Update - November 18, 2008

Lantana plants such as these responsible for a condition called photosensitization in the cattle who consume it. This and other types of plants cause liver damage in the animal. The damaged liver is then unable to remove pigments absorbed from green plants in the animal’s diet, thus leaving the pigments its body.


The “photodynamic” pigments absorbed through the GI system from ingested green plants reach the skin and are activated by energy from the sun, thus causing serious “burns.”


The skin of cattle afflicted with photosensitization can heal if the liver damage is not too severe, but the previously affected areas can still be seen.


Man-made bee hives placed in acacia trees facilitate harvesting of honey.


Vaccines against anthrax (caused by Bacillus anthracis) and blackleg (caused by Clostridium bacteria) were stored without refrigeration in the classroom we were assigned to use. In the interest of safety, we removed them. These vaccines were produced in Ethiopia but we were unable to determine any information about what particular species of Clostridium the blackleg contained, or any specific information on the anthrax vaccine.


A few broken anthrax vaccine bottles were in the classroom. We were assured that this was a killed vaccine, meaning that it contained no live Bacillus organisms, but we were insistent that they be removed before the classes began.

Kampala, Uganda - October 16, 2008

Dear Family & Friends:

We have completed our month-long VETCAP (Veterinary Civic Action Project) at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Gulu & Umuru Districts and are now in Kampala awaiting transport back to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti. We worked at 41 sites over 20 treatment days in this, the third VETCAP in northern Uganda this year, the 1st in Jan-Feb and the 2nd in Mar-Apr. The response to the cattle treatments at the initial missions was excellent based on a sampling of weight gains estimated by heart girth measurements.

Our U.S. military team from the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa was joined by faculty and students from the veterinary school at Makerere University and Veterinary Officers from the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry & Fisheries. We treated a total of 78,604 animals including 23,903 cattle (sleeping sickness prophylaxis, deworming and external parasite treatment), 23,394 poultry (individual birds vaccinated against New Castle Disease Virus, primarily chickens but also many ducks), 14,061 goats & sheep (deworming and external parasite treatment), and 2,400 pigs (dewormed as individuals). We also vaccinated about 4,000 dogs for rabies.

CPT Amanda Coenen and I were the two U.S. Army Veterinary Corps officers on this VETCAP. We concentrated on preparing the pharmaceuticals at our two sites, Amanda with "Team A" and I with "Team B." Both of us focused on cattle since that was the most labor-intensive part of the work at each site, involving herding and physically dealing with animals ranging in size from less than 50 kg up to >500 kg, many being Ankole cattle with LARGE horns.


There was a surprisingly large number of intact males. Bulls are used as plow animals and relatively few are castrated. The "cattle crushes" in which the treatments were administered were constructed at each site by the villagers in the IDP camps from local materials, primarily logs and limbs from trees held together with nails, rope, and in some cases bark. It goes without saying that this was a challenge.


This area in northern Uganda has been contested between the Ugandan Peoples Defense Forces and the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony. The LRA is still active in the Southern Sudan and neighboring countries; they have abducted thousands of children as "child soldiers," causing the rural populace to move into IDP camps so that the UPDF could protect them. In addition to armed attacks, ambushes and raids, during the conflict mines were used by both sides, resulting in the loss of life and limbs by the people.



Many of the people are now moving back into their former homes and the population of domestic animals is increasing, but the IDP camps still have many people in residence.

I will attempt to attach a few pictures but the number will be restricted because of internet limitations until we return to our base in the Horn of Africa.

All the best!

Jim

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Our last day of the VETCAP mission involving animal work. We meet at the Ministry of Agriculture office with Mama Safe, Freddy Manju and the others who have participated. Dr. Shimbolu, the veterinarian in charge joins us today. We will have a local TV station covering our activities. LTC Pope hands out certificates to the Ministry personnel and to our contract drivers who have been taking us around.

