HATARI! WAFUGAJI KUTUMIA ARV (DAWA YA UKIMWI) KUNENEPESHA KUKU

The mouth-watering chicken that you eat in hotels and restaurants in Tanzania, Kenya-nairobi and its environs could be dangerous and deadly.

This is after it emerged that most of them are laced with Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs, which are meant to slow down the HIV virus.

According to the research carried out by Dr. Elloy Otieno, a veterinary doctor in Muranga, majority of farmers in Muranga and Kiambu Counties use ARV drugs to fatten their chicken which they often sell off after only four weeks.

The two counties are major suppliers of chicken and its environs.

“We have reliably established from our clients  that commercial broiler farmers are adding ARVs to broiler feed to enhance weight and are able to sell off birds at four weeks”, disclosed Dr. Otieno.

However, Dr. Otieno attributed the use of ARVs to fatten chicken to mere ignorance as ARVs are only meant for human beings and not birds and therefore could have serious ramifications to the consumers of chicken especially those who are not HIV positive.

Dr. Otieno noted that the farmers get the ARV drugs from the Ministry of Health through HIV patients, who register more than once to get the drugs but eventually sell them to the farmers.

But Muranga and Kiambu farmers are not alone because their counterparts in Uganda and Zimbabwe use ARVs to fatten pigs for commercial purpose.

So next time you go for chips and chicken in town, be careful as you could be taking an ARV dose unknowingly.