Lumpy skin disease continues to take toll on cattle

Over 1,700 cattle infected and 91 perished in Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI:

Lumpy skin disease continues to spread in cattle despite efforts by the livestock department to contain the infectious disease.

According to the agriculture department, several animals have died of the lumpy skin disease across the Rawalpindi district. Overall, 1,745 animals have been infected and 91 died of the lumpy skin disease in the district so far this year.

According to the official data, 3,000 animals will be vaccinated in the upcoming days. Veterinary doctors said that mosquitos, flies and ticks sitting on sick animals can lead to the spread of the disease in healthy animals.

A farmer from Mandira, Fawad Akhtar, said that his three animals including a buffalo and a bull died of the lumpy skin disease recently. Farmer Noor-ul-Uddin said that several farmers sell their animals to butchers as soon as they were diagnosed with the lumpy skin disease. He said that they were being butchered and their meat was being sold and consumed which was extremely harmful to human consumption.

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has also taken a notice of the death of a large number of cattle in his constituency Gujar Khan district. He has sought a report and issued instructions to the Punjab agriculture department to take immediate measures and assist farmers in containing infectious diseases.

Rawalpindi Agriculture Department spokesperson and Assistant Director Haroon Ahmed told The Express Tribune that they have been receiving complaints about the disease in animals from across the district. “We have formed teams consisting of veterinary doctors and field officials to inspect the livestock and vaccinate them.

Farmers said that the lumpy skin was becoming more prevalent and vaccine-resistant in the region.

They said that several vaccinated animals have also died and the livestock and agriculture department remain helpless in treating them.

According to experts, the lumpy skin illness is a viral dangerous disease. According to vet experts, it mostly affects cows, and does not pose danger to buffaloes.

At least laymen don’t know whether it affects bulls, goats and other cattle. For them, it is sufficient to know that so far there is no scare about the particular virus threatening the aforementioned categories of livestock. The virus mainly spreads through mosquitoes. If a mosquito bites a diseased cow, and if the same mosquito bites healthy cows, it could infect the latter. Air and water too are fast carriers of the virus.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2022.