Pakistan approves vaccine import from Jordan, Turkey following cattle skin disease outbreak

A trader feeds cows at a cattle market in Karachi, Pakistan, on July 10, 2020. (AFP/File)

• Virus that causes a condition called ‘lumpy skin disease' has killed over 170 animals since last November in Sindh
• Sindh minister says province approached federal government to allow import months ago but did not get timely permission

KARACH: Pakistan’s drug regulatory authority on Tuesday approved the import of vaccines from Jordan and Turkey to fight a debilitating virus in cattle that causes a condition called ‘lumpy skin disease,’ senior officials said, following an outbreak in the southern Sindh province that has killed over 170 animals since last November.
First observed in 1929 in Zambia, LSD is a viral infection that causes fever and multiple nodules on the skin and mucous membranes of animals. The disease is transmitted by bloodsucking insects like ticks and mosquitoes and is rarely fatal. The disease does not affect people.
LSD was first reported in Pakistan’s Jamshoro district in Sindh last November. Since then, 25,866 animals have been infected in the province, of which 172 have died.
“The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan [DRAP] has allowed two companies in Karachi and Punjab to import vaccination to deal with lumpy skin disease among animals,” said a statement circulated by DRAP officials while the body’s board meeting to discuss the issue was underway. 
The statement said Punjab’s Huzaifa International could import the vaccine from Turkey and Karachi-based Aros Pharma from Jordon.
The director general livestock in Karachi, Dr. Nazir Hussain, also corroborated the development to Arab News.
Abdul Bari Khan Pitafi, Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, said on Monday the province had approached the federal government to allow the import of anti-LSD vaccines months ago, but permission was not granted in a timely manner.
“We started discussing the possibility of importing the vaccine in November 2021 when the first LSD case emerged,” Pitafi told a news conference. “After permission from DRAP, the vaccine import will now begin.”
Dr. Javed Humayun, a spokesperson of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, said DRAP had been requested to register private firms that had applied for LSD vaccines.
“Symptomatic treatment of animals has already been advised,” he told Arab News. “The use of goatpox vaccine is recommended as an alternative to LSD vaccine in affected areas for disease prevention.”
Pitafi said the province had ordered 300,000 doses of goatpox vaccine from Punjab and hoped that 30,000 doses would be available by Tuesday.
Meanwhile, as the country as yet to import vaccines and launch a mass campaign, dairy farmers in Karachi said they were suffering huge losses due to a decline in their milk sales. LSD’s accompanying symptoms include much lower milk production.
“The disease has frightened milk consumers and our sales have sharply declined by about two million liters from 4.5 million liters that we previously supplied to the city,” Shakir Umar Gujjar, president Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association (DCFA), told Arab News.
Meat merchants have also witnessed a decrease in their revenue since scared buyers have abstained from making purchases.
“Around 75 percent of meat shops in Karachi have not been operating,” Sikandar Iqbal Qureshi, general secretary of Meat Merchants Welfare Association, told Arab News on Tuesday. “The rest of the 25 percent have remained open only to sell about five to 10 kilograms per day.”
Qureshi said up to 12,000 animals were slaughtered in Karachi on a daily basis before the outbreak of the disease.