2.6 million dogs to be vaccinated against rabies in Nigeria

From Sani Adamu Gombe

To contain the spread of rabies from dogs to humans, about 2.6 million dogs in the country have been targeted for vaccination across the nation against the deadly disease this year.

The Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria Dr Maimuna Abdullahi Habib disclosed this yesterday in an interview with journalists at the end of a public lecture on the disease organized by the federal ministry of agriculture, states ministries of agriculture in collaboration with USAID Breakthrough Action Nigeria and Food and Agriculture Organisation for students at Doma Girls Secondary School in Gombe State as part of the commemoration of world 2022 rabies day.

She said the federal government in partnership with the development partners provided not less than 30, 000 doses of the vaccine for each state of the federation to immunize dogs free of charge.

While noting that rabies is preventable by vaccination, the chief veterinary officer however revealed that the disease is incurable when its symptoms already appear on the affected persons.

On the symptoms of rabies, Maimuna stated that infected dogs can get mad and be spitting a lot of saliva advising dogs owners who notice such with their dogs to rush them to veterinary clinics even as she also asked people bitten to go to hospital immediately for treatment.

Maimuna therefore urged children ‘to avoid looking for dogs trouble’ in order to prevent themselves from being bitten and contracting the illness.

“Children see dogs lying down quietly and they go and look for their trouble. So, we are telling them they should not do it”. She warned.

The chief veterinary officer further explained that they were in Gombe because they had a report of four deaths in Dukku local government asking dogs owners to bring their dogs for vaccination at veterinary clinics nationwide.