Lumpy skin disease spreads to Rajasthan after Gujarat; over 3,000 cattle dead
The viral disease is spread by bloodsucking insects, certain species of flies and through contaminated food and water
More than 3,000 cattle have died of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in nine districts of Rajasthan. A senior official of the animal husbandry department said over 3000 cattle have died due to the viral disease and around 50,000 are infected.
The viral infection has spread to nine districts in the state, mostly adjoining Gujarat, which is the epicentre of this disease.
The state government has sent medical teams and allocated emergency funds for medicine.
The nine districts are Barmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Pali, Ganganagar, Nagaur, Siorhi and Jaisalmer. “The disease has no vaccination and treated symptoms based. The infection cases were first reported in Jaisalmer in May, which has now come under control. At present, the majority of cases are reported from Barmer, Jalore, Jodhpur and Bikaner,” he said.
Also Read: Gujarat: Lumpy skin disease outbreak in over 20 districts
The viral disease is spread by bloodsucking insects, certain species of flies and through contaminated food and water. The disease causes acute fever, discharge from the eyes and nose, salivation, soft blister-like nodules all over the body, marked reduction in milk yield, difficulty in eating, and sometimes, also leads to the animal’s death. The mortality rate for the contagion is 1.5%.
The official said though there is no vaccination for the disease, experiments are done with goat pox vaccine which has shown some results but it is not yet prescribed. The infected cows are currently treated with antibiotics.
Rajasthan has a cow population of around 1.4crore.
Department secretary, PC Kishan said the outbreak of this disease is more in the animals of Jodhpur division, although the death rate is not high and is 1.5%. He said that ₹1 lakh each to affected districts and ₹50,000 each to poly clinics have already been released to buy emergency essential medicines.
He added that state medical teams along with those from neighboring districts are being sent to the affected districts.
In Barmer, a total of 49,419 animals were surveyed in the affected areas, of which 10,261 were infected with lumpy skin disease, and 8,237 animals were treated on the spot while 2,711 recovered from the disease.
A total of 729 animals died due to this disease.
Hitting out at the state government, deputy leader of opposition, Rajendra Rathod said the disease has spread in many districts, especially in western Rajasthan such as Jaisalmer, Barmer, Nagaur, Hanumangarh, Sri Ganganagar, Ajmer, Kota, Pali, Sirohi, Jalore and Jodhpur. Due to gross negligence of the administration more than 51,000 cows have been infected and more than 4000 have died.
According to the 20th animal census, there are 5.68 crore livestock in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan is second in the country after UP in terms of livestock population and there are 1.39 crore cows in the state.
Rathod said it is unfortunate that the Ashok Gehlot-led government and animal husbandry department are not taking any effective steps to prevent this disease. The state government has not even issued any advisory/red alert/mobile team/crash programme for lumpy skin disease till now. Still hundreds of cows are on the verge of dying due to the disease, but the Gehlot government, which is only indulging in petty politics in the name of Gau mata.