Epidemic of lumpy skin disease in Pakistan.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a viral disease that affects farm animals including water buffalo. It is caused by the contagious LSD virus, a member of the Poxiviridae family's Capripox genus. Skin sores are thought to be the most common site of infection since the virus may live for lengthy periods in lesions or scabs. The first clinical indications of LSD were described in Zambia, in 1929. Pakistan has also been afflicted by LSD, with a high number of animals infected at many cattle ranches in Karachi, 190,000 cases of LSD have been reported nationwide, with greater than 7500 deaths attributable to the illness. LSD has a huge influence on Pakistan's economic status, resulting in the loss of cattle and a decrease in milk output. The Ministry of Research and National Food Safety in Pakistan has formed a working group to create a framework for controlling the spread of LSD in cattle and buffalo. Official and private veterinarians, both field and slaughterhouse, veterinary students, farmers, cattle merchants, cattle truck drivers, and artificial inseminators should all participate in awareness efforts.

The changing epidemiology of lumpy skin disease in Russia since the first introduction from 2015 to 2020.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is an economically important transboundary disease affecting cattle, causing large economic losses such as decreased production and trade restrictions. LSD has been a historically neglected disease since it previously caused disease limited to the African continent. Currently, the epidemiology of LSD virus is based on how the disease is transmitted in tropical and sub-tropical climates. The understanding of its epidemiology in hemiboreal climates is not well understood and needs urgent attention to expand the current knowledge. In this study, the epidemiological findings on LSD in Russia over a 6-year period are summarized and discussed. A total of 471 outbreaks were identified spanning over a 9000 km range. The outbreaks of LSD occur primarily in small holder farms (backyard) compared to commercial farms between mid-May through mid-November including weather conditions with snow and freezing temperatures that preclude vector activity. Mortality and morbidity varied across the 6 years ranging from 1.19% to 61.8% and 0% to 50%, respectively, with a tendency to decline from 2015 to 2020. The geographic pattern of spread was assessed by means of directionality, indicating a northward movement from 2015 to 2016, with a consequent East turn in 2017 through Siberia to the Far East by 2020. All cases occurred along the border with Kazakhstan. Mathematical modelling showed that the disease tended to form statistically verified annual spatiotemporal clusters in 2016-2018, whereas in 2019 and 2020 such segregation was not evident. The trend of spread was mainly either from south to north or from south to a north-east direction.

Molecular characterization of a novel recombinant lumpy skin disease virus isolated during an outbreak in Tyumen, Russia, in 2019.

Lumpy skin disease virus causes a debilitating pox disease of domesticated cattle and water buffalos. In the last decade, LSDV has spread from Africa into the Middle East, Europe and most recently Asia. As of 2017, atypical outbreaks caused by novel LSDV strains were reported in Russia, followed by China and Vietnam between 2018 and 2020. In this work, we describe another unique recombinant LSDV strain recovered from Tyumen, Russia in 2019. Typing of the virus using currently available qPCR protocols produced inconclusive results and subsequently the complete genome of the isolate was determined. The consensus genome contained statistically significant signals of possible recombination events between parental strains KSGPO-240/Kenya/1958 and the live attenuated vaccine LW/1958. The novel strain carries 25 unique breakpoints different from the known recombinant strains. Additionally, the findings reiterate the importance of complete genome sequencing when analysing outbreak samples caused in particular by mosaic LSDV, in contrast to only performing specified qPCRs.