We depart to the south once again and work about 600 cattle today. Dr. Shimbolu takes active part, including herding the animals, which goes pretty much as usual. Dr. Shimbolu explains that his career has progressed from the ground floor up. He began working as a layman first and then obtained a two-year certificate, and then a veterinary degree (I believe that was his progression). He has served in different locations in Tanzania, and for about the past six years in Tanga.

After our day we head “home” and at the hotel we meet to plan the trip back to Dar es Salaam and get the unused items ready to leave with the Ministry personnel. We have left over pour-on permethrin and dip tank permethrin, ivermetin injectable, FMD vaccine, rabies vaccine, New Castle disease vaccine, injectable antibiotics (tylosin, oxtytetracycline, and penicillin-streptomycin), and antibiotic spray (oxytet and gentian violet “purple spray”). We also will leave the remaining “gun” syringes made in West Germany and the parts from those that broke down, and needles. We also prepare some to FMD vaccine, pour on and ivermectin with “Jane” the desk clerk who we had agreed to help with her 16 cows but now we are unable to do because of “protocol” with the Ministry. We are OK with leaving the treatments but she and her brother will have to do them.

We settle up our hotel bills, mine amounting to 1.885 Million TZA shillings. That night have supper at the Kiboku (Hippopotomus) Restaurant, joined by 1LT McCoy and SFC (MSG?) Rodriguez of the Civil Affairs team stationed in Tanga. The best item on the menu for the money is the mishikaki, or beef which is grilled on a skewer. One shiskabob skewer of six pieces of “steak” is 4,000 TZA shillings, or less than $4 U.S. Goes well with a Tusker or “Kili” (Kilimanjaro) beer and chips (fried potatoes) and a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and a slaw which is pretty tasty.

Friday, August 1, 2008

On the way to the day’s work site we stop at the Ministry office and Mama Safe gives me the report from “Mkwakwani Vet Care” that the blood sample we gave to Dr. Shimbolu yesterday showed “few Theileria prioplasms.” As it turns out that cow had been vaccinated for East Coast Fever (I had noticed a circular ear “button” (looked like an RFID tag from the US) but did not notice that it was the evidence of ECF vaccination. Because of this status, the recommendation was to treat with “30% OTC” (300 mg/ml oxytetratcycline) or “inject with “(1) Butalex /Parvequone and (2) Oxytetracyclines.” Mama Safe explains that this recommendation is because of the previous vaccination.

We had treated the animal with injectable OTC (note: it was 100 mg/ml; we don’t have any Tetradure or 300 mg/ml) at 4 mg/kg as per label dose, leaving two additional treatments for the following two days. Our references on ECF vaccination state that the modified live organisms are injected simultaneously with oxytetracycline or followed seven days later by parveqone or buparvequone. Not having any clinical experience with ECF, we estimate that our treatment of that cow with OTC was according to the recommendations and leave it at that.

We go to another new site today which is a good ride from Tanga. We stop on the way to pick up a village elder who is dressed in a long robe and has short, white hair. He looks every bit the wise man. We arrive at an area with a circular corral constructed of acacia branches, about 20 yards in diameter with a “crush” leading off one end with no funnel or narrowing where the crush joins the circle. Trouble to come? We are accompanied by two mini-buses of about a dozen midshipmen from the US Naval Academy who are visiting CJFT-HOA and Tanzania. They visited a well drilling site yesterday and are to spend part of the day with us.

We set up the vehicles to the side of the crush and the Tanzania’s start running the cattle through. I am asked to give the middies a briefing on what we are doing. There are not many questions although a few arise during the briefing and after as they observe. The first question was about how thin the animals appear, to which I respond that they are in good shape for Zebu cattle. Most are in pretty good body condition, the grazing not having been too bad thus far this year. They are asked to participate in herding the animals, which three or four of them do and are pretty game.

