Lumpy skin disease spreads like wild fire in India – Are humans one of the causes of its spread?

Introduction about Lumpy skin disease

Lumpy skin disease is a contagious viral disease affecting cows and water buffaloes in almost 15 states in India. The rampant spread of the disease has given a serious blow to the Indian economy as we largely depend on agriculture for our economic returns. India accounts for almost 23% of the global milk production and 3% of the total meat production in the world. There has been a drastic dip in the milk production as the infected animals cannot produce enough quantity of milk in the infected state. The plight of the diary farmers is worrisome as they are unable to earn their livelihood by selling milk or by trading live animals and animal products.

The characteristic symptoms exhibited by the viral infected animal are: fever, anorexia, and characteristic nodules on the skin mucous membrane of mouth, nostrils, udder, genital areas and rectum. Depending of the severity of infection swelling of the lymph-nodes and abortion in females is observed. There is a dip in the milk production. Infertility in both males and females is also a common feature.

News in social media 

Videos showing milkmen throwing milk recklessly on roads had become viral on the social media in the recent past.

Videos showing milk being recklessly thrown out 

 

 People were scared that the virus can get transmitted to humans after milk consumption. After thorough study at ICMR’s Indian Veterinary Research Institute, scientists have confirmed that milk from the infected animal is safe for human consumption as the virus does not get transmitted to humans.

In several situations, farmers were not able to manage the cost for the treatment of animals. In such cases, live infected animals were ruthlessly buried beneath the earth. Such activities question our humanity. How can a human being be so insensitive to a living organism which had been serving you? How can we forget our recent past when we were facing the pandemic situation of Covid-19. Did we ever think about burying our live relatives when they were infected? We made our utmost effort to offer best treatment against covid even-though our financial reserves were limited. Then why can’t we struggle hard financially and physically to save our cattle? There are arguments in favour of and against such activities. Every person seems to be justified in his situation. The best thing that can be done is to learn from our current mistakes so that this scenario is not repeated.

 

Why did Lumpy skin disease virus become a superpower in 2022?

Did lumpy skin disease originate suddenly in 2022. The answer is no. The first case of Lumpy skin disease was reported from Zambia in 1929 and then it gradually spread to other African countries. For several years, it remained endemic to African countries. However, with the increase in the international trade for livestock, the disease intruded into European and Asian countries too. Cases of lumpy skin disease were observed in India in the year 2019 and 2021 too. However, the virus did not create a havoc during these times. According to the earlier reports submitted by World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the mortality rate is expected to be between 1-5%. In India, the virus outbreak in 2022 proved to be more lethal, increasing the mortality rate to as high as 15%.

What are the new factors that boosted Lumpy skin disease virus?

Faster rate of mutations in virus

Scientific studies suggested that the genetic material of Lumpy skin disease virus is relatively stable and does not mutate fast. However, beyond human expectations, the virus proved itself to be a super-genius and underwent faster mutations to evolve into a new strain, posing a challenge to human brains. After genomic sequencing, scientists have confirmed that the current strain observed in 2022 is different from the strains prevalent in earlier years.

Sudden change in the climatic conditions

Lumpy skin disease is a vector borne disease that spreads through arthropod vectors like biting flies, mosquitoes and ticks. The year 2022 has been witnessing heavy rains through out the year. These conditions are favourable for the breeding of vectors. The increase in the number of vectors invariably leads to a high infection rate. Initially it began with sporadic cases but after monsoons, the disease spread rapidly.

Improper grazing facility for animals and small goshalas

In Indian villages, the practice of open grazing is a conventional practice. Dairy farmers allow the cattle to graze in open farms. The farmers collect their cattle just before the sunset. Sadly, the farmers are ignorant about the fact that an infected animal might be grazing adjacent to a healthy animal. Even-though transmission of the disease through arthropod vectors is well ascertained, direct transmission of the virus has not been negated. Recent studies have shown that the infection can be transmitted if animals share the same troughs for feed and water. When a healthy and infected animal graze together, it is difficult to curtail the spread of disease. When the animal is sick it needs rest, but unfortunately, it has to walk several kilometers to get its feed.  Swelling of the feet during infection and pain does not allow the animal to stand comfortably. This makes recovery slow. The goshalas have a space limitation. People cannot afford to quarantine an infected animal due to limited resources. The chances of spread of disease are high when animals share a small space.

Open disposal of carcasses

During the initial days of outbreak, people used to leave the dead remains of the infected animals in the open fields. The vectors and scavengers preyed on the infected remains and spread the disease simultaneously. The open fields are the grazing places for stray cattle. The burial pits dug for the cattle were so shallow that the dogs could dig the animals out, attracting flies and insects.

    The keen study of these factors definitely points a finger to our poor management of cattle. However, there are certain examples of well researched care of cattle leading to less infection rates in India. The impact of Lumpy skin disease was minimal in the milk capital of India, Anand district of Gujarat. According to R.S. Sodhi, Managing Director of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd or Amul, proper care of animals was taken in terms of nutrition and disease management to curtail the spread. Veterinarians guided the farmers in keeping their cowsheds clean and animals pest-free. India has proudly announced the release of its first indigenous vaccine called Lumpi-ProVac to safeguard the animals. The pitfalls faced during the management of this disease should be considered as a lesson so that we do not repeat them and keep ourselves in such a position that our humanity is not questioned.