OLAKUNLE AYINDE has never buried a cow. He “will never cut and burn expensive cattle because of ordinary sickness.” But he has buried two sons in a row. Timothy, three, died of “acute malaria” in 2014; and five-year-old John died of “body ache, typhoid and TB (tuberculosis),” the following year. Both kids were rushed to public health centres at the peak of their ailment. It was too late to save them.
Their deaths were not ordinary, argued Ayinde. “There is more to their demise than meets the eye. How can such healthy boys die off like fowls? Timo (Timothy) died young . The doctors said he had malaria. John had malaria and typhoid. He had TB (tuberculosis) too. His death was very painful. He died eight days before his sixth birthday. I was planning a big party for him, because we didn’t celebrate his fifth birthday. I intended to give him a treat.
I know what killed my sons. I know why they died. Won ta won lofa ni (They were victims of diabolic attack). My enemies at the abattoir,” said Ayinde.
The butcher accused foes at his former work place, a slaughter house in Agege, Lagos, of killing his wards. “But I have extracted recompense. Eni ba lo mo (My enemies have met their waterloo),” he said.
That is simply one way to examine Ayinde’s misery. On the flipside, the details are interesting to discern. The 46-year-old butcher and meat retailer believes typhoid and malaria are “necessary evils in every man’s life” hence they are not enough to warrant anyone’s death; his sons especially.
“If malaria and typhoid kills anyone, his death becomes suspicious. Those are normal ailments. Me, I do not experience malaria like before. I used to experience it at least thrice in four months. But since I changed my agbo (herbal cocktail) to a more potent one, I experience it, maybe twice or once in four months.
“My wife isn’t as strong as I am. She and my little girls are too buttered (fragile). They experience malaria very often because of mosquito bites. We live very close to the canal in Agege. They experience typhoid too because of bad water. Their body system is not as strong as mine. That is why I buy pure water (sachet water) for my family now. My wife sells it. So I simply urge her to bring several bags home,” he said.
Medical expert opinion however, contradicts Ayinde’s claims. The butcher probably infected his wards with zoonoses prevalent across the nation’s slaughter slabs, according to Adeyinka Otun, a medical doctor and public health specialist. Otun hinged her argument on the “reality and established fact” that abattoir workers often contract zoonotic diseases via insanitary conditions and meat processing methods of local abattoirs.
“They go on to infect friends, families and associates they come in contact with outside the walls of the abattoirs with zoonoses,” she said.
Otun said such zoonotic diseases include, Leptospirosis, Brucellosis, Salmonella, Bovine, tuberculosis, E.Coli among others.
Besides the possibility of contracting zoonotic diseases by unsanitary handling of meat and infected cattle, a more likely source of zoonoses in Ayinde’s family could be his penchant to toss uncooked parts of Fuku (cow lung) in his mouth and chew.
“We all do it. We do it to show our customers that the part is nice, crunchy and chewable. Many of us do it to convince our customers. Who doesn’t like fuku,” disclosed Ayinde.
Meat buyers in Lagos would attest to witnessing such act by their grocer. But wherever the fuku spots an unusual physical appearance, like some dark to grayish-white areas and elevations which may be protruding out of the surface of the cattle part, it shouldn’t be purchased. Not even if “the meat seller, in a bid to convince you that the meat is safe, cuts a little piece and then pops into his/her mouth to chew,” warned Kikiope Oluwarore, a veterinarian and public health consultant.
Dangers of eating Fuku Elegusi
Oluwarore warned that fuku, which remains a common favourite of beef eaters in Lagos and among the Yoruba tribe, is dangerous to health. Widely called fuku elegusi (because it is favoured with melon soup), it is regarded as a delicacy by sellers and consumers, because it lasts longer in the mouth as opposed to the normal (and healthy) lung that has a shorter chewing time due to its softer spongy consistency.
She identified fuku elegusi as a great health hazard for those who consume it or come in contact with it. She said: “Fuku is actually the infected part of cow lung that has been previously infected with tuberculosis disease…It is usually harvested for public sale and consumption from a butchered animal that had a chronic case of tuberculosis. Therefore, consumption of fuku elegusi provides a high, direct risk of getting infected with Tuberculosis disease.”
Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) is infection with tuberculosis that is specific to the bovine specie (cattle). It is also a disease of high prevalence with great importance in animal health and public health in Nigeria,” she said.
In fact, in standard developed countries and settings, the animal from which such fuku was harvested from for sale should be completely destroyed and disposed of, said Oluwarore, adding that the animal should never be slaughtered for public and human consumption.