The amount of whipping of the cattle that the Tanzanians are engaged in is clearly worrisome to a few of the middies, as it has been to us. I explain that this is their way of doing business and we have not set this VETCAP up as an educational program in cattle handling, although we might want to do that as part of a future effort to promote the faster working of the animals. One female midshipman asks about how animals are slaughtered and I confirm from LTC Machera that the slaughter process is universally of halal type by cutting the throat. One middie asks if we are pregnancy checking; he had some background on a ranch somewhere I am told. Dr. Machera mentions to the group of middies that we are also interested in maintaining a healthy supply of animals to provide food for the people and to reduce zoonotic diseases. The middies depart by late morning.

At midday CPT Coenen and I are asked to conduct an ante-mortem exam on a 150 kg heifer who is to be slaughtered. She is tied by the legs and in lateral recumbancy. She appears healthy and is slaughtered by having her neck cut and bled, which mercifully goes pretty fast. We conduct a post mortem exam and she is clean. Many of the Tanzanians gather wood for a fire with four posts set at each corner about two feet in height and from which a frame is made of green wood for the meat to cook. The first pieces put on the “grill” are liver, kidney and tongue, followed by muscle. It is brought first to us for sampling and is not bad, especially with a little salt which they have.

The village elder who had been present yesterday when we had examined the cow with the fractured metatarsus speaks with me. He speaks very good and deliberate English, better than other Tanzanians I had encountered yet. He expressed the opinion that the advice we gave to slaughter the cow was very good and he appreciated that we had given it. That made me feel much better about the previous day’s business, having seen the disappointment in the faces of those responsible for that animal.

It turns out that all of the cattle we are working today are owned by one man, the only one so far who I have seen wearing a cowboy hat, or what could pass for one. He is on the ground herding with the others and is a somewhat larger man than the average. MAJ Azes (sp?), one of the physicians from the Tanzanian People’s Defense Forces, tells me that he began with only three cows. He is obviously very smart or very lucky, or a combination of both. He also may have other means of livelihood but I can’t determine that.

Toward the end of the day the animals, which are tending to be larger, are not moving out of the circular corral and into the “crush” lane very well. It’s taking a long time to finish up. They try to cut out a group from those in the corral and herd them over to the crush entry, which typically ends up with many rejoining the main group despite being hectored and beaten vigorously by a number of stick-wielding Tanzanians. The problem is that they can’t readily see the small opening to the “crush” lane as an escape route, and until we get some of the workers to step away from the other side of the “fence” right by that entry they are also seeing people in their “flight zone.” It is one of the more frustrating episodes we have had when it comes to seeing the consequences of poor facility design. The irony is that the cattle are largely contained by the brush corral and the stick fences, which the Tanzanians admirably repair with strips of bark “twine” as the fence becomes weak during the day.

I decide to make the conduct of a cattle handling course a long term goal, and will make efforts to see if we can make that happen in the future. I predict it will take a few years and that the best way to do it would be through the Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, which has good extensionists like Fred Manju and Mama Maud Safe who have worked with us every day. Dr. Shimbolu, the Ministry veterinarian who we have met with twice, told me that they conduct training for these laymen every few months, which is apparently effective given my estimation of their understanding of the diseases we are working with. My impression is that Tanzania is ahead of the other countries we will visit, including Kenya and Uganda with regard to its Ministry infrastructure and extension system, so it would be the place to start.

