Lumpy Skin Disease – Its WAR !!!
Dr Sudhakar Natarajan
Another veterinary failure. A crisis is looming large but it is business as usual in the corridors where veterinary bureaucrats pass files from one desk to another. The changes in the animal husbandry hierarchy last month has made absolutely no perceptible difference that should have galvanized a virtual blitzkrieg response to this disease but sadly the actions and results are exactly what would have happened even if there were still top level vacancies. The Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) outbreak has already killed 50,000 cattle thereby destroying families and dampening morale of the small and marginal cattle holder in northern India. A humungous 1.2 million cattle have come under the specter of this viral outbreak caused by mosquitoes, other arthropod vectors included infected saliva and contact transmission.
It must be noted that the CAGR ( compounded annual growth rate) of livestock sector from 2014-15 to 2020-21 has been an astronomical 7.93% as compared to 4.9% of the manufacturing sector and 4.8% of the service sector. This means that this lumpy skin viral disease of cattle has got the potential to damage the India growth story. This could pull down those populations into poverty who were hopeful and were contributing to national economy. The GVA ( gross value added) by all food animals like cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats is more than 4.9%. This disease so far was thought to have a high morbidity, by reducing milk production of indigenous cows, has now been seen to have a significant death rate.
If swift, imaginative and blanket strategy is not adopted to quell this viral outbreak in cattle, the dream to double Animal Husbandry income would be just another dream. Till now Buffaloes have not been affected, but if there is a viral outbreak in buffaloes then it will cause massive economic suffering and destitution all across the milk producing belt. Nearly half the milk production in India is from Non-descript Indigenous Buffaloes i.e. 45% of total milk output. Indigenous non-descript cows provide 20% of the total national milk output, whereas crossbred cows give 28%. Thus it can be seen the above three categories of cattle provide 95% of India’s entire total milk output.
Any disease that causes morbidity in cattle will dent not only the economic revival of families dependent on the livestock sector, but will generally cause a dip in the national economy since more than 100 million Indians are dependent on the AH sector.
It is suggested that the following action be undertaken on a war footing:
a) Top veterinary bureaucrats at the centre undertake a whirlwind visit to selected areas and boost the morale of the field veterinary and para- veterinary staff battling this disease with minimal resources in a selected few of the 11,959 Vet Policlinics, 25,850 Veterinary dispensaries and 27,948 Mobile Vet Dispensaries, as it is not possible to visit all. This will boost the morale.
b) It still boggles the mind that only Goat-pox vaccine has been approved for administration in cattle for cross protection against LSD. There are only a few manufacturers of this strain. The GOI must immediately allow the use of sheep pox vaccine for cross protection against LSD in cattle for which the national manufacturing capacity is much larger and robust. This call will have to be taken by the research institutes and the central veterinary bureaucrats must urgently implement use of both goat and sheep pox virus in cattle. Time is running out. There is no time for procrastination. Top central veterinary bureaucrats must hold hands of all stakeholders including small cattle holders, vet staff, research institutions and vaccine manufacturers.
c) Government must taken cogent and urgent measures to launch commercial production of the attenuated homologous vaccine produced by the brilliant Indian Scientists at the ICAR and ensure that it is available within days if not weeks to the needy animals. This must be at the level of the steps taken by the GOI for Covid vaccine. We have the brains, money and will. Let’s implement it.
d) Increase disease surveillance, intelligence gathering and improve quarantine facilities so that the disease does not spread to non-endemic areas, especially to buffaloes and other cattle.
It is said that there are some defining moments in life when we will have to strive to define the moment or history will define us as failures. This is one such moment where scientists, scholars and administrators will have to rise up to the occasion and ensure that there is no other livestock epidemic ever in India.
About the author: The author is a serving Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Veterinary Cadre of ITBP and holds a masters degree in veterinary sciences, having put in three decades in service to animals.
