India Loses 100,000 Cows And Buffaloes To A Virus

Viruses have killed nearly 100,000 cows and buffaloes in India and sickened over 2 million more. The outbreak has triggered devastating income losses for cattle farmers since the disease not only results in deaths but can also lead to decreased milk production, emaciated animals, and birth issues. The disease, called lumpy skin disease, is spread by insects that drink blood like mosquitoes and ticks.

At a cow shelter in Jaipur, Rajasthan state, India, Sept. 21, 2022, a man stands among cows with lumpy skin disease. Infected cows and buffaloes get fever and have lumps on their skin. The viral disease that is spread by insects like mosquitoes and ticks has killed at least 100,000 cows and buffaloes in India and sickened more than 2 million.

A fever and lumps form on the skin of infected cows and buffaloes. Farmers have experienced severe losses from extreme weather events over the past year: a record-shattering heat wave in India reduced wheat yields in April, insufficient rainfall in eastern states like Jharkhand state shriveled parched winter crops such as pulses, and an unusually intense September rainfall has damaged rice in the north. And now, the virus has spread to at least 15 states with the number of cow and buffalo deaths nearly doubling in three weeks, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Many small farmers in northern Chandigarh city have insulated themselves from climate change shocks by raising cattle for milk, so the epidemic has disproportionately affected them, said Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert. “It’s a serious, serious issue and this (disease) … has been growing since the last couple of years,” he said, adding that the government figures were likely an undercount of the actual death toll from the disease.

The carcasses of cows that died after contracting lumpy skin disease are seen at a cow shelter in Jaipur, Rajasthan state, India, Sept. 21, 2022. Infected cows and buffaloes get fever and have lumps on their skin. More than 2 million cows and buffaloes in India have been sickened and killed by a virus spread by mosquitoes and ticks.

The first cases in South Asia were detected in 2019, and it has since spread to India, China, and Nepal. It was first recorded in Zambia in 1929 and has extended through Africa and more recently to parts of Europe. Dairy is among the largest agricultural commodities in India, employing 80 million people and contributing to 5% of its economy, per federal data. It’s the world’s largest milk producer, making up more than a fifth of global production – but exports are only a fraction of this. Meanwhile, a study of the lumpy skin disease virus’ genetic makeup found that it was very different from previous versions, said Vinod Scaria, a scientist at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi.

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