I note that a few cows have the yellow ear button that the ECF vaccinated cow we treated a few days ago had. Closer exam of these tags shows them to have “ECF vaccinated” printed on the edge along with an ID number. We close up shop at day’s end having worked between 1200 and 1300 total cattle. I confirm from our Tananian PDF physicians that “sleeping sickness” in humans is not a disease of high incidence now and that controlling tsetse flies in cattle is a way to reduce the disease in people; they also express that cattle can be a reservoir for some trypanosomes that affect people. Upon return to the hotel we learn that Saturday CPT Coenen and I are to accompany LTC Pope and MSG Holland to conduct a PDSS (Pre-Deployment Site Survey) with LTC Machera and Mama Safe to the sites that the next VETCAP phase will work at in November.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Dr. Shimbalo (Sp?), the ministry veterinarian we met on the first day we arrived, was at the office site where we always pick up Mama Safe and Freddy, et al. We discuss how the work is going and the animals we treated yesterday. He takes the EDTA blood sample we drew and will have a smear done for tick borne RBC parasites, not failing to mention that we should also have taken a lymph node aspirate in any case of suspected tick borne disease. We have a good discussion of therapies they use. They use label doses (“manufacturer’s recommendations”) of drugs such as oxytetracycline and pen-strep, which is what we did yesterday with our treatment of the more mature cow with OTC injectable at 4 mg/kg. They stay with label doses and train their field workers to do this. I assume that these antimicrobials are effective at those doses because they may not have been used widely, although the isometamidium (“Veridium” or “Samorin” by trade names) that are used for prevention and cure of trypanosomiasis are certainly widely used. He also mentions that stacking treatments such as buparvaquone (“Butalex”) for theileriosis/East Coast Fever along with the babesiosis treatment we have, imidocarb (“Imizol”) i.e. the same as “Diampron” that we used in Devon in 1979, and even along with OTC as combination therapies is an ok practice. They do not like multiple antigen vaccinations, however; hence their reluctance to immunize with both FMD and Lumpy Skin Disease at the same time.

We go to a new site for working animals today. An old unfilled dip tank reveals just how deep they are. I estimate the depth is ten feet at least. This one has not been used in a while. A nearby concrete walled building has “16-3-1980” etched in the concrete to memorialize its construction date. I am told by Anna, one of the Extension workers who rides out with Amanda Coenen and me today, that the square tank to the side of the dip tanks is for conserving water and premixing the dip. Still not sure the exact function but that sounds good. In any event, we are not using the dip tank and the number of cattle to be worked is relatively small. By the end of the day, which we declare over by about 11:30 AM, we have only worked about 200+. These are small herds and the cattle are somewhat thinner on average. One of the young men has an “Alabama Crimson Tide” t-shirt. I take several pictures and will send to the Auburn crowd.

I do a stand up interview for the “Combat Camera” crew which is composed of Air Force personnel, including one still photographer, one motion picture cameraman with a Sony, and one who is a Public Affairs guy. I manage to talk about cattle infectious diseases and how the Tanzanians work their cattle for longer than necessary, but they keep prompting me to talk more: “Why is this mission important to the CJTF-Horn of Africa?” “What would you say to students who might be visiting here about what you are doing?” “What has been the greatest challenge?”

I talk about the importance of tick borne diseases here in East Africa and about how CPT Coenen and I lack clinical experience with the particular ones they have in abundance. I mention that we treated an animal with signs of East Coast Fever yesterday and that it was the first one I had encountered, along with all the FMD vaccines being the first I have administered. I mention that it would be great to have our veterinary students from NC State here to share in these clinical experiences, emphasizing that our knowledge of Foreign Animal Diseases is critically important to our ability to keep the US free of them.

While I am talking Amanda takes a look at a cow that had gone through the “crush” earlier and then had injured her leg in a fight of some type. Her right rear metatarsus has a complete fracture on the distal end above the fetlock. This is a mature cow; the fracture is not at the epiphysis but it is complete; not compound yet but it will be if given the chance. She is standing but cannot bear weight on the right rear, obviously. Although we discuss making a splint and using the small amount of water activated casting tape we have, it is obvious that there is no way to stabilize the fracture and the best course of action is slaughter and salvage. With the help of Freddy, Mama Safe and Major (Dr./MD) Asez (sp?) of the Tanzanian Peoples Defense Force who is with us every day along with LTC (Dr./MD) Macheka (sp?), we inform the owners and the village head that the prognosis for successfully healing the fracture is hopeless. I help the 300 kg cow, who is in lactation (she also has a neck bell, indicating some worth) at about 5+ years old, to walk to a shade tree and then we depart.

We have no firearm with which to shoot her or drug that we could use to euthanize her, which would not be appropriate for slaughter anyway. I am guessing that if they do slaughter her they will cut her throat. Very sad that we couldn’t help her or them, but it would have been hopeless given the location and nature of the fracture. We considered going through the motions of splinting her but CPT Coenen and I agreed not to and also convinced Mama Safe of the wisdom of this. She and the Major talk to the owners and people, who I hope understood.

