Sheep Pox
Written by: Mir Aqa Etibar
Most people in different provinces of Afghanistan are engaged in livestock keeping, even in some mountainous areas where there is no cultivation, still, people are keeping sheep and goats. Livestock keeping is most common in traditional forms in this country, therefore, most livestock face with the risk of various diseases. One of these diseases is the sheep pox.
Sheep pox face livestock owners with some economic problems. AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some livestock owners about this issue.
Reza Wali, a resident of Laghman province says: “a kind of pimples appeared in the neck of our sheep and they could not eat feed, fell their hair and lost weight, even butcher did not buy them. I lost 50 sheep due to this disease.”
Another livestock owner, Gulbuddin says: “I lost my 15 sheep due to sheep pox last year and I faced 50000 Afghanis loss.”
What do people think about the causes of sheep pox?
Gulbuddin says: “We live in a desert and there is no water and I think that sheep pox is caused by drought.”
Shamen, a livestock owner of Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province says: “contaminated feeds, too many sheep and goats living in one barn and taking no attention to the barn’s cleanliness cause sheep pox.”
A Veterinarian, doctor hedayatullah says: “sheep pox is a highly contagious disease of sheep caused by a poxvirus. Sheep pox virus is the most severe of all the animal pox diseases and could be caused by drought and lack of feeds in sheep.”
How do people treat sheep pox?
Gulbuddin says: “someone told me that there is herb found in the mountain, could cure the sheep pox. I found that herb but get no result and no medicines were useful for this disease.”
Doctor Hadayatullah confirms the livestock owners saying and says that sheep pox has no treatment and they only advise a kind of antibiotic to prevent the disease from transferring to other sheep.”
If there is no medication for sheep pox, then what could livestock owner do?
Hasangul, a resident of Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province says: “we bring a veterinarian to apply sheep pox vaccine at the beginning of the autumn and our sheep are not infected with sheep pox virus yet.”
Doctor Hedyatullah says: “the stock owners should apply sheep pox vaccine at the beginning of the autumn; they should be sure of the expiry date of the vaccines. The vaccine should be applied under the tail fat or in the front leg of the sheep. The vaccine for this purpose is found in a tablet form and it should be mixed with 100 cc injection water and then could be injected 1 cc to each sheep. The vaccine should be kept in a fridge and the best time for applying it is evening.”