In Nigeria, there is high prevalence of TB in humans, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Recent WHO statistics reveal that in 2014, about 160,000 people in Nigeria died from TB while 570,000 were living with the disease.
While the percentage of human TB infections that is attributable to Bovine TB is largely unknown, it is important to note that Bovine TB (TB transmitted form cattle to humans) and Human TB (TB transmitted between humans) have the same clinical signs and manifestation.
“And once any tuberculosis infection is established in the body of an animal or human, it spreads to infect sites and organs in the body such as include lungs, liver, kidney and intestines. This is the reason why eating such meat and offal that is infected with tuberculosis (including Fuku Elegusi) is very dangerous to our health,” argued Oluwarore.
In her peer-reviewed research article, Dr. Dupe Hambolu corroborates Oluwarore’s assertion stressing the high-risk behaviour of eating Fuku Elegusi amongst meat handlers. Hambolu interviewed butchers in Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage in Lagos State.
There, she found out that almost a quarter of the study participants actively ate Fuku Elegusi and more than 70 per cent of the study participants did not know that eating Fuku Elegusi could be a source of Bovine TB in humans.
And once any tuberculosis infection is established in the body of an animal or human, it spreads to infect sites and organs in the body such as include lungs, liver, kidney and intestines. This is the
How abattoirs pollute communal water
Besides fuku, there are several other sources of zoonotic diseases at the Oko Oba abattoir. Environmental impact assessment of effluents from the Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage, in Agege, Lagos revealed worrisome issues. In a recent study carried out by J.O Ojo of the
Department of Animal Production and Health Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ekiti State University, effluents samples obtained from the abattoir were analysed for physicochemical and bacteriological properties.
Water samples from the Abesan stream into which the effluents were discharged and groundwater samples around the area were also analysed. The results indicate that the abattoir wastewater is heavily polluted.
This level of pollution must be taken care of because the effluents will eventually end up in either available surface water or shallow groundwater, warns Ojo.
The import of Ojo’s warning is best illustrated by the sad incident that occurred last year, in Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA). In September 2016, six people died in Isolo, after consuming local Igbo delicacy, ‘abacha.’
The deceased were part of the 45 cases of cholera outbreak recorded in some communities of Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA).
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, said his office was notified of an upsurge in diarrhea diseases in Isolo.
“Following this, 45 cases were line-listed by the Epidemiology Unit of the ministry. Six deaths were recorded among the 45 cases. Majority of the cases did not present with the classical rice-water stool, rather they presented with atypical diarrhoea and vomiting.
“The main suspected source of infection is the salad called abacha, a staple food of the residents of Isolo LCDA and adjourning councils.
“Samples of the ‘abacha’ salad and well water were collected and sent to the Lagos State Drug Quality Control Laboratory for analysis. The report of the analysis revealed the presence of Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella species and E. Coli in ‘abacha’ and one of the two well water samples.”
Medical experts warned that abattoir effluent discharged into communal surfaces and waterways pose great danger to lives in the state. It pollutes well and borehole water, rendering them unsafe for consumption. It may also lead to cholera outbreaks in neighbourhoods, they said.
Cholera is an acute diarrhea disease with or without vomiting caused by a bacteria referred to as Vibro cholerae, and it is transmitted through ingestion of food or water contaminated with infective faeces.
Animal diseases afflict Nigerians
In the wake of the incident, veterinary experts have expressed concern at the increasing rate at which animal diseases are manifesting in Nigerians. The medical experts blamed the appearance of the diseases, medically known as “Zoonossis” to increased contact between humans and animals.
Bala Mohammed, a Veterinary Surgeon said that the zoonotic diseases were now affecting humans at a fast rate. He said the diseases are caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi that can cause different types of illnesses in people and animals ranging from mild to serious illnesses and even death.
“It is important to know that animals do not always appear sick when carrying a zoonotic diseases, many animals can appear healthy but still be carrying the germs that can make people sick,” he said.
Mohammed, who is also a former General-Secretary of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), blamed the appearance of new zoonotic pathogens in human populations on increased contact between humans and wildlife. He described the abattoir as a place where zoonosis could easily spread.
“The conduct of operations in our abattoirs calls for concern because it has a lot of implications on our lives.” He said that the issue with abattoirs and zoonotic diseases had been a serious problem that needed the upgrades of facilities at the abattoirs, which the government had neglected,”he said.
