What is Lumpy Dermatoses Contagiosa (NCD)?
Lumpy dermatosis (LMD) is an infectious viral disease specific to cattle (Bos taurus, Bos indicus) and water buffalo, and some species of wild ruminants, caused by the Capripoxvirus of the family Poxviridae.
DNC is not a zoonotic disease, therefore humans are not at risk of infection. This means that it does not pose a threat to human health, either through direct contact with infected animals or through consumption of animal products such as milk or meat.
The WOAH (World Organization for Animal Health) explicitly states that it does not pose any danger to human health, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) also highlights that DNC is not a disease shared between animals and people and the WHOA (World Organization for Animal Health) does not classify it as a zoonosis.
What happens if the virus reaches milk? According to WOAH, the DNC virus can be present in milk, with a stability of up to 11 days. (woah.org). Therefore, the consumer can rest assured because there are rigid measures from the EU and health authorities that avoid any risk to health (destruction, treatment, movement of products…)
Keys to understanding the disease
– It is not zoonotic: The main reason for safety is that the nodular dermatosis virus (also known as lumpy skin disease or LSD) does not affect humans. Animal products such as milk and meat do not pose a threat to human health.
– Affects production, not quality: Although the disease can significantly reduce milk production in infected cattle, it does not compromise its quality in terms of safety for consumption.
– Veterinary controls: Measures to control the outbreak and reduce the impact on our beef farming. In outbreaks, biosecurity measures such as culling of infected animals and disposal of contaminated products are taken to prevent spread, reinforcing overall safety. The movement of animals must be avoided, access to farms must be controlled, animals must be vaccinated and feed, straw and manure must be properly treated and disposed of on farms.
– European regulations to control the disease and prevent other animals from being affected require the slaughter of farms where the disease is detected. The vaccination that is being carried out will prevent the spread of the disease and will allow the entire farm not to have to be sacrificed if new positive animals are detected.
– Safe processing: The organization of milk collection and its pasteurization in the affected areas contributes to protecting livestock production, preventing the spread of the disease among livestock. In this case, pasteurization is an “animal health” tool that is essential for the control of this disease. In addition, they allow us to continue exporting our dairy products to other countries such as Canada.
– Insect transmission: The disease spreads among livestock primarily through insect vectors, such as flies and mosquitoes, not through direct contact with milk products.
Contextualization of the Asaja veterinary expert, Jaime Santos:
– The origin of the disease could be in the Maghreb and sub-Saharan area, transmitted by mosquitoes that travel in hot air currents to other regions of Europe. In fact, the first outbreak was detected in Sardinia, then it reached the continental area of Italy (Poo Valley) and later reached the French border regions. Later it arrived in Gerona, where different outbreaks have been detected.
– The first symptoms in the animal may be fever-cold-damage to the mucous membranes or breasts, despondency, general weakness, decreased production and nodules or vesicles that appear on the skin of the cattle.
– It is essential to remind farmers that they must notify veterinarians of any symptoms they detect so that samples can be taken and thus detect if an outbreak of the disease has appeared. This is important because differential diagnosis must be made with other diseases that can show similar lesions such as pimples produced by hypoderma.
– The vaccine has shown robust and reliable immunity in vaccinated animals.
– Prevention is key. Exhaustive vaccination of animals is the obligatory guideline applied in surveillance and prevention areas. Outside of these areas, there are important biosafety measures and protocols (related to disinfection, insect control and animal transport) and epidemiological prevention (to prevent the disease from reaching animals through infected cattle or through vectors that transmit it such as insects).
– Although the mortality data of animals affected by the disease may be low, farmers should not trust it because it can cause a significant decrease in the production and economic performance of the farms.
What do public administrations do?
Affected countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, have implemented emergency vaccination campaigns to slow the spread.
The European Union has established emergency measures and restriction zones to contain outbreaks and prevent the spread to other regions.
Situation in the rest of the world: The World Organization for Animal Health (WHO) continues to monitor the situation in Africa, where the disease is endemic, as well as in the Middle East and Asia, where the disease has expanded in previous years.
More information from the Ministry of Agriculture:
