"The Kenya News Agency reported on Sunday that Kenyan sheep farmers could lose a third of their stock following an outbreak of blue tongue. The agency said farmers in the Kajiado and Laikipia districts of the Rift Valley province are already reported to have lost 10 per cent of their sheep because of the viral blue tongue disease, which is spread by mosquitoes. Blue tongue disease was last reported in Kenya in 1905.

Vaccines have been ordered from South Africa, where the disease is common. Farmers have also been advised to move their sheep away from marshy or waterlogged areas which are heavily infested with mosquitoes. Large areas of Kenya have been flooded by torrential rains in recent months from El Nino." -- Martin Hugh-Jones <mehj2020@vt8200.vetmed.lsu.edu> on ProMED-mail <promed@usa.healthnet.org>