At least seven Indian states and a union territory are on a high alert after 3,000 cattle have reportedly died of lumpy skin disease, with some 50,000 left infected.
Multiple media outlets reported that 6,000 died in Rajasthan alone and 2,633 - in Gujarat. At least 600 cattle have reportedly died in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh states, while Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Andaman and the Nicobar Islands are also affected.
LSD has been endemic in Africa for decades. In South Asia, it was first reported in Bangladesh in 2019, and spread to India and China. The mortality rate is around 1–5 percent.
LSD spreads through mosquitoes, flies, blood-feeding insects, contaminated water and food. The symptoms include bodily pain, a discharge from the nose and eyes, fever, blisters all over the body, and difficulty in eating.
Most of the states government, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab said that vaccines would be administered to cattle suffering from the infection, sanitation of cattle-shed and spraying of disinfectants to curb the disease, the government has also asked to isolate infected livestock.