SHILLONG, June 13: The Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) has caused the death of 45 cattle across the state till June 12, according to official figures, while a total of 6,740 of them have been affected by the disease.
According to the government data, out of the the 45 deaths, 30 cattle are from West Jaintia Hills, eight from Ri-Bhoi, five from South West Khasi Hills and one each from East Khasi Hills and Eastern West Khasi Hills.
Altogether 588 villages are affected by the LSD infection among cattle. These include 155 in East Khasi Hills, 122 in Ri-Bhoi, 104 in West Jaintia Hills, 78 in South West Khasi Hills, 49 in Eastern West Khasi Hills, 45 in West Khasi Hills, 10 each in East Jaintia Hills and South Garo Hills, eight in South West Garo Hills, four in East Garo Hills and three in West Garo Hills.
Out of the total 6,740 affected cattle, 1,477 have been reported from Ri-Bhoi, 1,353 from West Jaintia Hills, 1,081 from Eastern West Khasi Hills, 989 from South West Khasi Hills, 980 from East Khasi Hills, 560 from West Khasi Hills, 152 from West Garo Hills, 60 from East Garo Hills, 43 from East Jaintia Hills, 32 from South Garo Hills and 13 from South West Garo Hills.
However, 3,799 cattle have recovered out of the total affected cattle till June 12, the government data revealed.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Assistant Director (Disease Investigation), Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department, Dr P Blahwar, said that the number of new cases of cattle affected by LSD has come down drastically in the past three days.
Dr Blahwar, however, maintained that there still remains the need to unearth why there are a large number of cattle deaths related to LSD reported from West Khasi Hills.
Initially sent six samples were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal since it is the only laboratory in the country which can confirm cases of LSD, the official said.
“All these six samples had turned out positive. After this, we had send another 62 samples to NIHSAD and the report is awaited,” the AH&V department assistant director said. The laboratory which is available with the department can only screen the samples since it is not authorised to confirm cases of LSD, Dr Blahwar said.
“We are sending samples to the North Eastern Regional Diagnostic Laboratory in Khanapara,” he said.
He added that they have activated 168 Rapid Response Team (RRT) across the state to monitor the situation.
“We are also conducting the vaccination of cattle which are yet to be affected. We are only providing supportive treatment to the cattle which have been affected since there is no medicine to specifically treat the disease,” he said.
He noted that three districts have been badly affected; they include Ri-Bhoi, Eastern Khasi Hills, West Jaintia Hills and South West Khasi Hills.
He however said that the recovery of more than half of the infected cattle is a positive sign.
When asked about the dead cattle which were dumped at Diengpasoh, he said that they learned about the dumping of the carcass on June 3.
“We have conducted the post-mortem and the death of the cattle is not linked with LSD,” Dr Blahwar said.
According to him, the cattle must have died somewhere else and later dumped at the particular place. It may be mentioned that a photo of the dumping of the cattle at Diengpasoh has gone viral on social media.
When asked about the African Swine Fever (ASF), he said the AH&V department have not receive any report of deaths of pigs from any parts of the state since June 2.
“The AFS has affected all the districts of the state. But it was more severe in areas under Khasi-Jaintia Hills region as compared to Garo Hills region,” Dr Blahwar said.
According to him, the situation concerning ASF is under control as of now.
Dr Blahwar urged the general public not to panic since LSD and ASF diseases are not zoonotic diseases, and cannot be transmitted from animals to human.
“There is no problem in consuming pork or beef meat, if it is properly cooked,” he added.
