NEW DELHI, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Many Indian states are at present battling the outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD).
The disease has worried cattle owners and farmers equally who are watching their cattle dying of LSD.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), LSD is a vector-borne pox disease in domestic cattle and Asian water buffalo, characterized by the appearance of skin nodules.
LSD is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), a member of the genus Capripoxvirus (CaPV) within the family Poxviridae. It is similar to the viruses that cause goat pox and sheep pox.
LSD is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes, or ticks and through contaminated food and water. The disease causes acute fever, discharge from the eyes and nose, salivation, soft blister-like nodules all over the body and difficulty in eating.
The disease is marked by a reduction in milk yield and leads to the animal's death.
Experts say the outbreaks of LSD cause substantial economic losses in affected countries. While all stakeholders in the cattle industry suffer income losses, poor, small-scale, and backyard farmers are hit the hardest.
"The disease impacts heavily on cattle production, milk yields, and animal body condition. It causes damage to hides, abortion, and infertility. Total or partial stamping-out costs add to direct losses. Indirect losses stem from restrictions on cattle movements and trade," the FAO said.
Veterinarians say LSD causes lumps on the body of the animal and when mosquitoes and flies sit on those lumps, they carry and transfer the infection to healthy animals.
LSD was endemic in many African countries for years and has spread to other parts of the world over the years.
According to an FAO report, the disease first appeared in India in 2019.
This year the outbreak was first reported in Gujarat, following which it spread to neighbouring Rajasthan and beyond.
Nearly 6,000 cattle have died so far in Rajasthan due to this disease and more than 120,000 cattle, mostly cows, have been infected. Likewise, 2,600 cattle in Gujarat have died so far from the disease and nearly 70,000 cows have been affected.
Apart from this, thousands of cattle, mostly cows, are affected in various states across India because of the outbreak. The disease has also taken a heavy toll on the cattle in other states.
Officials say the actual number of cattle deaths due to LSD was difficult to obtain.
Farmers and cattle owners in both Gujarat and Rajasthan alleged that the local governments did not act fast enough to check the spread of the disease.
However, officials in both states said they were swift in their approach to the outbreak and initially started giving the goat pox vaccine to the cattle.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 10, India launched an indigenous vaccine to contain the outbreak.
The vaccine, Lumpi-ProVac Ind was launched by federal agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
The federal ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare said the vaccine launch has provided "a big relief to the livestock of the country."
According to the ministry, research institutes have been engaged in developing the vaccine ever since the disease came to India in 2019.
Tomar has directed officials to provide the vaccine in large numbers at the earliest for relief to the cattle.
According to official estimates, the total bovine population in India is over 300 million.
Tomar said plans were afoot to commercialise the vaccine and launch mass vaccination, especially in states where cattle deaths have been the highest.
However, until that is completed, farmers and cattle traders have reasons to worry and have to bear the losses.
Reports said currently a vaccination drive is underway and so far over 1.7 million cattle have been vaccinated in these affected states.
Local governments in the affected states have set up control rooms to monitor the LSD outbreak and roped in veterinary scientists to issue expert advice.
Federal government teams have been deputed to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab for taking first-hand information about the outbreak of LSD, and states have been asked to strictly implement advisories and biosafety measures, restriction of movement and isolation of infected cattle, monitoring of stray animals besides safe disposal of infected carcasses. ■
