KARACHI: There disease of Lumpy Skin Disease in the cows in Sindh has created serious concerns among the people and the people are in doubt whether to consume the meat or not. Since there is no vaccine available for the disease yet, the provincial government has not taken any major steps to control the viral disease. According to a news item, 20,000 animals, including 15,100 in Karachi alone, have been affected by the Lumpy Skin Disease. This is a serious situation.
Lumpy skin disease is a viral infection of cattle. Originally found in Africa, it has also spread to countries in the Middle East, Asia, and eastern Europe. Clinical signs include fever, lacrimation, hypersalivation, and characteristic skin eruptions.
The farmers said the disease has already spread to farms in Sanghar, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Khairpur and Karachi. They have also demanded specialist advice and the provision of medicines to tackle the disease.
Following reports of the growing number of the cases among the cattle, a large number of citizens started avoiding meat of cow and veal, lifting the demand of poultry meat which has witnessed staggering increase.
The prices of live bird in the city and its clean meat have jumped to an alarming high of Rs330-336 per kg, and Rs570 per kg, respectively. In the first week of February, live bird was available at Rs190-210 per kg, while the meat was sold at Rs350-380.
In an exclusive interview with MM News, the butchers of Burns Road Meat Market said that the animals which have this disease have thick spots inside their meat so if you go to get meat then you should look at the meat and then Buy. Malik Bilal, the owner of the dairy farmer, said that the rumors circulating that substandard milk was being sold, was just mere propaganda.
He further said that most of the milk sold in Karachi is buffalo milk and this disease is more prevalent inside cows and especially in cows that are coming to Pakistan from outside.
Malik Bilal further said that it is possible to cure it, the animals can be protected from this disease by vaccination. He later said that the severity of the disease was higher in December last year and now the severity of the disease has clearly decreased and all this is the propaganda of the companies selling canned milk against us and nothing more.
After weeks of anxiety and fear among people, mainly in urban centres of Sindh, over growing number of lumpy skin disease in cattle, the Aga Khan University Hospital — one of the leading health science institutions — on Thursday declared that the infection “doesn’t cause human disease”.
In an alert, the institution concluded that consuming the meat and milk of infected cattle “doesn’t transmit the infections to humans”.
Titled “Emerging Infection Alert: Lumpy Skin Disease”, the alert by the institution called for food safety and all due precautions, advising consumption of only pasteurized or well-boiled milk, and its byproducts and well-cooked meat.
