Lumpy skin disease spreads again, 100 cattle deaths reported; Centre alerts states

Karam Prakash

New Delhi, May 22

With over 1,000 weekly fresh cases and 100 cattle deaths, the infectious Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), has started to spread in the country, once again. The disease, last year, had created havoc, across the country, by killing over 1.5 lakh cattle.

As of now, active cases of LSD in the country are hovering around 10,000. The union government, however, claimed that the situation was under control so far.

Officials told The Tribune that Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh were the worst affected states.

Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, which were among worst affected states last year, have reported no case of so far.

Union government officials have informed that all the states have already been alerted regarding the potential spread of the disease during the monsoon season, and directed them to expedite the vaccination.

Notably, Lumpy skin disease is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), which belongs to the genus capripoxvirus, a part of the poxviridae family (smallpox and monkeypox viruses are also a part of the same family). It does not transmit from cattle to humans.

Rajasthan has had ordered 1.5 crore vaccination from the union government.

Abhijit Mitra, Commissioner, Animal Husbandry Department, told The Tribune that deaths were being reported only in 5 per cent of the affected cases.

“The disease is not as deadly as it appears. Only those cattle – which have co-morbidities – die due to LSD,” said Mitra, adding that vaccination was the key to control the cases and deaths.

He said there was no shortage of vaccines for the LSD in the country.