After Covid, now a mammoth vaccination drive for lumpy skin disease

Cattle are being vaccinated swiftly as the disease breaks out of its initial holds of Rajasthan and Gujarat and starts infecting buffaloes too

The country is heading for another mammoth immunisation drive, this time for cattle. As the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) spreads across India, the government and cooperative dairies are rushing to vaccinate cattle to avoid any dip in milk production.

There is much uncertainty over the impact of LSD on milk production. Some experts are warning of a big drop, while some industry players say the impact may be limited and will depend on the extent of the disease’s spread.

India annually produces over 210 million tonnes of milk (2020-21 data) in which the share of cows has risen to almost 51 per cent in recent times, leaving buffaloes behind with around a 45 per cent share. The balance comes from goat milk. LSD has affected primarily cows but is now spreading among buffaloes too.

At present, two entities make the goat pox vaccine which is being administered to cattle as a preventive against the LSD infection, in the absence of an approved LSD vaccine.  Indian Immunologicals, an arm of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Ahmedabad-based private animal vaccine maker Hester Biosciences are supplying the vaccine.

“Indian Immunologicals has ramped up production of the goat pox vaccine to produce about 1.8 million doses every week to meet the increasing demand,” said an NDDB spokesperson. 

 

Hester Biosciences too has ramped up supplies. It has diverted 70 per cent of the capacity of its Gujarat plant to make the goat pox vaccine in emergency mode.

“We should now be able to make around 40-50 million doses a month and there is possibility of further ramp up,” said Rajiv Gandhi, CEO of Hester. Together, the two companies are making around 48-58 million doses a month.

Vaccinating India’s huge cattle population is an uphill task  given the shortage of veterinary doctors and vaccine supplies.

The number of bovines (this includes cattle, buffaloes, mithun and yaks) is around 303 million as per the 20th livestock census. Of this, the cattle population is around 193 million. Yet India has only 70,000 vets, according to 2016 data.

What is worrisome is that the disease is now spreading from cattle to buffaloes in states like Punjab.

“Milk production of the infected animal gets massively impacted due to the disease. Even the death rate is almost 10-15 per cent of the severely impacted animals. In some cases when the animal is down with fever, milk production is seen to go down by almost 50 per cent and sometimes even nil,” said  Dr B N Tripathi, deputy director general, animal sciences, Indian Council Agricultural Research.

Tripathi warned that the spread of the disease is not limited to indigenous cattle breeds, as it was initially. In Punjab, even cross-breeds and buffaloes have been impacted.

“The only prevention is vaccines and treatment is largely symptomatic. The government should immediately scale up the vaccination programme. Just like they did with covid, they should give emergency use authorizations for these vaccines too so that more companies can commercialise them as soon as possible,” said Tripathi.

It will take three to four months for the two vaccine companies to make enough vaccines to cover the cattle population. If bovines are to be covered too, then a demand-supply mismatch is likely.

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which owns and markets the brand Amul, has 15 million cattle under its farmers in Gujarat alone.

“The entire cattle population is tagged with unique IDs and we are monitoring their health closely. We have already given almost three million doses and the spread has been largely brought under control,” said Jayen Mehta, chief operating officer, GCMMF.

Mehta adds farmers have only to send a message and a vet turns up at their door. GCMMF has about 1300-1500 vets. Typically, one vet covers around 10 villages.

GCMMF is opting for both ring vaccination (vaccinating villages covering a radius around an affected village) as well as herd vaccination.

An NDDB spokesperson said it is helping the milk unions and the animal husbandry department to develop rapid response strategies, vaccine procurement and training field staff.  

“NDDB has isolated the LSD virus from field samples and has completed the sequencing of the vaccine candidate genes for further action on vaccine production,” the spokesperson added.

LSD was first noticed in Rajasthan and quickly spread to Gujarat, where its impact so far has been the highest, followed by Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. It has now reached Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

“We need to first correctly assess the spread and impact of the disease through a centralized monitoring mechanism before estimating any impact on the milk production,” said Dr R S Khanna, international dairy consultant.

Private dairy players have said that with the high inventory of skimmed milk powder (SMP) and flush season round the corner, there was little to worry about.

“We will be entering the flush season with carryover SMP stocks of around 80,000-100,000 tonnes which will be good enough to absorb any remote chance of a drop in supplies,” said Kuldeep Saluja, managing director of Sterling Agro Industries Ltd and makers of the Nova Brand.

The disease

• Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is caused by a virus from the family of pox viruses
• The virus is susceptible to sunlight and detergents, but can survive for long periods in the hide of the affected animal
• LSD, transmitted by vectors like mosquitoes, biting flies, and ticks, is endemic in most African countries
• Signs include high fever and nodules on skin ranging from 2-5 cm in diameter
• There is reduction in milk yield; pregnant cows may abort