Animal husbandry dept starts vax drive against lumpy skin disease for cattle in state
Last year, in Maharashtra, seven lakh cattle were infected and over 35,000 cattle succumbed to the infection
PUNE As fresh cases of lumpy skin disease (LSD) have been reported the animal husbandry department has rolled out a stock of at least 75 lakh vaccine doses in the state. A stock of 6 lakh vaccine doses has been received by Pune district last week for the vaccination of cattle against the viral infection.
Last year, in Maharashtra, seven lakh cattle were infected and over 35,000 cattle succumbed to the infection.
LSD, a contagious viral infection that affects cattle and causes fever, nodules on the skin, and also leads to death, was first reported in 2019 in the state of Odisha. It is a vector-borne disease that primarily spreads among animals by biting insects, such as mosquitoes and biting flies. Having infected animals in close proximity to healthy ones aggravates disease spread.
Sheetalkumar Mukane, joint commissioner, animal husbandry, said, “This year the government aims to prevent the LSD havoc amongst the cattle population similar to the past year. To prevent this immunisation of cattle against LSD has been started.”
As per the officials this year till May, 3,450 fresh cases of LSD were reported in Maharashtra. Currently, there are 27 suspected cases in Pune district. In 2023, thousands of cattle in Pune district were infected with the disease and 1,400 cattle succumbed to the infection, said officials of the animal husbandry department.
Mukane, further, said that vaccination is the only way to prevent the spread of LSD amongst the cattle. “Maharashtra has a cattle (cow) population of 1.39 crores and three districts Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik have the highest number of cattle population. More than 65 lakh doses will be distributed in the state for immunisation. We aim at immunising the entire cattle population in the state to prevent an outbreak this year,” he said.
The animal husbandry department has started coordination with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Zilla Parishad and local administration for strict implementation of biosecurity and sanitary measures including vaccination, movement control of animals whenever required.
Shekhar Singh, PCMC commissioner, on Friday, conducted a review meeting of the LSD disease situation.
PCMC has reported 27 suspected LSD cases. A stock of around 1,000 doses of LSD vaccine has been received by Pimpri-Chinchwad.
“The suspected cattle are treated by the veterinary department. To prevent the outbreak of LSD preventive measures like vaccination, treatment and surveillance have started. Two squads have been formed for LSD disease management and prevention. Awareness programme for prevention measures of LSD amongst the cattle owners has been started,” said, Sandeep Khot, deputy commissioner of PCMC.
Vishnu Garje, district animal husbandry officer, said, “Being a vector-borne disease, lumpy cases usually start rising with the advent of summers and peaks during monsoons and immediately after that.”
“Pune district has a population of 8.46 lakh cattle and we have received a stock of 4.26 lakh vaccine doses. The vaccine has been distributed to our 227 vaccine hospitals across the district. The immunisation of the cattle in the district has been started. To date, we have vaccinated over 1 lakh cattle. Currently, there are no active LSD cases in Pune rural area,” he said.