Indeed, recent studies across the country reveal gross contamination of slaughter slabs. This, according to public health experts imperil the lives of millions of Nigerians.
“There are lots of diseases that you get directly from animals through direct consumption of meat or secondary contamination from meat,” said Biodun Ojo, a vet doctor.
Why zoonotic diseases are often misdiagnosed as malaria/typhoid
Besides, Salmonella whose symptoms are often misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid symptoms, Brucellosis, a disease of livestock and cattle origin is also mistaken for malaria/typhoid, according to health experts. Its spread is worldwide and transmission to humans is by contact with fluids from infected animals or derived food products such as unpasteurized milk and cheese. The clinical picture of the disease in man is so strange. It is easily confused with other infectious and noninfectious diseases, leading to diagnostic delays and late onset of curative medical therapy.
A retrospective study of a two-year laboratory records of cases of brucellosis among patients with febrile illnesses resembling malaria and typhoid fever seen at the General out-patient department (GOPD), Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe between 2012 and 2014 substantiates the belief that the disease often presents with misleading symptoms.
Blood samples routinely collected from 246 patients revealed the prevalence of Brucellosis in patients presented with acute febrile illnesses resembling malaria and typhoid infections.
Brucellosis among the patients tested was considered to be high. Symptoms clinically thought to be malaria and/or typhoid fever were seen to be cases of brucellosis, according to findings by Kudi, Ahmed and Baba-Ali of the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Immunology Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe State and the Faculty of Science, Biological Science Department Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi,
Those suffering from the disease showed unspecific symptoms like fever, chills, malaise, headache, tiredness and weakness. Therapeutic failure and relapses, chronic courses and severe complications like bone and joint involvement, neurobrucellosis and endocarditis are characteristic for the disease.
About half a million human brucellosis cases are reported annually. However, according to WHO estimates, the true frequency of the disease is 10 to 25-times higher than the reported number. The highest annual incidence rates are reported from the Middle Eastern countries, such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. In Iran, where Brucellosis is endemic, the incidence of the disease is up to 34 per 100,000 per year in certain areas.
In Nigeria however, human brucellosis is hardly diagnosed in hospitals despite suggestions that the magnitude of the infection may be greater than appreciated, according to medical experts.
Besides, Salmonella whose symptoms are often misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid symptoms, Brucellosis, a disease of livestock and cattle origin is also mistaken for malaria/typhoid…The clinical picture of the disease in man is so strange. It is easily
Brucellosis is considered one of the most common global zoonoses.
Medical experts identify the disease as highly contagious. “It is spread through contact with aborted foetuses, vaginal fluids, placenta, placental fluids, and milk. Animals are the only significant source of human brucellosis, and transmission is via direct contact. Abattoir workers are particularly exposed to the disease,” said Maragaret Okon, a medical doctor.
The disease can also be transmitted by inoculation through cuts and abrasions in the skin. Slaughtering animals especially when the butcher has an injury has also been associated with brucellosis acquisition among abattoir workers.
Human brucellosis is indeed a worrisome ailment. This is because its clinical signs are often ignored or incorrectly interpreted, and as a result, human brucellosis is severely underreported. Eradicated in many developed countries after years of effort, brucellosis remains a major neglected zoonosis of low-income nations. Low rates of transmission are typical of brucellosis in extensive systems, and intensification increases the risk of transmission because of higher stocking densities, increased animal contact, and higher birth index.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with over 170 million human population and has an estimated livestock population of 20.49 million cattle, 23.07 million sheep, 28.07 million goats, 6.54 million pigs, 18,200–90,000 camels, and 210,000 horses.
Nigeria, India, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh account for 44 per cent of poor livestock keepers globally, with Nigeria ranking second on the list.
Zoonotic disease constitute major public health problem in developing countries; especially in Nigeria due to poor sanitary conditions, lack of inadequate portable water, weak regulatory systems, lack of financial resources to invest in safer equipment and lack of education of meat handlers. It is mainly transmitted through food or drink or water, contaminated with urine or faeces of infected people or a chronic carrier, according to the health experts.
Meat Safety: An imperative for public health
To check the spread of zoonoses across the country, the nation’s abattoirs need to be kept and maintained with the utmost hygiene, according to Babatunde Odusolu, medica doctor and public health consultant.
This is essential “to prevent development of diseases conditions in man such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, salmonella, hydatidosis, cysticercosis,” he said.
