Livestock and Fisheries Secretary calls for ban on cow markets across Sindh to contain LSDV

Sindh Livestock and Fisheries Secretary Tanzeemuddin Khero on Thursday urged Sindh Local Government and Housing Town Planning department to lift a ban on all Mall Piris (all animal markets), while calling for banning the cows Piris to contain lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV).

He told Bol News that Sindh Local Government and Housing Town Planning Department completely banned cattle Piris/ Mall Piris throughout the province because of rising cases of LSDV, while hitting business of animals and causing fear and panic among farms farmers. Veterinary doctors identified lumpy skin disease (LSD), caused by LSDV in cows.

He said that approximately 21,443 cases have been reported and 120 cattle have died of the disease in various cities and towns of the province including Karachi, Thatta, Badin, Khairpur, Sanghar, Hyderabad, Sujawal and other towns and districts.

Read more: Humans not at risk from Lumpy Skin Disease: Livestock dept

“Local breeds have good immunity and secondary treatment helps them recover soon within a week, while imported or exotic breeds have less immunity level and they take time to recover after the treatment. Karachi farmers import exotic breeds for mostly meat purposes and most of them are dying of the infections. 20 per cent or 400,000 out of total 2 million cows of Sindh might be affected,” he said.

Two drug companies of Turkey and another belonging to Jordan approached the livestock department to sell vaccines, he said, adding that he wrote a letter to Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to approve some companies to purchase vaccines, the process is in the pipeline.

He said that the LSDV broke out first in 1920 in Africa, then rapidly spreading to countries in the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and now in various areas of the country as declared by the federal government and confirmed by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (Livestock Wing).

“Where this disease exists, vaccine is available there. We have also authorized secondary treatment of LSDV for an example, if cattle catch fever or other disease, they must be treated medically,” he said.

Livestock Sindh Director General (DG) Dr Nazeer Hussain Kalhoro advised cattle owners to separate infected animals from healthy ones, keep sheds clean, prevent animal from mosquitoes and biting insects, use mosquito nets, and frequently spray farms, animals and premises with anit-insect sprays. In case of disease, they must report to the local authorities and livestock department.

Sharing the letter with the Bol News, the DG wrote a letter to Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) Islamabad chief executive officer (CEO) for provision of import of lumpy skin disease vaccine to cope with epidemic situation of LSDV in Pakistan.

“There is no treatment for the LSDV, so prevention by vaccination is the only way to control it. LSD has relatively high mortality rates dairy cattle in peak production are often the most severely affected with a marked decrease in milk production, abortions and in male cattle can result in loss of fertility for life time,” the letter read.

It said that from December 2021, the lumpy skin disease cases have been reported especially from Cattle Colony Karachi which has one of the biggest number of dairy cattle population in the country – more than I million cattle. It said that currently there LSD outbreaks all over Karachi cattle colony and various cities and towns of Sindh.

It said that the LSD outbreak situation is getting worse with every passing day and can be difficult to control, if LSD vaccination of cattle is not started immediately on emergency basis. The farmers are facing huge production losses in milk and meat. Eidul Azha is fast-approaching, if these outbreaks keep occurring then the availability of health cattle cannot be possible for religious sacrifice. It said that vaccine can be made available to the farmers of Sindh on time and prevent the huge possible loss in the region due to LSD outbreaks.

Veterinary Medical Board Chairman Prof Dr Allah Bux Kachiwal said this is a viral and infectious disease not contagious but various species of mosquitoes and vectors spread it from animals to animals.

“The LSDV is not transmitted to milk but the meat of the infected animals has no proper taste and denatured proteins. The disease mostly affected cows or sacrificial animals, but not dairy animals [buffaloes]. If buffaloes are not yet infected in the country, if they are infected, they will definitely produce less milk but there is no effect over quality or taste of milk. The virus might be transmitted to goat, sheep etc but no case of smaller animals have been reported,” he said.

Generally there is no effective treatment of virus when the virus develops immunity then it leaves or subsides after 14 days, animals start developing more immunity and recovering naturally, he said.

Read more: Special teams sent to Bhains Colony to vaccinate cattle against Lumpy Skin Disease

Stopping shifting of infected animals from one to another farm, cities, towns and provinces could save economic loss of dairy farmers and above all they must be quarantined so that they could not spread virus and catch secondary disease or virus. Although animals have some skin problems and light fever, they keep eating fodder without feeling much sick. A symptomatic treatment could save lives of animals. Two out of 100 infected animals could die of the secondary disease following off-feeding

“We have no treatment, vaccination right now. It will take time to import vaccines from abroad after following all procedures including permission, registration and other modus operandi,” he said.

Biologist Prof Dr Abdullah G Arijo said the LSDV spreads through mosquitoes, flies, ticks, sometime through saliva and contaminated water and food. He said Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes are capable of the mechanical transmission of lumpy skin disease virus from infected to susceptible cattle.

He said the fact is that the virus is not zoonotic and does not infect humans through the consumption of milk or meat. He said LSD’s control and prevention depend on tactics including movement control (quarantine) of animals, vector control, vaccination, slaughter campaigns and management strategies. It is a consensus amongst the veterinary community that disease is endemic in Pakistan as it shares borders with India, Iran, and China where recent outbreaks are reported. Historically Pakistan was free of LSD, however, it is at high risk of an LSDV outbreak as neighboring regions are becoming endemic.