Warning over donkey, game meat

By GATONYE GATHURA

Medical researchers have warned that donkey and game meat could be behind new diseases that are infecting humans in several parts of the country.

New medical evidence shows patients from parts of  Naivasha, Tana River, Mwea and Baringo are being infected with  disease-causing organisms usually found in wild animals as well as donkeys.

Naivasha has been known to be a major source and distribution point for donkey and game meat to areas as far as Nairobi.

Evidence tabled last week during a scientific conference at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), showed that increased contact between humans and animals may be exposing people to previously unknown and little understood diseases.

The studies have been done by Kemri, the US Army Medical Research Unit, the Ministry of Health, the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology among 379 patients from the lake and river basins of Tana River, Baringo and Naivasha.

The researchers tested the patients’ blood for disease-causing organisms – arboviruses - that are transmitted by a group of insects called arthropods, which include ticks. It was only recently that it emerged that these viruses were causing human diseases. The team tested the patients’ blood specifically for the Rift Valley fever virus, crimean–congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, chikungunya virus and West Nile virus.

The research team leader, Ms Caroline Tigoi, said they found a quarter of the patients positive for the crimean–congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Sixty per cent of those from Tana River were found to habour these viruses, 52 per cent in Baringo and 32 per cent in Naivasha.

Antelopes

“Tick bites and contact with donkeys was especially found to increase the risk of infection with the crimean–congo hemorrhagic fever virus,” the team leader said.

 Last year the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) reported a rare but potentially dangerous disease, which also affects humans, among wild antelopes at Kigio Wildlife Conservancy in Naivasha. 

KWS said they had found the first known outbreak of the disease called myiasis in Kenya, which in some cases was so severe that the antelopes had to be killed.

Related Topics

game meat donkey