In sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, the Lumpy skin disease is quite common; it has as well been noted in Egypt and Israel. The disease is a viral infection caused by a poxvirus that is transmitted mainly when blood sucking insects like mosquitoes and flies bite the animals. This usually happens at the start of the wet season when most insects start breeding. European cattle breeds get the disease more easily than zebu (humpback) cattle which are more resistant to it.

Symptoms of the disease

• The animals have much saliva coming from the mouth. A clear discharge comes from the eyes and nose. Later the discharge from the nose becomes grey/white.

• The cattle are weak and tired and stop eating. They have a fever that sometimes goes down after 1-2 days but then goes up again. Young animals are often more severely affected. Milk yield is decreased, pregnant cattle may abort, and bulls may become sterile.

• Skin nodules appear on the body, usually around the head and neck, under the belly, on the legs, and around the genitals and the udder.

• The lumps are hard and usually all about the same size. The hair on the lumps stands up. Softer, yellow/grey lumps may appear on the mouth. They rub off easily leaving sore red patches.

• Many of the skin nodules turn into sores that get infected and become deep wounds. Most of them dry up and heal after a few weeks but they leave scars that damage the hide. Some lumps become hard and do not go away.

• Cattle do not usually die but they may become very emaciated.

• Occasionally the disease is very mild, animals only have a low fever and lumps on the skin that heal in about six weeks.

Treatment

There is no treatment for lumpy skin disease. Give an antibiotic injection to stop the damaged skin getting infected by bacteria. With good care, animals generally recover; but this may take up to 6 months.

Prevention and control

Vaccination for lumpy skin disease is effective and all animals in contact with the disease should be vaccinated. Lumpy–vax vaccine can be purchased from leading agrovet shops. Farmers can also contact the veterinary departments for information about vaccination campaigns organized by the ministry.

Cattle skin is sensitive to sun

Most livestock keepers in the tropics are affected by photosensitization without knowing what it is and what causes the problem. Ideally, photosensitization is not a big issue but lack of knowledge about it can be a serious problem. Photosensitization is a skin problem associated with the liver function of animals and plant poisons. Phylloerythrin, a breakdown product of plant chlorophyll in the fore stomachs of ruminants, is excreted into the bile by the liver in healthy animals. However, in animals with impaired liver function it accumulates in the blood and is transported to the skin. Where the skin is not protected by pigments (light skin with light hair), it is sensitized when exposed to the sun, resulting in inflammation. Animals, especially cattle and sheep, can also get photosensitized when they eat certain plants which contain poisons that the liver cannot destroy and which make the skin very sensitive to sunlight. These poisons are produced by the plants or by fungi that live on them.

Symptoms of photosensitization

• The pale coloured parts of the skin become red and inflamed and the skin cracks open. This often happens on the back and around the nose but can happen anywhere on the body. Sometimes the skin dries up and large pieces of skin fall off leaving sore patches underneath.

• The mucous membranes sometimes become yellow.

• Most animals do not become sick but a few of them may become very sick.

Prevention

• Make sure the animals have the possibility of finding shade during the day.

• Move the animals to a different pasture away from the poisonous plants. Some plants are only poisonous at certain times and the pasture may be safe to return to later in the year.

• Remove known poisonous plants in pastures by digging them out.

Treatment

• Shelter the animals under a shade and keep them away from bright sunlight for a few days.

• Put a wound dressing on the cracks and sore places.

• Give an antibiotic by injection to treat infection if the skin is damaged.