Lumpy skin disease vaccine released by DAHD ministry

In a major breakthrough, the indigenous Lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccine is today released by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala at an event held in New Delhi.

ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE), Hisar (Haryana), in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh has developed this homologous live-attenuated LSD vaccine “Lumpi-ProVac”.

The Government is planning to commercialise this vaccine at the earliest in order to control the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), which has spread across six States in the last month. As of August 8, Rajasthan has reported 2,111 deaths of cattle, followed by Gujarat at 1,679, Punjab at 672, Himachal Pradesh at 38, Andaman & Nicobar at 29 and Uttarakhand at 26.

While addressing the event, Rupala complemented the ICAR scientists for the development of this indigenous vaccine, which would help in controlling LSD. He said, “We have got a solution for this deadly disease”. “Scientists were making efforts to develop this vaccine since the LSD disease was first reported in Odisha in 2019. Today, the technology has been launched and now we will move forward to ensure how this vaccine reaches farmers” he said. He added that there is a protocol for the commercialisation of vaccines and the animal husbandry department will see how it can be expedited.

B.N. Tripathi, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), ICAR, said the two institutes can produce 2.5 lakh dosages per month.” The cost per dose is Rs 1-2,” he said, adding that the immunity induced by homologous live attenuated LSD vaccines usually persists for a minimum period of one year.

As per the information given by ICAR, the scientists at NRCE isolated the virus in 2019 itself and were in a process of developing a live-attenuated vaccine since then. After initial safety and immunogenicity trials of the vaccine in laboratory animals at NRCE, Hisar, the experimental trials were conducted in calves at IVRI Mukteshwar. The safety of the vaccine has also been ascertained in the field in cattle and buffaloes of all age groups including lactating and pregnant ones. Based on the outcome of experimental and field trials, it can be concluded that the vaccine is safe and induces protective immunity in animals against LSD.