Odusolu identified the minimum requirement for a good slaughter house stressing that the location must be preferably away from residential areas, the structure of the floors and walls should be about 1meter (3 feet) and abattoir effluent and waste such as blood, offal, dung and so on should be collected separately for proper disposal.
More importantly, he emphasised the need for regular and dependable supply of clean water and the presence of qualified veterinary doctors to conduct ante mortem and post mortem examination on slaughtered cattle.
“The storage of meat should be in fly proof, rat proof bins, meat should be kept in cold room with temperature below 5 degrees and the transportation of meat should be in fly proof covered vans, the meat van specially designated for this purpose should be available.
“Contamination of meat from the slaughtered animal by microorganisms can occur when the meat gets contact with contents of the gastro-intestinal tract, equipment and utensils, workers garments and hands. There is a need to ensure proper training of abattoir workers and hygiene practice,” he said.
Consumer responsibility
The characteristics of a good meat are that it should neither be pale pink, nor a deep purple tint. It should be firm and elastic to touch, it should not be slimy and must have an agreeable smell. It is therefore important that consumers take note of this before they buy meat for consumption. After purchase of meat, it should be properly cooked which will help kill some of the microorganisms that the meat might inadvertently be exposed to,” he said.
When cooking is not enough
While Odusolu suggests properly cooked meals as a check on zoonotic diseases, recent findings suggest that even a well cooked meal does not guarantee adequate protection against animal to human infections. For instance, a microbiological assessment of fast foods sold in Lokoja, Kogi State revealed bacterial counts beyond the required levels stipulated by regulatory bodies responsible for food safety for cooked foods.
Four food samples: fried chicken, fried rice, meat pie and cake from four different fast food restaurants in the city were purchased and assessed microbiologically. Ten bacterial and four fungal species were discovered in the meal samples. The bacterial count of the food samples are indicative of poor personal hygiene while handling or processing food, according
to Patience Temitope Fowoyo and Ridwan Baba-Ali, of the Salem University.
This calls for a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s meat and food processing culture, according to health practitioners.
The characteristics of a good meat are that it should neither be pale pink, nor a deep purple tint. It should be firm and elastic to touch, it should not be slimy and must have an agreeable smell. It is therefore important that consumers take note of this before they buy meat for
The Federal Government has commenced the process of enacting a ‘Meat Hygienic Act’ to regulate the operations of abattoirs and slaughter slabs in the country. To this send, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Shehu Mohammed, disclosed that the move was to ensure the supply of healthy meat and other livestock products for public consumption.
“A more worthwhile step would be to involve abattoir workers in policy making. There is need to accommodate their views on why the entire abattoir system is collapsing. They should be encouraged to suggest practical solutions from their perspective.
This should be done to prevent a situation whereby they would feel rules are being imposed on them,” stated Idris Akogun, a public health consultant.
Until then, Nigerian abattoir operators will continue to work in flagrant disregard of environmental and health regulations. They will continue to situate abattoirs near water bodies, where access to water for meat processing is guaranteed.
Untreated animal blood, dung and slurry will be released into rivers and flowing streams while consumable parts of the slaughtered animals are washed directly into the water. Ultimately, the soil gets polluted with dung and the atmosphere with methane, a green house gas.
Manure also produces nitrous oxide, which is the most damaging of the green house gases, being 320 times more effective than carbon dioxide at holding heat in the atmosphere, according to environmental experts.
The effect of such uncontrolled disposal system, warns health experts, render surface and underground water systems unsafe for human, agricultural and recreational use. It also destroys biotic life, poisons the natural ecosystems and poses a threat to human life. This no doubt, contravenes the principles of sustainable development.
Wastes from slaughterhouses typically contain fat, grease, hair, feathers, flesh, manure, grit and undigested feed, blood, bones, and process water which are characterized with high organic levels. Scientific research reveals that, for every 1,000 kg of carcass weight, a slaughtered cow produces 5.5 kg of manure, excluding stockyard manure and 100 kg of paunch manure, that is, partially digested food.
The weight of a matured cow varies with size, ranging from 400 kg for a thin animal, 55 kg for a moderate one, to 750 kg for the extremely fat one. Thus a cow weighing 400 kg would have its carcass weight reduced to about 200 kg after slaughter. Furthermore, it loses about one-third fat and bone after passing through the butcher. Hence a 400 kg live weight animal will give about 140 kg of edible meat which represents only 35 per cent of its weight. The remaining 65 per cent are either solid or liquid wastes. And they are incautiously discharged into Nigeria’s waterways.
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