Anthrax outbreak prompts health emergency in La Guajira, Colombia
The Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) declared a health emergency in the northernmost Colombian peninsula of La Guajira after officials determined there was an anthrax outbreak on a goat-producing property in Manaure belonging to a Wayuu community.
From the moment the sudden death of animals on the property was reported, the ICA deployed a multidisciplinary group to address the situation and apply measures aimed at preserving the health of people and animals.
The ICA recommends that people whose premises show symptoms of any type of disease or sudden death of animals not handle them or use them for human consumption due to the high risk it poses to people's health and immediately notify the nearest local ICA office or the authorities in their municipality.
The authorities are on alert and have intensified surveillance measures in the region. The Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the ICA, is implementing vaccination campaigns to protect livestock production and to educate communities about the risks associated with handling infected animals.
On Sunday, the ICA urgently calls for not moving or selling animals from farms where sudden death of animals has occurred or with symptoms such as: weakness, respiratory difficulty, loss of muscle coordination, loss of appetite, prostration or stiffness of limbs and fever, among other symptoms.
Specifically, ICA reports that the restriction on the movement of sheep and goats in La Guajira applies only to the place where the outbreak occurred, that is, 10 kilometers around the location of the Wayúu community, in a rural area of ​​the municipality of Manaure. The rest of the department can move and market the animals in compliance with the requirements of the ICA and the Sanitary Guide for Internal Movement of Animals, GSMI.
“We deliver a report of peace of mind to the department and the country, we deploy all our work capacity with a highly professional technical team that is addressing the situation in La Guajira. We reiterate to the producers and marketers of sheep and goats in the department that the measures adopted do not prohibit the consumption or movement of animals that are outside the surveillance zone of the outbreak, which is 10 km around the location of the Wayúu community in the municipality of Manaure," said the general manager of ICA, Paula Andrea Cepeda RodrÃguez.
At this time in the area we are working together with the Ministries of Agriculture and Health, Agrosavia, the Departmental Government and the Mayor's Office of Manaure, as well as environmental organizations, with an epidemiological deployment to contain the disease and prevent it from spreading to other areas of the department or the country.