department Officials has informed that last year 2.65 lakh vaccinations for various diseases were provided under the drive.

This year, target to provide 2.75 crore vaccinations has been set.Officials informed that this drive is conducted for saving cattle from common geo-viral diseases caused during rainy season such as diphtheria, anthrax etc.

Owing to the consumption of polluted water and infected food during rainy season, livestock are more prone to geo-viral illness. In case, any farm animal is suffering from these diseases, then it should be kept away from other farm animals.Officials informed that participation of Gram Panchayats is ensured for conducting the vaccination drive effectively.

The State livestock Department held as many as 33,157 camps during the last three years for treatment and vaccination of domestic animals and poultry in the State.The camps were held in various veterinary hospitals and clinics, officials stated.Just for the record, the cumulative population of sheep and goat in Chhattisgarh stood at 33.91 lakh as per the 18th cattle census which is 17 per cent more than the previous year, Animal Husbandry Department officials here informed.

The State Government’s Animal Husbandry Development Department conducted a State-wide vaccination drive recently to save goats from PPR disease (a disease caused in goats by viral infection) and have vaccinated nearly 29.30 lakh goats free of cost. Under this drive, total 1576 vaccination teams were formed that visited 17,255 villages across the State to vaccinate the goats.

In rural areas, people practice goat rearing for milk and meat. PPR is a major disease found in goat species. This disease causes death of 70-80 per cent of the goats suffering from viral infection. Symptoms of this disease include flu, reddishness on face, rashes, high fever etc. When this epidemic strike rural areas, the owners sell their goats on cheaper prices at a huge loss.

Officials said that during the last four years, Animal Husbandry Development Department has conducted a State-wide vaccination campaign to control this disease.The Central Government has also included this campaign in the National Agricultural Development Plan of year 2012-13. Under this 12-day campaign, 1576 teams were formed and the State was divided into 216 sectors. These teams visited 17,255 villages of Chhattisgarh to collect information about the disease. Meanwhile, 29.30 lakh goats were given anti-PPR vaccine.