Lumpy skin disease: culling of infected outbreaks, vaccination, health officials approve government's control strategy

A National Animal and Plant Health Policy Steering Committee, led by the Ministry of Agriculture, will outline its roadmap on Wednesday to halt the spread of the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) virus, a disease that only affects cattle.

In response to the cases of contagious bovine lumpy skin disease (CLS) that have appeared in France, the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, held an extraordinary meeting of the National Steering Committee for Animal and Plant Health Policy (CNOPSAV) on Wednesday, July 16, according to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture.

This "Health Parliament" brings together agricultural professionals, veterinarians, and scientists specializing in this disease. " The discussions resulted [...] in the unanimous approval of all members, except for one vote, of the strategy based on the imperative measures to stop the spread of the virus and protect the French cattle herd ."

This strategy consists of completely destroying infected outbreaks to " extinguish the sources of the virus ", setting up regulated areas " where reinforced protection and surveillance measures apply, including the limitation of movements ", and compulsory vaccination in these regulated areas.

The Ministry of Agriculture specifies that LSD is a strictly animal disease that only affects cattle, buffalo, and zebu. Other animal species are not affected (horses, dogs, etc.). LSD is not transmissible to humans, neither through contact with infected cattle, nor through the consumption of products (milk, cheese, meat, etc.) from contaminated cattle, nor through the bites of vector insects.

The DNC was first detected in France, in Savoie, on June 29. As of July 15, 24 outbreaks have been confirmed in two departments: Savoie and Haute-Savoie.