The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday started distributing vaccines against lumpy skin disease, with all cattle to be inoculated by Wednesday next week, the Central Emergency Operation Center on the disease said.
The council’s Animal Health Research Institute late on Thursday received 180,000 doses of a vaccine purchased from South Africa, council Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said.
Huang, who is also deputy chief of the center, said that the vaccines were being distributed across the nation.
Photo: CNA
Lumpy skin disease is a potentially fatal viral disease that affects cattle and buffalo. It is spread by flies and mosquitoes, and infected cattle develop fevers and nodules on their skin.
It was detected for the first time in Taiwan in Kinmen County in July last year, after which about 6,200 cattle there were vaccinated.
The first case on Taiwan proper was reported on Thursday last week on a farm in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口).
Eight of the 130 cows on the farm were found to have fevers and skin nodules, and blood samples showed that they were infected with the disease.
The source of infection has not yet been identified.
Based on their experience with the outbreak in Kinmen, the center is trying to quickly contain the disease to protect the nation’s NT$14 billion (US$49.8 million) beef and dairy industry, Huang said.
The cows that were vaccinated in Kinmen showed no side effects, and their milk yield remained stable, he said, adding that the government would continue to closely monitor the situation.
After all cattle on Taiwan proper have been vaccinated, lumpy skin disease would be under control, as long as farmers closely monitor their animals’ health, and local epidemic prevention officials conduct regular inspections, he said.
If no new cases are reported by May 8, that would signal the end of the disease on Taiwan proper, he added.
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