Lumpy Skin Disease

Lumpy skin disease (LSD, knopvelsiekte) is a pox disease of cattle characterised by fever, nodules on the skin, mucous membranes and internal organs, emaciation, enlarged lymph nodes, oedema of the skin, and sometimes death. The disease is of economic importance as it can cause a temporary reduction in milk production, temporary or permanent sterility in bulls, damage to hides and death due to secondary bacterial infections. Various strains of capripoxvirus are responsible for the disease. These are antigenically indistinguishable from strains causing sheep pox and goat pox yet distinct at the genetic level. LSD has a partially different geographical distribution from sheep and goat pox, suggesting that cattle strains of capripoxvirus do not infect and transmit between sheep and goats. Transmission of LSD virus is thought to be predominantly by insects, natural contact transmission in the absence of insect vectors being inefficient. Lumpy skin disease occurs in most African countries. The most recent outbreaks outside Africa occurred in the Middle East in 2006 and 2007 and in Mauritius in 2008.