Indigenous vaccine to be rolled out

The process is now under way to ensure the commercial availability of India’s indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVac to protect livestock from lumpy skin disease, Yash Pal, Director, National Research Centre on Equines, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Hindu, he cautioned against the use of raw milk, especially during this infection phase, explaining that while pasteurised and boiled milk was safe, raw milk carried high levels of disease-causing bacteria.

Vaccine launch

Lumpi-ProVac has been developed by the National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar, Haryana, in collaboration with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar (Bareilly). The vaccine was launched earlier this month by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“Ever since the disease came to India in 2019, research institutes have been engaged in developing the vaccine,” the Minister said.

He had directed officials to provide this vaccine in large numbers at the earliest for relief to the cattle.

Speaking about the safety of milk obtained from infected livestock for human consumption, Dr. Yash Pal said: “Raw milk, of course, should not be consumed under normal circumstances too as the bacterial load could be very high.”

Lumpy skin disease is an infectious viral disease of cattle, which often occurs in epizootic form. The disease is characterised by the eruption of nodules in the skin, which may cover the whole of the animal’s body, Naveen Kumar, who played a key role in developing the vaccine, said.

Source : The Hindu 30th Aug 2022