South Korea aims to tackle lumpy skin disease by vaccinating all cattle by early Nov

An outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle has alarmed authorities in South Korea as the agricultural ministry said Wednesday (Oct 25) that it plans to complete the vaccination by early next month.

South Korea is aiming to contain the nationwide spread of the disease. As on Wednesday, it announced 29 new confirmed cases since the outbreak was first reported at a cattle farm last week.

The first-ever outbreak of the disease in South Korea was reported on Friday, and since then, confirmed cases have been on the rise. Authorities have said that at least seven suspected cases are currently being probed.

At a news briefing, Agriculture Ministry official Kwon Jae-han said, as quoted by the news agency Reuters, that the authorities are in talks with domestic and foreign companies to secure four million doses of vaccine by the end of this month. The ministry said that these many jabs would be sufficient to inoculate all the cows in the country.

Kwon added, "Since the first outbreak of the lumpy skin disease at a cattle farm at Seosan in Chungnam province on October 19, there have been continuous outbreaks on the west coast, including the Chungnam and Gyeonggi provinces. Recently, a total of 29 new cases were reported in Eumseong county of Chungbuk province, and Yanggu county of Gangwon province."

Considering the three weeks needed to develop protective antibodies against the disease, if the nationwide vaccination programme is completed without delay, the outbreak trend will be stabilised within November.

"If the nationwide vaccine inoculation is completed as planned, the outbreak of lumpy skin disease is expected to stabilise within November given the three-week period needed to develop antibodies for immunisation," Kwon said during the media briefing.

What is lumpy skin disease?

The lumpy skin disease is a highly infectious viral disease which causes blisters and reduces milk production. It is transmitted by blood-sucking insects such as mosquitoes, ticks and flies. It does not pose a risk to humans.

The health authorities in South Korea are probing how the virus entered the country, including the possibility that infected mosquitoes were transported by air current or ships.

The disease does not affect humans.

(With inputs from agencies)

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