Unprecedented outbreaks of Lumpy skin disease in Nepal: Government authorities must act immediately

Dear Editor,

Countries all over the world, particularly in Southeast Asia, are facing one of the biggest outbreaks of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) (LSD) [1]. This has caused a huge economic loss as well as a loss of livelihood for millions of farmers in these countries. For instance, in Nepal alone, as of June 16, 2023, 21 thousand animals had died, and 0.55 million were affected by LSD, which has resulted in a loss of around US$ 21 million in the national economy [2] as well as the loss of the draft animal “bull”, which is used to plow lands to grow crops. It has been suggested that if LSD is not controlled on time, it may affect 2.5 million cattle and lead to the deaths of around 0.1 million cattle, leading to a total economic loss of around US$ 0.96 billion, which comes to around 7.2% of the annual budget of the government of Nepal (GoN) [2]. As a quarantine Officer at the Animal Quarantine Office (AQO), Kathmandu, I am concerned that government authorities, particularly the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) and the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoALD), are slow to respond to control LSD in Nepal. LSD was first detected in June 2020 [3], but little has been done to control LSD epidemics in Nepal. This lack of inaction by government authorities, including three levels of governments, i.e., federal, provincial, and local levels, even three years after the first outbreak of LSD [3], has raised a question of whether veterinary services in Nepal are irreparably broken. Still, it is not clear why MoALD and DLS did not prioritize controlling LSD in Nepal. This lack of proactiveness and delayed action to control LSD is likely to have resulted in the loss of thousands of animals and millions of dollars to the national economy that could have been saved. Rather than stepping up and pooling resources to control LSD in Nepal, government authorities are engaged only in workshops and meetings at the central levels leaving the veterinary professionals (veterinarians and veterinary technicians) working in the field to control LSD. The veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals, including local government bodies, seem to be confused about what to do to control this LSD epidemic in Nepal. They are following some measures, such as raising awareness among the general public and providing veterinary care to infected animals. However, what is missing in current disease control programs implemented by such veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals, and local government bodies is a lack of movement control and strict quarantine measures. As of now, nothing has been done to strengthen animal quarantine and movement control for animals originating from infected areas. This is a pathetic approach and is insufficient in time of national disaster, such as the current epidemic of LSD in Nepal.

Considering the economic and financial burden to the country and loss of livelihood for millions of farmers, the government of Nepal (GoN) and all the related stakeholders should be serious regarding this issue and immediately implement all possible measures to contain the LSD epidemic on time. The source of income and livelihood for 29 million Nepalese is at stake. Thus, I urge all three tiers of government i.e., federal, provincial, and local to be serious and take immediate measures to contain the LSD epidemic on time by pooling up and mobilizing resources and deploying veterinary and para-veterinary professionals in the field. The provincial and local level governments could have worked more effectively if they were backed up both financially and technically by the federal government for surveillance, risk identification, and the development and implementation of control measures, including movement restriction and strict quarantine, which require national policies and resources targeted to local and provincial governments. However, this has not been proactively done by the federal government until now, which has resulted in a lack of timely and adequate responses by provincial and local governments. GoN can mobilize already existing and well-established networks of veterinarians, veterinary paraprofessionals, and farmers to educate and assist farmers in preventing and controlling LSD. For this, GoN should allocate emergency funding and expedite the support needed to allow all stakeholders to come forward to prevent the further spread of LSD in Nepal. The GoN should immediately develop and implement an “Emergency LSD Preparedness Plan” , which should include raising awareness among the general public, farm hygiene and sanitation, biosecurity measures, vaccine procurement, nationwide vaccination, quarantine and movement control, surveillance, risk identification, and risk reduction in animals. Comprehensive surveillance and risk identification will provide data, help identify the best possible and most effective disease control interventions, and inform disease control programs. The lack of adequate resources to control epidemics is an issue in Nepal. To address this issue of resource crunch, GoN should divest resources allocated for the control of once endemic diseases such as Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), which has now become sporadic, for the control of lumpy skin disease. The current COVID-19 pandemic has provided good lessons on how to mobilize scant resources, isolate infected cases, promote quarantine, and promote vaccination, and apply those lessons to control LSD outbreaks in Nepal. All these actions require strong political will, good leadership, bold actions, and adequate resourcing at the local and provincial levels. If we do not act on time, the LSD epidemic will swallow the whole country. Thus, it is high time to take immediate action to control LSD with a “spark before the fire breaks out”.

Contributors

Acharya KP conceived the the concept of the manuscript, identified relevant data, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, revised and approved it for submission.

Funding

This work was not supported by funding.

Declaration of competing interest

The author declares that he has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Handling Editor: Patricia Schlagenhauf