We leave and return to the hotel by 12:30 PM in the early afternoon, a very light day. We believe that there was a failure in communication which prevented any numbers of cattle being treated today. CPT Coenen takes on the task of arranging the two “VETCAP” boxes with drugs and equipment so we can better find things. She is doing a great job. Don’t know about me.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Mujambo (Hello),

On the way to breakfast the spider monkeys are on the roof of the passageway between our wing of the hotel and the lobby and dining room/bar.


I stop to take a couple of more pictures of a mother and baby suspended on her chest, and another who is eating mango or papaya right outside the window. The light is not good so the flash automatically goes off, scaring them. Malaria prevention day for me so I take my weekly mefloaquine (Lariam) pill in the morning with breakfast.

We depart at usual time, stop at Ministry office to pick up Mama Safe, Freddy and the others and head back south to Pongwe, taking the “shortcut route” to the site that we departed on yesterday. A few cattle are there, supposedly restricted by arrangement to no more than 100 today at the “crush” site. We are to concentrate on goats and sheep, which we do. We begin by administering FMD vaccine (2 ml rather than the cow 3 ml dose SQ), ivermectin injectable, and Drop-On pour on deltamethrin. Quite a “goat rope” as the Massai capture them by their hind or front legs, one to three at a time and bring them up to us to treat and then be marked with a crayon. We adjust the dose of the ivermectin and pour on to the smaller size of the animals, some are babies and others more mature and of some size, including a few Billies. The ivermectin sting some of them quite badly when administered SQ, with a few running off and rolling on the ground or twisting their necks pretty wildly.

I find one goat who is three-legged lame, not sure if it relates to the SQ injection it obviously received (blood from injection site on neck) or from injury received at same or earlier time. It would bear weight on that leg if the other leg was held up but went back to non-weight bearing lameness when let go. Could not palpate a fracture or dislocation, so I gave that goat to over to the Lord and moved on. We end the day pretty early, about noon or so.

Two sick cows to look at. A mature milk cow with fever of 105.9 degrees F in good flesh and “sick for three weeks.” CPT Coenen and I do a physical exam: lungs clear, HR = 72 BPM, not anemic on vuvlar or oral mucoas and no signs of vesicles or erosions; peripheral lymph nodes not enlarged above those we feel on all the cattle that we have felt. She is not pregnant; her right rear quarter is hard but not inflamed and the milk is not abnormal. We treat with injectable oxytetracylcline and give enough to repeat the treatment for two more days, and give a multivitamin injection.

The other animal is a calf about 180 kg who is weak and has clear nasal discharge. The pre-scapular lymph nodes are very enlarged, about the size of a small orange. One of the animal health workers points out that the parotid lymph nodes are also enlarged. Temperature is 102.9 degrees F, not clinically anemic and no erosions/ulcerations/vesicles on oral mucosa. We diagnose East Coast Fever and treat with buparvanone (Bulalex). Based on what Dr. Mwossa told me, if we were being paid for this call we should get it now; the chance for survival is not good. We also give that one over to the Lord and to her Massai owner, and then depart. We took a blood sample in an EDTA tube from the cow and intended to do a smear to look for RBC parasites but managed to not get that done today; will try tomorrow and perhaps add ECF treatment to her if we have the chance to get it to the owner.

Kwaheri! ("Good Bye" in Swahili)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Departed Mkonge Hotel at about 8 AM and proceeded south of Tanga to Pongwe where we left the hard paved road in the middle of town and turned right through a “farmers market” of produce that was very lively. We then headed into the country where the scene shifted markedly from previous days. Now we are in more “farming country” with sisal plantations (not well tended) and cultivated corn (passed a field of > 4 acres), plus some houses that appear to be more prosperous, of brick construction but far between. Gives the feel of a “plantation.” We get to a dip tank and crush area with several Massai tribesman there, confirmed by our driver from Dar named Menonu. Mama Safe from the Ministry of Agriculture is upset that the “crush” allows the cattle to step outside the foot bath area because the poles are set to the side of the concrete, not in the holes in the pipe that was set in concrete. Nonethless we proceed and eventually work about 500+ animals but at slower pace than previously.

