14 years ago
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Posted
2nd March, 2012 14h12
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Federation for Animal Health (IFAH) are working to establish the first published pharmaceutical standards for medicines used in treating Animal African Trypanosomosis, commonly known as Nagana.
Transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly and other blood-sucking insects, Nagana is a fatal animal disease capable of decimating the herds that African smallholders depend on for their livelihoods and which worldwide is estimated as causing economic losses of up to $4.5 billion each year.
"The use of substandard drugs to treat Nagana not only leaves farm animals inadequately protected from the disease, but also permits the evolution of tougher, drug-resistant strains when insufficient doses are used," said FAO chief veterinary officer Juan Lubroth, who heads the UN agency's Animal Health Service. "And it can pose a threat to human health if harmful chemical residues accumulate in meat or dairy products that enter the food chain."
