Nutritional biscuits.
I am a nurse and also run a group for small children. We teach them how to work and about the word of God. To gain their trust, at the end of the meeting we give them sweets that we make ourselves, or biscuits that we buy. These biscuits are expensive. We already have some ingredients like soya, flour, sugar. Do readers have recipes for making biscuits so that we can reduce our expenses?
Muanda Mimi Antoine, BP 277, Boma, Bas Congo, DR Congo.
Cattle disease
I am a health worker and use my spare time to help both peasant farmers and the large Bororo (cattle grazers) that live here in Kouhouat in the west of Cameroon.
Recently a cattleman came to me with this problem. There is a disease that is attacking cows. First the cow begins chewing its mouth seriously, the second day it starts to produce a lot of saliva and stops eating for several days. After a week the legs develop a problem and the cow will be unable to move for the next three weeks. It rests in the shade.
If it is a female with a calf, the quantity of milk will drop and then the milk will turn bloody. The calf will die if it is less than two months old. If the cow is pregnant, it will just deliver a stillbirth.
The cattlemen call it mborro. It spreads through infected pasture. I suspect this must be either a bacterial or viral infection. Does this occur in other countries? Does any one know the scientific name of this disease and where and how we can get either a vaccine or drug to treat this? At present there is no treatment and if one cow contracts this infection, then all the other cows in the herd will catch it.
Ngah Edward, CITEX Farmers, c/o BBH Box 9, Nso, NWP, Cameroon.
DR D E GOODMAN (CHRISTIAN VETERINARY MISSIONS) REPLIES:
The health condition you describe fits the description of foot and mouth disease. It should be confirmed by appropriate tests through the Government veterinary authorities as soon as possible. There is a vaccine available which may help to limit its spread. The disease is very contagious and animals should not be moved to other areas. Consider whether animals brought in from outside the area could be the original source of infection.
Christian Veterinary Missions provide a consultation service to give information on unknown infections in animals. They can send a form for farmers to fill in to enable CVM to answer their queries. Their address is:
CVM, PO Box 166, Turbeville, SC 29162, USA E-mail: cvmvetdrdeg@ftc-i.net
Beekeeping in Cameroon
We were pleased to discover Pas à Pas. We are members of the Apiarists of Cameroon (APICAM). We are a very active organisation formed 14 years ago and are keen to share our knowledge of beekeeping with Footsteps readers.
Ruben Ngwe, BP 14814, Yaoundé, Cameroon.