M Ammar Saleem
EID-ul-Adha or Greater Eid or feast of sacrifice, an important event in Islamic history celebrated every year in the month of Zil-hajj, done in order to acknowledge the desire of Ibrahim (AS) to fulfill the challenge of obedience to Allah by sacrificing his son Ismail (AS). Just to witness the devotion of Ibrahim (AS), God ordered to slaughter a lamb than sacrificing his son and from that day, Muslims all over the world as a prayer and to refresh the Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi, sacrifice animals to seek God’s acceptance. For that purpose, they move in cattle market just before the event and purchase animal for a sacred purpose. In doing so they are exposed to number of various zoonotic diseases. (Zoonotic diseases are those which are transferred from animals to humans).
The history of zoonotic diseases is 10,000 years old and in recent era, 75% of infectious diseases are due to zoonosis. Zoonotic diseases have contributed major losses to world economy. The latest infectious diseases which are spreading from last 15 years are Hanta, Ebola, Avian influenza, West influenza, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, influenza A and bacterial agents i.e. Bacillus anthracis and Yersinia Pastis which are causing plague and anthrax commonly in human population very rapidly. In less developed countries like Pakistan, the ratio is even more as according to reports, one out of seven livestock is infected with various group of diseases. Annually, 2.7 million human deaths and approximately 2,500,000,000 cases of human illness are recorded.
To control these diseases, simple and easy methods can be utilized and it needs awareness among the people of less developed countries. There are three type of preventive measure that one must adopt while interfering with animals regularly or occasionally. Proper personal hygiene depends only on the activity of individual and nothing to do with other perspectives. For safety, one must wash his hands before and after the handling of animal. Do not eat or drink in animal’s boundary like in cattle market. If lesions are seen with naked eyes on the surface of animal, then must not touch animals without gloves otherwise you are touching disease not a healthy animal. You must be wearing mask if you are allergic to bedding dust or animal dander or hair. If you are already sick, then there is no need to take risk of entering cattle market as you are more inclined to be infected than healthy persons.
If you are a cattle market worker, then wear gloves routinely. In case of any suspicious movement of animal, immediately inform the physician as it may be a symptom of any disease that you don’t know. The government duty or an owner of specified cattle market must maintain the environment of animal’s surrounding by keeping them clean and well organized. There must be a proper ventilation space for animals and workers. Floors must be protected from feed and bedding. Urine and fecal build-up should be vanished on an urgent basis in cattle market. Veterinary doctors must be available in the cattle market during the days of Eid when there is a large influx in market and health status animals should be examined on a daily basis. Dead or sick animals should be reported and must stay away or exiled from the market.
If problems like immobility, difficulty in breathing, diarrhea, and depression then these points should not be ignored and noted down separately. Progression or history of animal disease are also important points to consider for treatment. Vaccination, tick and flea control, enteric parasites periodic testing are helpful in protecting both the lives of human and animal. Consuming meat of affected animals would definitely lead to pathogenicity so fresh meat for sacrifice should be free of any abnormality. These steps do not cost much in implementation as safeguard policy. Just they demand care from an individual to state level and results would bear fruit.
