Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a highly contagious disease of ruminants caused by a virus. The disease affects domestic cattle, zebu, bison and water buffalo as well as captive wild ruminants. The virus does not affect humans.
Occurrence
For a long time, Lumpy Skin Disease was endemic only in East, South and West Africa. The first report of Lumpy Skin Disease in the EU was in August 2015.
Reservoir
Cattle, American bison, zebu, water buffalo, African buffalo, old world camels, giraffes and antelopes
Mode of transmission
According to current epidemiological findings, LSD is spread by indirect pathogen dissemination by insects and mites (vectors), e.g. horseflies (Tabanidae), flies (Muscidae, Sciomyzidae), biting midges (Culicoides), mosquitoes (Culicidae), and mites (Ixodidae). Transmission is also possible through direct contact, infected semen, untreated animal skins and fur and products thereof (e.g. hunting trophies), raw meat products, raw milk products and through animal feed derived therefrom, including colostrum.
Symptoms
Skin nodes on the head, neck, tail area, extremities; fever, heavily enlarged lymph nodes, increased salivation and tears, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss
Preventive measures
Due to the diversity of vectors and the resulting control methods, the control of LSD vectors represents a major challenge for the affected EU countries. So far, only few scientifically profound data on vectors in Europpe are available.
Apart from killing of infected and susceptible animals in the herd ("total stamping out") and movement restrictions on susceptible animals and animal products, the most effective measure to control the disease is considered to be nationwide vaccination (95% coverage) with a homologous, attenuated LSDV strain (Neethling). The vaccine is not approved in Europe; its use requires an authorisation from the authorities.
AGES - Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
