Over 600,000 cattle affected by lumpy skin disease

KATHMANDU: Lumpy skin disease has infected over 600,000 cattle in Nepal.

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr Beduram Bhusal said in the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday that efforts to contain the spread of the disease have been unsuccessful so far.

Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that is transmitted by blood-feeding insects. It causes lumps on the skin and fever, which can also lead to death.

“So far, 611,209 cattle have been infected. Of them, 21,473 have died, and 354,573 have recovered. Over 235,900 cattle are still infected,” Bhusal added. “The disease first appeared in Nepal in 2020 and has spread to all the districts except Manang. We took measures to control the spread two months ago only.”

Cattle can be given medication to reduce high fever, while ointments can be applied to the lumps, say livestock technicians.

“There are vaccines that prevent cattle from contracting the disease. But we started bringing vaccines only recently,” he said, adding that 737,000 doses of vaccines have been brought from Jordan, Tanzania, and Turkey so far.