ISLAMABAD: Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) is petering out due to rapid vaccination of over 10, 000 cattle, Director Agriculture and Extension Services, Islamabad, Waqar Anwar said on Wednesday.
Talking to media persons, he said timely response and preventive measures were primary reasons behind swift reduction in the disease’s spread. The deaths caused by the LSD were minimal, he added.
He said teams of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) agriculture department along with the experts of livestock department were visiting various cattle farms in suburban areas of the city to evaluate the conditions of cattle affected by the disease.
Awareness campaigns were launched after the first case was reported in Sindh to reign in the disease in the capital city.
However, massive transportation of sacrificial animals during Eid-ul-Azha caused transmission of the virus to federal capital.
Waqar said animals currently under treatment were recovering at a good pace due to timely vaccination.
Cattle owners were directed to restrict their animals’ movement and follow hygienic practices, especially after feeding their animals, he added.
Similarly, free medical camps were being set up at all villages and rural areas across the city to disseminate awareness about LSD and its prevention. The vaccination was also available in 13 veterinary hospitals, he added
The director said the ICT administration utilized its own resources to control the LSD, after the first case reported on Eid-ul-Azha.
To a query, he said the LSD had disrupted supply chain of beef which eventually increase its prices in the market.
Dispelling the impression that the meat of infected cattle could not be eaten, he said so far, no case had been reported of any animal-to-human transmission of the lumpy virus.
More than eight million rural families associated with the livestock business, while
35-40pc income was being generated from the sector, he added.
Gross value addition of the sector has increased by 3.26pc in a year — from Rs 5.269 trillion in 2020-21 to Rs 5.441tr in 2021-22 as per the latest Economic Survey of Pakistan.
First observed in 1929 in Zambia, the LSD is a viral infection that causes fever and nodules on the skin and mucous membranes of animals.
The non-zoonotic disease is transmitted by bloodsucking insects like ticks and mosquitoes and can also prove fatal.