Gandhinagar: Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), which started in Gujarat's Kutch district, has now spread to 20 districts of the state. With more than 1,500 cattle dead from the contagious, viral disease so far, preventive measures such as vaccination and treatment have picked up pace in the state. Owing to the persisting situation, milk production has also taken a hit.
Allaying fears over possible infection, however, Falguni Thacker, Director of Animal Husbandry Department of the Gujarat government, said on Tuesday that consuming milk from Lumpy-infected cattle was "totally safe". "Milk from Lumpy virus affected cattle is perfectly safe, as boiling milk above 100 degrees destroys Lumpy particles in the milk. It, therefore, becomes edible," she noted.
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The affected districts are Kutch, Jamnagar, Dwarka, Rajkot, Porbandar, Morbi, Surendranagar, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Banaskantha, Surat, Patan, Aravalli, Panchmahal, Mahisagar, Valsad, and Mehsana. Gujarat Agriculture and Animal Husbandry minister Raghavji Patel, meanwhile, said, "More than 10 lakh cattle have been vaccinated so far in the 20 districts of the state. In 2,083 rural areas of these districts, 55,950 cattle have been affected by the disease, resulting in the death of 1,565 of them."
Data shared by the District Information Officer, Kutch revealed that on August 1, series 1 vaccinations had been conducted on 22,175 cattle in the district. Whereas, on July 31 and the day before, 21,826 and 16,485 inoculations had been done respectively in the district. The issue of non-availability of a proper disposal system has arisen, however, as recently, carcasses piled up in Nagor Road area in Bhuj, the district headquarters of Kutch.
On Saturday, videos of the same emerged on social media, leading to enraged local residents taking the issue up with civic authorities. In the meantime, the state government has put a ban on animal fairs and trades.
