Consumption of cattle with viral disease detrimental for humans
The viral infection, lumpy skin disease (LSD), has victimised Sindh’s livestock and the provincial government is enacting measures to prevent its spread but an effective solution may lie in a vaccination drive, an expert of infectious disease control said.
The Sindh government has put an immediate ban on the running of cattle markets in various parts of Sindh including Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Mirpur Khas, Sukkur, Jamshoro and Sanghar - with more than 20,000 animals across the province affected by the disease and 54 cattle dead due to it. The problem is exacerbated due to the dumping of animal corpses in public, particularly in the Memon Goth area of Gadap Town in Karachi. Not only does the area reek as per the area’s residents but the dead animals have become food for birds and stray dogs which will only further the spread of disease, as per experts.
Pakistan Infection Control Society (PICS) President Professor Dr Rafiq Khanani, has said that the consumption of meat and milk obtained from cattle infected with LSD is detrimental to human health and should be completely avoided.
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Discussing the disease, Dr Khanani, informed that it is a contagious skin disease caused by the capripoxvirus virus. “The disease mainly affects sheep, goats, cattle, and buffaloes and can be easily transmitted from one animal to another,” he explained. According to Dr Khanani, the virus causes thick lumps on the skin of cattle, similar to the chickenpox disease which affects humans. “After lumps appear on the animal’s body, blood-sucking insects stick to the animal’s body and transfer the disease when they bite other animals,” the infectious disease expert informed. Cautioning against consumption of cattle with the disease, the expert said, “the meat of an animal that dies from a viral infection is harmful because the virus damages all the organs and flesh of its body. Therefore, delicacies like barbeque, although appealing, should be avoided because whilst cooking the meat might not get the proper heat required to kill bacteria.” While the viral LSD causes bacterial infections, it also results in death for severely ill animals as per Dr Khanani. He said that control modalities for LSD include vaccination and culling of infected animals. “A similar outbreak was only prevented in Southeastern Europe by a vaccination program. There are laboratories in Pakistan where the vaccine can be made if the government is serious about controlling its spread,” Dr Khanani told the Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2022.