Exclusive interview with WOAH: Lumpy Skin Disease – threats and solutions

Lakhs of cattle, mostly cows have been infected by the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in a few years since 2019 in India. The worldwide figure is far higher. According to various reports, LSD has caused lakhs of deaths and distress selling is causing huge losses to the farmers besides loss of livelihood.

The Indian government has launched a vaccine which it claims is effective and has rolled out a vaccination drive. However, the ground situation is alarming with most farmers unaware of any such drive. Amid this, seeing a lump on a stary cow (in a small town in Southern Odisha) causes immense fear among people, though experts have said that LSD does not affect humans and it is safe to consume the milk of infected cows. How serious is this threat and what is the way forward? MDDTimes got in touch with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) over these and more. Excerpts follow.

MDDTimes: What is LSD and how serious is this in 2022?

WOAH: Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a viral disease affecting mainly cattle and water buffaloes. It causes fever, nodules on the skin and can also lead to death, especially in animals that have not previously been exposed to the virus.

While it has been endemic in Africa, the disease presence in other regions is more recent. 10 new countries in Asia and the Middle East were affected this year, where nearly 15,000 cases in animals were detected. LSD poses no threat to human health but has devastating effects on production and farmers’ livelihoods. We therefore encourage our Members to remain vigilant and to timely report LSD outbreaks.

MDDTimes: How did it spread again – since 2019?

WOAH: Since 2019, LSD has been reported through our World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) by several countries around the world, mainly in Asia. Long-distance transmission can occur through the movement of infected cattle. In closer range, the transmission of the disease among cattle usually occurs through arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes, biting flies and ticks. The latter is the most likely hypothesis to explain the recent spread.

MDDTimes: Is this a new variant?

WOAH: This is not a new variant. To date, based on genetic studies, there are two different strains of lumpy skin disease viruses (LSDV) circulating in India. The virus strains isolated in India are related to Kenyan strains, which are different to those detected in some countries of the Eastern and South-Eastern parts of Asia.

MDDTimes: Is it related to COVID-19? To Monkeypox?

WOAH: LSDV, like sheeppox virus and goatpox virus belong to the genus Capripoxvirus. These family of viruses are distinct from SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, which is a coronavirus, or monkeypox virus which is a poxvirus. Moreover, in contrast to COVID-19 and monkeypox, humans cannot get infected by the LSD virus.

LSD has recently been reported first time in India with 7.1% morbidity among cattle. Generally, fever, anorexia, and characteristic nodules on the skin mucous membrane of mouth, nostrils, udder, genital, rectum, drop in milk production, abortion, infertility and sometimes death are the clinical manifestations of the disease. The disease is endemic in African and Middle East countries but has started spreading to Asian and other countries. It has been recently reported from China and Bangladesh sharing borders with India. –NIH, 2019

MDDTimes: What is the estimated impact on livestock in terms of loss in 2021/2022 in various countries and India? Are there any live trackers?

WOAH: Estimating the global burden of LSD can be challenging due to many factors, such as the variation across species, underreporting but also because of the difficulty to measure indirect impacts on the food production chain. Yet, we know that in 2021/2022, LSD outbreaks have led to the death and culling of over 43,000 domestic animals, according to the data reported to WAHIS.

A few studies can be found on the economic impact of LSD in some countries. A review on LSD and its economic impact in Ethiopia estimated significant financial losses, incurred by decreased milk and meat production, draught power, subsequent treatment and vaccination costs and higher mortality rates. LSD cases can also affect international trade of livestock and animal products, as countries implement trade ban to avoid the disease to spread to their territory.

Similarly, a study assessing the impact of poxviruses, including LSD, amongst farmers in Northeast Nigeria found that Farmers sold live cattle for 47% less than how much they would have if the animal was healthy, while sheep and goats were sold for 58 and 57% less, respectively. Milk production dropped 65% when cows were clinically affected and 35% after they recovered. Cattle lost a median of 10% of their live weight and sheep and goats lost 15%.

MDDTimes: What can be done to stop its spread in poor countries?

WOAH: A successful control and eradication of LSD relies on the early detection of the disease, followed by a rapid and widespread vaccination campaign. It is unlikely that total stamping-out (killing all clinically affected cattle and unaffected herd-mates) or partial stamping-out (killing only clinically affected cattle) alone, in the absence of vaccination, can eradicate LSD.

Nonetheless, in view of the potential to generate disease-causing strains of LSD with the use of poor-quality vaccines, WOAH stresses the importance of using only high-quality vaccines that have been approved and registered by the national registration authority, and in accordance with international standards.

MDDTimes: Any other thing you may wish to share. Anything to watch out for cattle owners, any new variants or disease.

WOAH: In case of LSD suspicion, cattle owners are encouraged to:

• notify the disease immediately to the local veterinarians or official Veterinary Services and seek professional advice;
• separate suspected case(s) from the rest of the herd and stop cattle movement from/to the farm;
• monitor the health of animals every day in order to identify sick animals.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) has developed several communications materials to help raise awareness among cattle owners, dairy farmers and dairy animal traders (Poster – Protecting your animal from LSD), and for local veterinarians and animal health workers (Leaflet – LSD a threat to the region).

We also invite you to refer to this FAQ on LSD, developed by our Organisation.

On 10 August 2022, the Indian government launched the indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVacInd to protect livestock from Lumpy Skin disease. The vaccine has been developed by the National Equine Research Center, Hisar (Haryana) in collaboration with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly).

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