Lumpy skin disease

Abstract

In 2018, no lumpy skin disease (LSD) outbreaks were reported in the Balkan region, after the decline reported in 2017 (385) compared to 2016 (7,483). This confirms the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign based on the LSD homologous vaccine strain which continued throughout 2018 with over 2.5 million animals vaccinated, keeping the mean vaccination coverage above 70%. In 2018, LSD outbreaks were reported in Russia, Turkey and Georgia. In Russia, the LSD epidemics expanded northward and eastward, while in Turkey, the most affected region was in the east. LSD is spreading in Turkey since 2013, despite large vaccination campaigns with heterologous vaccine performed since 2014. This might support the hypothesis that the use of heterologous vaccines results in insufficient protection, and therefore, the use of homologous LSD vaccine in Turkey should be considered to prevent further spread. As the LSD epidemic in Turkey is a risk for reintroduction into the EU, it is recommended to continue the vaccination campaigns in 2019 in the high‐risk areas of Balkan region. Spread rates of LSD within a village were estimated from outbreak data for Albania, which can be used to inform the level of vaccination required to control an outbreak in a village. In terms of vaccine safety, the reports from the field suggest that, compared to the large number of animals vaccinated in the Balkan region since 2015, a very limited number of side effects have been recorded so far, although from published literature, local or even systemic side effects in some animals may occur after vaccination. However, due to inadequate study design in the reviewed studies, there is no consensus on the magnitude of such effects and on their real consequences on production.

Risk Factors for Outbreaks of Lumpy Skin Disease and the Economic Impact in Cattle Farms of Nakuru County, Kenya

“…Various efficacy studies mainly based on small-scale challenge studies have been published which generally indicate homologous vaccines confer higher rates of protection compared to heterologous although one study provided some evidence of comparable efficacy using the Gorgan goat pox strain (56,57). Analysis of the recent LSD outbreak in Europe in 2014-2018 provided evidence that vaccination programmes based on the Neethling strain of LSDV were very effective at controlling the disease (32,58). A randomised field trial in Israel also demonstrated relative superior efficacy of the homologous vaccine (59).…”

“…Most currently available vaccines are live attenuated and contain either LSDV (homologous) or sheep and goat pox strains (heterologous) (11,31). Heterologous vaccines are generally considered to be less effective but with fewer side effects particularly in European breeds of cattle (32).…”

Investigation of Post Vaccination Reactions of Two Live Attenuated Vaccines against Lumpy Skin Disease of Cattle

“…According to Israeli experience, the LSD Nt vaccine caused only mild adverse effects at a very low incidence (0.38-0.6%) [21]. In Croatia, adverse reactions were reported in 0.09% of the vaccinated animals using a homologous vaccine [23]. In a study carried out by Greek scientists, a local reaction at the vaccination site was detected in 12% and generalized small-sized lumps in 9% of animals vaccinated with a commercially available LSD Nt strain vaccine [22].…”

Potential of Using Capripoxvirus Vectored Vaccines Against Arboviruses in Sheep, Goats, and Cattle

“…Unfortunately, lumpy skin disease has expanded its geographic range out of Africa into the Middle East to Eastern Europe and Asia (7,11). Most recently, LSDV spread in the Balkans including, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, the Caucasus Region including Russia, and Asian countries of Kazakhstan and recently China (11,12). The rapid spread of LSDV into previously free regions is cause for concern, since if not effectively dealt with through using mass vaccination with an effective vaccine, LSDV will spread into bordering regions through either animal movement or dispersion of insect vectors (11).…”

“…Control of sheep and goatpox can be achieved through slaughter of infected animals. Unfortunately with LSDV slaughter is not effective and can only be achieved using live attenuated vaccines (1,2,17); illustrated by mass vaccination of cattle in Eastern Europe where vaccination has eliminated clinical disease (6,12).…”