Delhi government to procure 60,000 doses of goat pox vaccine

The Delhi government will purchase 60,000 doses of goat pox vaccine to inoculate healthy cattle in the capital to prevent the spread of lumpy skin disease.

These vaccine doses will be administered free of cost.

Gopal Rai, Development Minister, last week said that 173 cases of lumpy skin disease have been found among cattle in Delhi, mostly in the southwest district. This is for the first time that the Delhi government has reported cases of lumpy skin disease in the city. A senior official said that no death has been reported so far.

“Delhi has a cattle population of 80,000. The central government, which is finalising the rate contract with the supplier, has assured that 60,000 doses will reach us soon,” he told PTI.

“We had a meeting with officials of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Saturday and requested them to make the vaccine available as soon as possible,” the official said.

The government will adopt the ring vaccination strategy in which healthy cattle in a 5 km radius of the affected areas will be given goat pox vaccine with the Uttarkashi strain of the virus, he said.

Lumpy skin disease is a contagious viral disease that spreads among cattle through mosquitoes, flies, lice and wasps by direct contact, as also through contaminated food and water. It does not transmit from cattle to humans. The symptoms include high fever, reduced milk production, skin nodules, loss of appetite, increased nasal discharge and watery eyes, among others.

The Delhi government has deployed two mobile veterinary clinics and set up 11 rapid response teams to collect samples. Four teams will make people aware of the virus.

The city government has also set up a special control room with helpline number 8287848586 for queries related to the disease.

An isolation ward has been set up in Rewla Khanpur Gau Sadan in southwest Delhi for stray cattle suffering from lumpy skin disease, Rai said.

Edits by EP News Bureau