MINEPIA and partner laboratories concerted in Yaounde at the weekend on their efficient use.

The government of Cameroon has acquired surveillance kits for diseases in wild animals which could help detect the ailments in the beasts from a distance and pre-empt their transmission to man. Samples of the kits comprising those that can take temperatures of animals at a distance of three metres as well as specimen of food and animals for laboratory were presented in Yaounde on Friday September 19 during a workshop between stakeholders to seek ways of rendering the system efficient especially with threats of the dreaded Ebola virus looming in the country.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, the Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr Taiga, disclosed that studies have shown that 75 per cent of the emerging diseases that affect man come from animals. The Minister said in countries already hit by Ebola and other animal diseases, wild animals are the first affected. “In the midst of this, there was need to put in place an active surveillance system for intense hunting zones. We cannot wait to be attacked before reacting. We are already in partnership with big laboratories and we need therefore to work as a team to jointly win the battle against the dangerous animal diseases,” Dr Taiga said.

He added that the acquisition of the kits and putting in place of the active surveillance system for wild animals is just reinforcing what his ministry and laboratories like Centre Pasteur and Global Virus have been doing over the years to prevent animal diseases from affecting man.

The Director General of Global Virus, Ubald Tamofe, said Cameroon is part of a USAID programme launched in 2009 wherein a surveillance project was in place for detecting emerging germs that could affect wild animals and then man so as to safeguard the country’s ecology.