The Massai are good “cowboys” (and “cowgirls” - more than in previous days), but the crush is problematic and only holds about 5-7 animals at a time. By mid afternoon they are gathering individual animals outside of the gathering pen for us to pour on or vaccinate with FMD and inject with ivermectin. This being done by the younger Massai or women while the others still try to work them through the chute. Eventually they weary of it and start picking off individuals in the holding pen and catching with ropes or hand power to manhandle and then we injection and pour on. Many ticks including what appear to be Boophilus and perhaps, what I’m told is the Heartwater Bont tick Amblyoma (another tells me it’s Ripecephalus, the vector of East Coast Fever). Will send pictures to the parasitologists at NCSU for key out. We eventually work 500+. The chief Massai wants CPT Coenen’s phone number, dirty old man that he is despite his robes and dignity. We head back a different way, getting to Pongwe on back roads that get us to the hard ball quicker and more to the north than where we originally turned off. We reach the hotel and some of us meet a travel agent to discuss possible group travel to Zanzibar over the weekend. Then a group, including newly arrived “Combat Camera” specialists (Air Force) go to the “Hippopotomus” restaurant (Kiboko…in Swahili) for a pleasant supper and several beers (I drank Serengeti).

Monday, July 28, 2008

Left at 8 AM, usual time for VETCAP departure from Hotel Mkonge, in convoy of four SUV’s and one van. Picked up Ministry of Agriculture (Livestock?) folks including Mama Safe and “Freddy” plus others to head to Pongwe site, same as Friday. We are told to expect 900 animals but by the end of the sunny, hot day we have worked >1400, including 40 owned by one of the Ministry extensionionists to whom we give 40 doses of FMD vaccine and enough injectable ivermectin to treat 40 cattle @ 400 kg; good deal for him. I get some sun on my face, neck and arms as the temperature gets into the 90’s (F) by my estimate.

Amanda Coenen and I are asked to inspect two goats who will be slaughtered for lunch. We do an antemortem inspection and then a post mortem, with able assistance from one of the Ministry personnel who is pretty spiffy at finding the parotid and retropharyngeal lymph nodes. Despite the busted gut and hair on the carcass, we pass them both as essentially healthy. I am befuddled by feces in the spiral colon I mistake for a lymph node chain, but other than that don’t look too bad. At lunch, which is not ready until about 4 PM, the boiled meat, liver, bananas and cucumbers / onions are not too bad although I pass on the liver, as always.

We finish up and return to the hotel. I commandeer Menano, our driver, to take me to the Tourism kiosk in town to ask for location of Commonwealth Graves Commission cemetery. Same guy there on Saturday tries to talk me into getting him to tour me there rather than showing me on the map. I decline and will find it on my own. After cleaning up and sending emails to Mother, Twila, and also to Family and Friends along with pictures, I walk to the Tanga Yacht Club and have fish and chips along with a Bushmills and water and then a Tusker Beer for supper. All in all a good day.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Lazy day for the most part as it started. Breakfast in the hotel Mkonge which is good followed by relaxing morning. Walk to cemetery with both UK and German graves from both WWI and WWII (UK only that we found), but apparently not the Commonwealth Graves Commission cemetery listed on the flier posted on the hotel bulletin board. SFC Berks and CPT Coenen and I walked a clockwise route and took in the cemetery that is primarily a civilian site with some military interspersed. One area contains the graves of some killed in a plane crash at Pangani in May (5?), 1954, including a diplomatic currier and a husband-wife couple. All buried in a row. A few Jewish graves, none of which had been vandalized or desecrated, although a few of the Christian graves of much more recent burial, i.e. 2006 showed signs of vandalism such as a cross being broken.

