The viral infection outbreak in animals—Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD)—has claimed over 1,000 cattle in Gujarat so far, the latest State government showed.

The skin infection, that causes fever, formation of lumps on the skin of the animal, reduced milk production and even death in extreme cases, has so far infected 40,222 animals across 15 of the 33 districts in the State, as per government sources adding that total 1,021 cattle have succumbed to the disease so far. The disease was initially reported in Gujarat about a year ago.

Related to goat pox

The fast-spreading infection has sounded alarm-bells in the State administration, which has ramped up cattle vaccinations against the virus besides implementing the preventive measures such as identification and isolation of the animals. LSD is a dreaded disease caused by Capripox virus, which is closely related to the goat pox virus.

"We are keeping a watch on the spread of the disease. We have already started vaccinating the animals and so far about 3 lakh animals have been vaccinated with a pox virus vaccine," said a senior official from the Gujarat animal husbandry department.

As per the livestock census 2019, Gujarat has about 95 lakh cows and buffalo population. "The spread of the virus in milch cattle is a cause of concern as it is impacting the milk production," said the official.

First reported in 2019 in Odisha's Mayurbhanj, the disease was reported across several States during 2020-21. Currently, reports suggest that the viral infection has spread to Northern States such as Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. LSD is believed to be spread by blood feeding insects such as mosquito, bees/flies etc. There is currently no treatment and, hence, prevention by vaccination of the cattle is the only effective means to control the spread.

Ahmedabad-based animal vaccines maker Hester Biosciences Limited has repurposed its goat pox vaccine for LSD and started supplies to the government for administration.

The State Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister, Raghavji Patel had earlier stated that even as the State government has fast-tracked the vaccination, the infection has been reported from the districts of Saurashtra, Kutch and the South Gujarat region.

Meanwhile, the Centre said it is closely monitoring the spread of LSD and special teams have been sent to Gujarat and Rajasthan on Monday to review the situation. An official said that directions were issued to ICAR-NIHSAD, Bhopal and ICAR-NIVEDI, Bangalore to carry out the epidemiological investigation in the affected states.

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