“World Zoonoses Day”celebrated by ICAR-KrishiVigyanKendra, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya
ICAR-KVK, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya organized awareness programme on the occasion of “World Zoonoses Day” in Aminda Rangsa village. World Zoonoses day is observed on 6th July every year to create awareness amongst people about zoonotic diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. People can get zoonotic diseases from contact with infected domestic animals, poultry, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and other wild animals. A common way for these diseases to spread is through the bite of a mosquito or tick.The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 61 percent of all human diseases are zoonotic in origin, while 75 percent of new diseases discovered in the last decade are zoonotic. Many of these diseases have potential to cover long distance and affect the world.They are now major global threat to public health and animal welfare. The recent outbreak of Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an example of such type of diseases. Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-borne disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus and spread primarily by the Culex mosquito. Humans are considered accidental hosts of the virus, that is, the virus primarily infects animals, namely pigs and water birds (herons, egrets). The last year’s outbreak of Nipah virus in Kerela is also an example of zoonotic diseases. Nipah virus was discovered when it caused a serious outbreak of viral encephalitis among pig farmers in Malaysia in 1998. The sudden spurt of zoonotic diseases in the last few years has caught the world unprepared. It includes Ebola hemorrhagic fever and microcephaly caused by Zika virus. Rabies is another very common such type of diseases infecting human that spread by mostly dog bite. Infection causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mainly in Asia and Africa. People are unaware especially in rural areas about the importance of anti-rabies vaccination in dogs. KVK organized the awareness programme to create preparedness among the villagers specially the livestock rearers. Around 40 villagers attended the awareness programme. Lectures were delivered by Dr. Sagarika Borah from KVK and Dr. Serenebell Momin from State Vety. Dept., Dadengre, West Garo Hills. The Programme was ended with vote of thanks delivered by Mr. Wanson Ch. Momin, village headman of the village.
