Amid a sudden rise in lumpy skin disease in cattle in Assam, cabinet minister Atul Bora on Thursday said that it is not a very serious disease and the mortality rate is very low.
This comes after reports emerged that around 30,000 cattle in Assam have contracted the viral skin disease which was followed by the reaction from Assam’s minister of agriculture, animal husbandry and veterinary, Atul Bora.
When asked for a comment, the cabinet minister said, “This is not a very serious type of illness and the mortality rate from it is also very low.”
Atul Bora said, “The government is working on a plan of action to tackle the disease and to stop its spread, while also curing the already present cases.”
“The government has taken steps to contain and control the disease in the meantime,” added Atul Bora.
It may be noted that lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that mainly affects cattle. It is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as flies and mosquitoes, or ticks and causes fever, nodules on the skin and can also lead to death, especially in animals that that have not previously been exposed to the virus.
In around September last year, over 67,000 cattle were reported to have died due to the virus amid a spurt in cases which prompted the Centre to take note and initiate a vaccination drive. According to information received, cases were reported from as many as eight Indian states at the time.
However, in October last year, veterinarian Rita Goyale had said that there was no evidence of transmission of lumpy virus disease from animals to humans. The cumulative data on deaths of cattle by lumpy virus disease by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is more than one lakh over the last few months.
Speaking to ANI, veterinarian Dr Rita Goyale had said, "There is no evidence that the disease can transmit from animals to humans. It is not a zoonotic disease. It is goat pox that has gone into the cow. That is how the transmission happened. It means it is transmissible from animals to animals. The buffaloes, cows, goats and sheep are affected. No such case of transmission from animals to humans has been reported yet."
