LSD detected in 23,227 cattle in Sindh , 171 died, says report  

KARACHI: The lumpy skin disease (LSD) has so far been found in 23,227 animals in Sindh and 171 of whom have died. According to a provincial task force report released on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly, the livestock minister Abdul Bari Pitafi said the disease had affected 16,000 cows in Karachi, and the detection rate in the province was 0.9 percent. Pitafi said the disease had been present in the world for the past 100 years, but its first case in Sindh was reported in November last year.

Originally found in Africa, lumpy skin disease, a viral infection of cattle, has spread to countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe, experts said.

The concerned department, however, has yet to disclose its strategy to tackle the disease and whether the virus could transmit into humans consuming meat or milk of the infected animals.

The dairy farmers had earlier demanded an immediate intervention of the government to control the viral disease. They had also demanded specialist advice and the provision of medicines to cattle farmers to tackle the disease.

The lumpy skin disease is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes, or ticks. It causes fever, nodules beneath the skin and can also lead to death, according to experts.