A Maasai herder's dog stands in watch as deworming and vaccination went on in Kajiado last week.
In Kajiado, it is common to see a pastoralist herd livestock with a dog in tow.
Gideon Parsanga, the sub-chief of Olo-Elelai Sub-location in Bisil Division of Kajiado County, says the dog has become an essential animal to herders.
“The dog offers an extra eye for a herder, especially as protection against wildlife. They are our companions when out herding livestock,” he says.
Friday is market day for livestock in Bisil. The livestock market is intuitively located next to the town’s slaughterhouse.
When Smart Harvest team visited, they witnessed an interesting interplay between dogs, livestock and the slaughterhouse.
And herein lies a possible explanation as to why an infamous livestock disease known as coenurosis is making a comeback in pastoralist areas.
Locally known as Ormilo, coenurosis, says Dr Emilly Mudoga, is thought to have been suppressed in the 80s and 90s.
Intensive treatment
“In those years the government conducted intensive treatment and de-worming campaigns in pastoralist areas, lowering prevalence to negligible levels,” she says.
Dr Mudoga, a veterinarian and Managing Director at Nairobi-based Action for Protection of Animals Africa (APAA), says the disease mostly affects goats and sheep.
“Coenurosis is a parasitic disease caused by a tapeworm called Taenia Multiceps.
“The parasite’s definitive host is the dog. The parasite enters the dog when the canine eats or interacts with raw goat or sheep meat infested with larval stages.
“It then develops to adult stage in the intestines of the dog where they produce eggs. Dogs then shed the eggs (with their faeces) onto grazing or watering fields.
“Goats and sheep become infected with the parasite when they graze on pasture or drink on locations with the parasitic eggs,” Mudoga says.
Is the image of dogs, livestock, and the slaughterhouse making sense now?
Beyond the slaughterhouse, the Maasai frequently slaughter animals to mark cultural ceremonies, a notable avenue for dogs to ingest parasitic larvae.
In goats and sheep, the tapeworm migrates in its larval stage to the brain and the spinal cord, where it matures into a fluid filled cyst.
Acute coenurosis occurs about 10 days after a large number of tapeworm eggs are ingested by young lambs/kids of around six to eight weeks, with symptoms being inflammatory and allergic reactions.
Acute coenurosis turns into chronic coenurosis after two to six months, the period of time it takes the larva to hatch, migrate and form cysts in the nervous system.
Talking about his personal experience with Ormilo, pastoralist Moses Nkiminis said: “Ormilo makes the animal go mad. The animal eventually dies. We make money from selling livestock. This disease therefore threatens our livelihood.”
According to Nkiminis, Ormilo comes in waves. “The disease has seasons. And when it attacks, it claims many animals. As pastoralists we are not close to veterinary services to help us deal with the disease.”
With chronic coenurosis, the affected animal tends to separate from the flock and respond very slowly to external stimuli.
Other symptoms include altered head position, blindness, dizziness, emaciation and weight loss and total paralysis as the cysts grow.
If not surgically treated, death of the animal is often inevitable. Mortality rates associated with coenurosis ranges from 30 per cent in baby animals and 20 per cent in adults upwards, Mudoga says.
Coenurosis, the vet adds, is often an indication of an ongoing infestation of a sister tapeworm of genus echinococcus – which cause echinococcosis.
As with coenurosis, the dog is the definitive host. The intermediate hosts are sheep and goats. It is good to note that both diseases are zoonotic: humans can be infected through consumption or contact with infected meat.
The disease manifests as cysts in major body organs, often lungs and liver. It causes weight loss, low milk production, and low meat quality.
Deworming
“Meat undergoes inspection to ascertain if it is healthy for human consumption,” she says. “If it’s not then it is discarded, which would mean a loss for the farmer.”
Mudoga was speaking about coenurosis to hundreds of farmers who showed up during a countrywide de-worming and vaccination drive.
The exercise was expected to last 20 days, by which at least 635,000 goats and over 4,000 dogs will have been attended to.
The goats are being vaccinated against contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) – a disease that affects the lungs of sheep and goats.
The dogs are receiving rabies vaccine and being dewormed with a multi-drug tablet containing paraziquentel, pyrantel pamoate and Febantel.
The tablet costs between Sh70 and Sh150 a piece and is to be administered every three months for working dogs and every six months for pet dogs.
Deworming targets dogs because they are definitive hosts of the tapeworms. “You get rid of them from dogs, you get rid of them from all other animals,” Mudoga says.
It is also the cheapest method of getting rid of the parasites. Treatment costs (involving surgery) for coenurosis and echinococcosis would be high, leaving the farmer at a loss.
Kajiado Deputy Governor Martin Moshishu said livestock owners in Kajiado are battling an ongoing drought, hence can’t afford vaccines and de-wormers.
