Since outbreak, 2,100 cases, nine cattle deaths due to lumpy skin disease in Yamunanagar
Days after its outbreak in Haryana in July-end, as many as 2,100 cases of lumpy skin disease have been reported in Yamunanagar district with nine animals dying after the infection till Saturday.
Days after its outbreak in Haryana in July-end, as many as 2,100 cases of lumpy skin disease have been reported in Yamunanagar district with nine animals dying after the infection till Saturday.
Almost half of them have been recorded only in the Radaur sub-division while 300 such cases have also appeared in neighbouring Ambala district too, mostly in the Barara sub-division in the same period, officials said.
Importantly, department doctors have termed the milk produced by such infected cows as totally safe for human intake, provided it is pasteurised before use.
Experts said that the viral disease, which was first reported in 2019 in West Bengal, is spread by bloodsucking insects, certain species of flies and through contaminated food and water causing acute fever, discharge from the eyes and nose, salivation, difficulty in eating and leading to soft blister-like nodules all over the body.
The cases reported are according to the figures provided by the animal husbandry and dairying department, but the numbers could be higher, people familiar with the matter, said.
The sudden spread of infection has left herders in the north Haryana region worried with a gradual reduction in milk yield and rumours taking the upper hand.
Rishi Pal, president of the Kanwala dairy complex in Ambala, said, “The department has asked us to inform them and take treatment accordingly, but many of his colleagues are hiding the cases and taking treatment at their own level.”
“We are maintaining the hygiene and taking measures to avoid the infection at our dairies. I’ve already vaccinated most of our livestock and will contact the department in case of virus contraction,” he said.
A farmer from Darwa dairy complex in Yamunanagar said that due to the pathetic hygiene situation near the civic body-run complex, they are anxious of higher chances of transmission.
Dr Satbir Singh, SDO, department of animal husbandry and dairying, Yamunanagar, said that the deaths reported in the district are not only due to the lumpy disease alone, but due to a mix infection mostly adding with a secondary bacterial infection or some already existing disease.
“Almost all of the infections reported here are in foreign or cross-breed of the cattle, lasting for 10 to 14 days, while local breeds are less immune to the disease and the recovery is faster in the latter case,” he said.
Dr Singh also believes that any vaccine usage at this point of time is useless, as the infection has an incubation period of 30 days and may last for the next two weeks.
“We have advised the dairy farmers to segregate the infected animals and use mosquito nets to avoid transmission through flies,” he added.
Madan Mohan Chauhan, mayor, Municipal Corporation Yamunanagar-Jagadhri, told the reporters that a tender to clean the area in Darwa is under process and they are keeping an eye on the developing infection situation.