That afternoon CPT Coenen and I inventory the remaining drugs, vaccines and equipment for the rest of the seven days’ work and find that we have 6,300 doses of Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine (enough for 900 cattle/day; not enough at current rate of > 1300), 9,795 doses of ivermectin injectable 1% solution (enough for 1,399/day), and 5,000 doses of Veridium (isometamidium Cl for treatment/prevention of trypanosomiasis; sufficient for 714/day; we only used it the first 2-3 days and not since). We alert LTC Pope that we may need to let Mama Safe (pronounced Safay) know that we may face running out of vaccine, or need to order more from Dr. Mwassa in Dar es Salaam. We have enough reusable needles, 259 to treat 9,065 cattle @ 35 injections/animal, or 1,295/day. Probably enough.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

New site with numerous cattle to be worked. Left the hard paved road and travelled well into the countryside north of Tanga. A circular corral had been built using Acacia tree limbs and branches; thorns made it not unlike barbed wire. A chute / “crush” had been constructed at the opposite end from the entry to the circular Acacia corral. We worked about 1300+ cattle through by 1730 hours when we departed. Protocol was same as yesterday: injectable ivermectin, FMD vaccine, and pour on deltamethrin. Because ivermectin was running low I returned to Hotel Mkonge to retrieve more. Previous resupply mission retrieved additional FMD vaccine. Round trip took about 1.5 hours. When I returned they had run out of ivermectin 10 minutes ago. Locals provided some cooked goat and banana for lunch.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Went to a new site today with a more sturdy “crush” and larger, more “Brahma” acting cattle. More like working them in the southeastern US with typical Brahama cattle cries when they are in the chute being vaccinated, etc. Vaccinated 377 for FMD and treated with ivermectin injectable plus pour on permethrin derivative (deltamethrin) Bayer product “Bayticol.” One calf with lymphadenitis was bled and blood heparinized and EDTA preserved for smear tomorrow for East Coast Fever, trypanysomiaisis. Getting there north of Tanga we drove through several villages with cultivated areas of corn and cassava. I noticed what appeared to be number of ricin plants growing off the road. Several large centipedes / millipedes in the area.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Last day working in Pande area at “crush” with dip tank. I vaccinated via water inoculation about 2,000 chickens and ducks with LaSota NCD vaccine. The people lined up to get the vaccine which was reconstituted in 1000 ML sterile water to make 1 ml = 1 animal. CPT Coenen worked several hundred for vaccination with FMD and tx with ivermectin injectable at the crush. Went to supper at at the Kiboka (Hippopotamus) restaurant across the road. President Mikweke of Tanzania was visiting next door to the Mkonge Hotel where we are staying. We listened to him delivering a speech as we walked to the restaurant. Fairly large number of folks and cars outside the venue of the speech.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Third day of working cattle at the crush and dip tank. Amanda Coenen went to vaccinate chickens while I stayed to work the cattle. Back at the hotel I send an email and some photos to friends and family back home, including


(1) some of the meds we are administering (isometamidium Cl injectable for trypanosomiasis /"Nagana", ivermectin injectable dewormer),


(2) abscessed lymph node on animal suggestive of prior bought with East Coast Fever (Theileria parva infection),


(3) engorged tick removed from cow with > 2 ml blood taken from tick (plenty more left), and


(4) an animal going through a dip tank after other medications.

We take our cues from the Tanzania vets who asked for certain meds and support, which we provide. Pour on ectoparacides are being used most other places but in this location they wanted to use the dip tank, which occasionally gets a dog thrown in for good measure.

My connection is slow and may not handle all these photos but will try. This is the closest to a blog I can do right now.

