Lumpy skin disease: 25 head of cattle die at Fatahpur Dairy Complex in Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, August 12

Over 25 head of cattle died due to lumpy skin disease (LSD) in the Fatahpur Dairy Complex during the last 24 hours. The complex is one of the highly infected areas in the city. As the butchers, who remove skin of dead animals, denied to lift the carcasses of animals that died of the disease, a number of carcasses have been lying abandoned at the complex. The veterinary wing of the Municipal Corporation buried the carcasses at the MC’s dumping ground at Jhabal Road to curb further infection.

Dr Darshan Kashyap, MC veterinary wing incharge, said lumpy skin disease was reported in a few cows around a week ago and the dairy owners didn’t follow the instructions of the Animal Husbandry Department. “The disease is spreading due to vectors — flies and mosquitoes. The carcasses are not buried in time. We got information about the outbreak of the disease and buried all dead cows. Now, the situation is under control,” he said.

12,000 cows vaccinated so far

The Animal Husbandry Department found 4,000 infected cows in the district. As per the official data, only 50 cows have died due to lumpy skin disease. The mortality rate of the disease is only 1 per cent and recovery rate is above 95 per cent. The infection has been reported only in cows and not buffaloes. Amritsar district received 17,000 doses of vaccination and 12,000 cows have been vaccinated so far.

Dr Navraj Singh, Deputy Director of the Animal Husbandry Department, said there were around 10,000 cows at the Fatahpur Dairy Complex. “Not every death is related to lumpy skin disease as two-three cows used to die every day before the outbreak of the disease. Still, there are some cases of infection at the complex. We have deployed a special team for the treatment of infected cows and they are monitoring the situation 24x7,” said Dr Navraj.

MC’s veterinary wing officials claimed that there was no causality of cows in the MC-operated gaushala at Naraingarh and Gaushala of Baba Boriwala Lohgarh Gate. The veterinary wing of the MC is also keeping a check on stray cows and infected cows are being treated at cattle pond of the MC.

“We have around 400 cows in the MC’s gaushala and there are 650 cows at Boriwala. We have vaccinated all animals. Not a single cow is infected with lumpy skin disease. There were around 50 cows infected at Boriwala Gaushala. We isolated them and started their treatment. Others have been vaccinated. Now, all these cows are safe and no causality has been reported,” said Dr Kashyap.

The veterinary wing officials found eight stray cows infected. They were transported to the MC’s animal pond. These cattle are being treated and veterinary doctors claimed that all are safe.

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