Gujarat is facing a lumpy virus outbreak on a large scale in 536 villages of Saurashtra and Kutch, including Rajkot. The virus pandemic has already claimed the lives of 144 cattle in the region. It is observed in 172 cows from 26 villages in the Rajkot district itself.
The government of Gujarat’s animal husbandry department and the administration have woken up to the challenge and started vaccinating the cattle on a war-footing basis. So far 25,900 cattle have been vaccinated in the region.
The economic implications of the disease can be severe due to its high morbidity rate. MIlk production is directly affected by the disease, even if one does not talk about the death of an animal. The lumpy skin disease is a disease affecting cattle often bringing serious economic implications in its wake due to the high morbidity rate.
Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that infects cows and buffaloes and is capable of creating major animal welfare issues. A vector-borne disease, it spreads through insects like certain species of flies, mosquitoes and even ticks. Lumpy spreads through contaminated equipment and in some cases through animal-to-animal contact. However, the disease does not pose a risk to human beings.
The lumpy virus is considered highly contagious. It recently played havoc in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalore, Pali, Jodhpur and Bikaner districts and in parts of Pakistan where more than 570 cows had died in the province of Sindh. The virus is spreading like covid among cows and buffaloes like COVID since r two months.
The lumpy virus was first discovered in Africa in 1929. Symptoms of the lumpy virus include fever and nodules on the skin that can also lead to death by lumps gradually opening up to expose large and deep wounds. The disease can create watery eyes and increase nasal and salivary secretions in affected animals.
