Prevention and control of lumpy skin disease in buffalo and cows

(QBĐT) - Currently, lumpy skin disease (LSD) in buffaloes and cows has appeared in many localities in the province. To protect livestock, the provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine is coordinating with districts, towns and cities to promote propaganda and instruct breeders to strengthen disease prevention and control measures, and strictly control outbreaks to prevent the spread.

The African swine fever epidemic in buffaloes and cows appeared in the province since the beginning of April, first in a household in Quang Xuan commune (Quang Trach). In a short time, the epidemic has now appeared in many districts, such as: Tuyen Hoa, Bo Trach, Quang Ninh .

Ms. Tran Thi Tho, Truong Duc village, Hien Ninh commune (Quang Ninh) said: Her family raises a mother cow and a calf. The mother cow has been vaccinated but the calf is still young so it has not been vaccinated. When the calf showed unusual symptoms such as high fever, stopped eating and had lumps on its skin, the family reported it to the local authorities. As soon as the family learned that the calf had VDNC, the local authorities and specialized agencies supported the family in isolating the sick calf, and at the same time taking measures to disinfect the barn to prevent the disease from spreading and breaking out.

Mr. Tran Thanh Tung, a land and agricultural officer of Hien Ninh commune, said that the locality currently has a total herd of nearly 600 buffalo and cows. After checking the households raising buffalo and cows that reported being sick, the locality organized vaccinations for buffalo and cows in the villages, sprayed disinfectants at the households, isolated the epidemic area, and at the same time advised the households not to sell, not to slaughter, and not to throw dead cattle into the outside environment to avoid spreading the disease.

Spray disinfectant in barns with sick cows.

In Tuyen Hoa district, the VDNC epidemic was first detected in Dong Le town, and has now spread to Thuan Hoa and Thach Hoa communes with 10 infected cows. According to Mr. Pham Anh Minh, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tuyen Hoa district: After detecting the outbreak, the district People's Committee issued a decision to declare an epidemic of VDNC in buffaloes and cows in the above communes. The district also requested localities to urgently implement epidemic prevention and control measures; increase VDNC vaccination; organize information, propaganda, and instruct people to proactively monitor cattle showing signs of illness or suspected illness, promptly detect and report to local authorities and veterinary agencies, and implement disease prevention and control measures to avoid widespread spread. In particular, communes and towns located in epidemic areas, threatened epidemic areas, and buffer zones must establish teams and checkpoints to control the transportation of buffaloes and cows in and out of epidemic areas.

According to the report of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, as of May 1, the FMD epidemic in buffaloes and cows had occurred in 11 communes and towns in 4 districts, causing 31 cows to be sick, of which 4 died. Currently, 8/11 communes in 4 districts have had the epidemic for less than 21 days. As soon as information about sick cattle was received, the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine sent staff to coordinate with local authorities to conduct zoning, spraying chemicals to kill insects, disinfecting barns, cleaning the environment, isolating sick cattle to separate areas for treatment; instructing households with sick cattle and cows to increase care and treatment to help livestock recover quickly, minimizing the number of cattle and cows dying from the disease.

The provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine recommends that livestock farmers should not be too panicked or worried, but should not be subjective or negligent because the epidemic is developing complicatedly. Localities need to continue to implement disease prevention and control measures according to regulations.

Head of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine Tran Cong Tam said: Most of the buffaloes and cows infected with VDNC have not been vaccinated in 2023, some localities are old outbreak areas with VDNC such as Quang Luu commune (Quang Trach); environmental sanitation and disinfection are not guaranteed, creating favorable conditions for pathogens to survive and develop. In particular, in the current hot and humid weather, the risk of VDNC epidemics will continue to arise and spread in localities is very high due to the low vaccination rate of VDNC vaccine in the first phase of 2024 (up to now, only 4,535/95,000 doses have been vaccinated, reaching 4.8% of the plan). As of April 23, many localities have not yet deployed the injection of this vaccine, such as: Dong Hoi City, Ba Don Town, Le Thuy, Quang Ninh, Minh Hoa.

In addition, people mainly raise cattle on a small scale, with a large number of free-range cattle; little attention has been paid to vaccination; management and control of the transportation, sale, and slaughter of cattle in many localities are still limited, making it easy for pathogens to spread, disseminate, and be difficult to control.

In the coming time, to prevent and strictly control the VDNC epidemic in buffaloes and cows and prevent and combat diseases in livestock, localities need to continue to strictly implement disease prevention and control solutions according to the direction of the province and instructions of the relevant agencies. In particular, focusing on vaccination to create protective immunity for livestock and strengthening control of livestock transportation into the area; having drastic solutions for local authorities that do not implement vaccination and have a low vaccination rate compared to the plan.

For localities with VDNC epidemics, it is necessary to focus on synchronously and drastically implementing prevention and control measures to control the spread of the epidemic to other localities; organize vaccination against VDNC at a rate of at least 80% of the total existing buffalo and cow herd; strengthen inspection and supervision of the purchase, slaughter, and trading of buffalo, cows, and buffalo and cow products in the area; continue to organize disinfection spraying, spraying insecticides in livestock areas after performing mechanical sanitation, clearing drainage ditches, collecting and treating manure, bedding, etc.

Thanh Hoa

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