South Korea has been rocked by another Lumpy Skin Disease outbreak – the fourth reported this year – despite completing a national vaccination program of cattle last November.
LSD is a serious disease of cattle and water buffalo that is mainly spread by biting insects including flies, mosquitos and midges, as well as by ticks. It has never occurred in Australia but is an emerging threat as it continues to spread through Asia.
Hanwoo cattle on feed in South Korea – image: Cargill
Before 2012, the distribution of LSD had been limited to Africa and Israel. Since then, LSD has spread to many parts of the Middle East, southeast Europe, the Balkans, the Caucuses, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. Since 2019, LSD has spread throughout Asia, detected in nearby Indonesia for the first time in March 2022. LSD has since been detected in a number of Indonesia’s provinces.
The Korean Agriculture Ministry reported the latest outbreak on Wednesday. The case was confirmed in a herd of 116 breeding cows at a livestock farm in Yeoju, southeast of Seoul, according to the Ministry.
It is the fourth LSD case confirmed in South Korea this year, following the first detection at a livestock farm in Anseong, near Seoul, back in August last year.
To prevent further infections, the government has cordoned off the latest affected farm and implemented quarantine measures, the ministry said. The infected herd will be culled in accordance with relevant guidelines.
Last November South Korea’s agriculture ministry said it had completed a nationwide campaign to vaccinate all cattle against LSD, two months after the country reported its first-ever infection.
Some 4.05 million South Korean cattle were vaccinated to protect them against LSD, however authorities at the time warned the industry to remain vigilant, as it would take three weeks for vaccinated cattle to develop antibodies.
The country has now confirmed around 100 cases nationwide, local news reports said.
i believe this article points to the question – does the LSD vaccine actually work? Can anyone actually link the scientific data demonstrating the vaccine these livestock have reportedly been injected with actually works? I would welcome this proof of efficacy as it has been reported that none of the vaccines have been tested against control groups already disease infected to see if they do work. we would need a control group and a treated group to see if the product reduces the disease or not. This refers back to the Koch’s Postulates as the disease needs to be able to be isolated (1), placed into a healthy host (2), cause the host to be ill (3) and then to be able to re-isolate from the infected host (4). this is standard science and unless followed negates any pseudo vaccines available.
We’ve started asking some questions around how South Korea has continued to get LSD outbreaks this year, having declared publicly in November that it had completed herd vaccination. Editor
Hi Mick
The Chief Veterinary Officer of Serbia confirmed to me at a LSD meeting hosted by the Gates Foundation that they were able to halt the LSD epidemic in the Balkans by vaccinating all cattle with the Neethling strain of attenuated LSD virus sourced from South Africa and manufactured by Coopers. I believe this is the one Australia has secured access to but now made under GMP in Europe. LSD no longer occurs in Europe. Use of quality vaccine is paramount and worth paying extra for, in my opinion.
I’m not qualified to comment on Korea.
Good review by Tuppurainen:
Tuppurainen, E.; Dietze, K.; Wolff, J.; Bergmann, H.;
Beltran-Alcrudo, D.; Fahrion, A.; Lamien, C.E.; Busch, F.;
Sauter-Louis, C.; Conraths, F.J.; et al. Review: Vaccines and Vaccination against Lumpy Skin Disease. Vaccines
2021, 9, 1136.
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101136