NEW DELHI: Spread of infectious lumpy skin disease (LSD) among cattle is getting wider with animals in more and more areas getting affected by the disease that has already killed over 5,000 cattle in six states/UTs in the past one month. The situation may get worse in the coming days as vaccination efforts to control the spread of the virus will take some more time to reach the ground.
Though LSD is primarily a disease of cattle, emerging evidence suggests that it can also cause mild illness in buffalo, camel, deer and horse. Due to its recent spread in unnatural hosts, there are also growing concerns about its zoonotic implication, although confirmatory evidence of human infection is lacking.
Casualty figures from different states, compiled by the Centre, show that Rajasthan has reported the highest 2,411 deaths of cattle, followed by Gujarat at 1,879, Punjab at 672, Himachal Pradesh at 38, Andaman & Nicobar at 29 and Uttarakhand at 26.
The current outbreak is quite extensive and lethal with a mortality of up to 15%, particularly those being reported in western parts of the country including Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The Centre hopes the commercialisation of recently released indigenous vaccines — Lumpi-ProVaxInd — may be able to control the spread.