40 deaths, 10 thousand infections in a month threaten rural economy

With cow milk sales plummeting in the past several months amid consumers' fear of contracting the Covid-19 virus, a considerable number people, whose livelihoods depend entirely on milk sales, are living in constant fear of losing their milk-yielding cows to the deadly cattle LSD virus.

When the lumpy skin disease (LSD) virus is spreading rapidly in the country's northern region where it infected nearly 20 thousand cows and killed 50 over the last few months, it is also turning into a great cause for concern in the eastern district of Moulvibazar where it killed 40 cattle, many of them milk cows, within a span of only thirty days.

Many of the affected cattle owners claimed that aside from the deaths, around 10 thousand cattle have contracted the disease in Moulvibazar during the same period.   

Though the livestock office in Moulvibazar differed with the number of deaths claimed by locals, it was in agreement with their claim of the total infection in the district.

Masudur Rahman Sarker, district livestock officer (DLO) in Moulvibazar, said according reports he had received, 21 cattle have died of the disease there till date since March. 

Zaman Mia, from Satijhir village in Kamalganj upazila, said, "My family of five and I had been able to survive during this difficult time of novel coronavirus only by selling milk from my two milk cows. But now I'm in a dire situation as people stopped buying milk from me after both the cows got infected with the LSD virus." 

Ashit Shil and Monaf Miah, from Kadamdpur village in Ali Nagar union of the upazila, said many low-income people like them make a living primarily by selling cow milk. But both of them lost one cow each in the past couple of weeks.

Before the LSD hit Moulvibazar, it had started to spread in Sunamganj in late 2019. It killed 50 cattle and infected more than eight thousand others in Sunamganj by March this year. According to the livestock office in Moulvibazar, the disease entered Sunamganj through India. This paper published a news item on the issue on March 24, headlined 'LSD virus panic grips Sunamganj cattle farmers'.

In the last one and a half months, the LSD virus infected a large number of cattle in most areas of Moulvibazar's Kamalganj upazila, especially those in Ali Nagar, Shamsher Nagar, Patanushar, Adampur, Munshi Bazar and Kamalganj unions. 

A number of affected cattle owners this correspondent spoke with said while everyone, including government livestock officials, was afraid of contracting the novel coronavirus, the spread of the LSD virus went on unabated in the region for months.

Besides, the cattle owners could not take the infected animals to a government veterinary hospital as there is none nearby. Furthermore, they are not solvent enough to pay higher fees charged by private veterinary practitioners. 

They said within two to three days after numerous rounded lumps become evident under the skin of an animal, the lumps turn into open sores that show signs of discharge. The animal also develops high fever, general malaise and strong aversion to food before dying within a few days.

Among other symptoms, the animal's throat and limb joints swell up and it fails to stand on its feet, said cow owner Ashraful Islam, from Basudebpur area. 

Kamalganj Upazila Livestock Officer Hedayet Ali said the LSD virus is being transmitted in a vast area of the region via insect vectors such as mosquitoes and flies and they were providing symptomatic treatment to the infected animals in the area.

Confirming that around ten thousand cattle have contracted the LSD virus in Moulvibazar, DLO Masudur Rahman Sarker, however, downplayed the severity of the disease.

He claimed that the infected animals recover after some time and the livestock offices in the district have been doing their best to treat the animals despite the likelihood of livestock office employees getting infected by the Covid-19 virus while at work.

Since there is no proven treatment available for LSD virus, they have been giving the animals symptomatic medications such as paracetamol and antihistamine for pain, fever and swelling.

As part of their ongoing preventive measure, they have vaccinated 9,107 cattle (out of seven lakh in total) in Moulvibazar since March, he also said.