All the best -- Jim Floyd
Tanga, Tanzania - VETCAP mission

Friday, July 18, 2008

Worked cattle in Panda district outside of Tanga. About five groups of cattle, each about 60-80 in size. The locals beat the hell out of their cattle once they are in the corral in order to get them in the “crush” line in front of the dip tank that each animal must jump into and then swim through. It had been charged with new insecticide, which apparently was a permethrin base (a bottle was left outside). They only recharge it once every few months. They threw one of their dogs in to the dip and he frantically tried to get up the side until one of the men prodded him toward the end where he could step out. Close call. The last group of herders was better at moving the animals into the crush; they moved them as a group instead of individuals.

The crush is poorly designed with sharp angled corners that do not promote the cattle rolling into the crush entrance. It has a concrete floor with wooden posts spaced at about four feet intervals and wooden branches tailed into two horizontal rails. The cattle are almost all Indicus with the largest ones being about 150 kilograms. Very small calves which in the southeastern US would be no more than a few weeks old are 3-5 months old according to the local extensionist who worked with us.

CPT Coenen and I started out administering the drugs, she the isometamidium (Veridium, Samorin) injectable for Nagana (trypanosomiasis) from the right side of the crush and I the injectable ivermectin from the left. The two extensionists Freddy and Ma Safe eventually took over the ivermectin duties while I helped recharge syringes, change needles, and mix up additional isometamidium.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

After a night in the swank Addis Ababa Sheraton Hotel, I prepare to fly to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I get a better view of Addis in the day light as the shuttle leaves at 8 AM with much traffic and people traveling to work and school. Near the hotel is some sort of palace with royal symbols in gold metal wrought into metal fences painted black otherwise. Guard towers manned by soldiers confirm it is of some importance. Arrive at the airport and wheel my back with a cart into the airport, assisted by a porter among the many who automatically assumed the task. I carry a full green duffel bag and my carry on Samsonite brief case that I also took to Desert Shield/Storm in 1990/1. It has held up and allows me to carry books well, although it does get heavy and does not convert to a back pack with straps. I get my ticket and check my bag in straightforward fashion, then proceeding through customs with little difficulty. I board Ethiopian Airlines in Seat #1A (first class again) and sit next to a European Union official from Germany who is pleasant company and who has lived in several African countries.

Mount Kenya appears above the clouds to the left of the airplane. I have a good view from my left side window seat. Closer to Dar we see the ocean and a substantial body of land some distance offshore with a large airport I suspect may be our destination. However, we proceed and do not land there, so it must be Zanzibar which is heavily populated and has such an airport that I later confirm on a map. The plane will go there next after its stop in Dar es Salaam.

After landing we unload, go through customs and wait for bags to unload. I identify Sergeant First Class who is waiting for me outside and we wait, and wait, and wait. It took about an hour for the bag to come out. I was not too worried since most others on the flight were also waiting. I walk out and SFC advises me to change some US dollars into Tanzania shillings; the others converted $2,000 so I do the same and get 2,120,000 shillings in two large stacks of 10,000 shilling notes that the clerk counts out with a machine. I then must also get a passport photo taken to complete the application for my Tanzanian temporary veterinary license, which we do at a close by shop for 3,000 shillings. Not a good picture but what you get is what you are.

We go to the US Embassy to meet the some of the others in the Team who flew down the day before on a C-26. I was the odd one out who would have put us overweight, so I got to fly commercial and spend the night in Addis. We leave the embassy and head to the vet supply business owned by Dr. Mwassa, who goes over the order with us. Amanda Coenen had met him yesterday after she arrived from Djibouti and had discussed it.

There had been a problem with the contract since he had not been assured of payment for the approximately $60,000 order including anti-trypanosomal, anti-theilerial, antibiotics (oxtytetracyline, penicillin-streptomycin, lincomycin, anthelmintics [injectable ivermectin and oral albendazole], and wound spray [furazolidone + gentian violet]). I think that’s all. Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine and Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) vaccine not delivered; to be delivered later. FMD vaccine has to be made to order and has shorter shelf life. Also we get Newcastle Disease (NCD) vaccine for poultry that is water delivered not ocular administration. It’s a modified live vaccine (MLV) which needs to be refrigerated but I have serious doubts about the “cold chain” up to this point and our ability to keep one from here on.