Zvimba villagers are living in fear as their cattle are dying in large numbers with some suggesting that they could be dying from COVID-19.
Some villagers who spoke to Pindula News said the mortality rate was high in Kutama village.
Asked if Veterinary officers were assisting them, they said the officers were clueless. Said, one villager:
_They are clueless. They are also surprised._
Meanwhile, a study “Experimental Infection of Cattle with SARS-CoV-2” conducted by Lorenz Ulrich, Kerstin Wernike, Donata Hoffmann, Thomas C. Mettenleiter, and Martin Beer of Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Insel Riems, Germany, observed that under experimental conditions, cattle show low vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Six (6) cattle were inoculated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and kept together with 3 uninoculated cattle.
They observed viral replication and specific seroreactivity (the reactivity of blood serum, especially to a virus.) in 2 inoculated animals, despite high levels of preexisting antibody titers (concentration) against a bovine betacoronavirus. The in-contact animals did not become infected.
The study concluded that in regions with large cattle populations and high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans, such as the United States or countries in South America, close contact between livestock and infected animal owners or caretakers could cause anthropo-zoonotic infections of cattle, as the case is for highly susceptible animal species such as minks, felids, and dogs.
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