KARACHI: The livestock department on Friday constituted a task force to control and confine the lumpy skin disease (LSD) infections spread among animals in Cattle Colony in Karachi.

Taking serious notice of the reports that the disease among cattle was causing unrest among dairy farmers, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah directed livestock director general Dr Nazeer Kalhoro to send special teams for vaccinating cattle against the viral disease.

The task force includes livestock additional director Dr Rafique Memon as chairman while Dr Habibullah Jamali, Dr Javed Memon, Dr Rashid Pirzada, Dr Amjad Shah, Dr Khalid Jalbani as members.

They would collect samples from the infected animals of the affected areas for submission to the Central Veterinary Diagnosis in Tando Jam and Sindh Institute of Animal Health, Karachi.

The task force has also been allowed to utilise the human resources and field force from the adjoining districts if required. It would also develop coordination with the municipal authorities concerned to launch anti-mosquito spray drives.

The federal ministry of national food security & research (livestock wing) through a letter has confirmed that the lumpy skin disease had been confirmed in the selected areas of Sindh and south Punjab, and issued certain guidelines to control the infection.

The field team of the livestock department has started visiting Cattle Colony in Karachi to vaccinate the animals. They also started collecting samples for lab tests.

Mr Shah assured the dairy farmers that their cattle would be given proper attention for producing healthy milk.

Meanwhile, the fisheries department advised the owners of cattle to separate their sick animals from healthy ones and use frequent anti-mosquito sprays to prevent healthy cattle from the LSD.

The disease is being reported in farms at Sanghar, Jamshoro, Thatta, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Khairpur and Karachi, according to a communiqué.

There are reports of loss of weight and milk production in animals due to the disease. The origin of the disease is Africa, which has spread to Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. In recent years, there were reports of outbreak of this disease in Iran, India and some other regional countries.

This is the new animal disease in Pakistan. It is transmitted by insects feeding on blood such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes or ticks. It carries fever, nodules on the skin and can lead to death, but mortality rate has been found less than five per cent.

However, humans are not at risk of developing the disease. It has been observed that consumption of meat and milk of the infected animals is not dangerous to human health.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2022