Lumpy skin disease
Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease of cattle caused by a capripoxvirus; it is characterised by fever, nodules on the skin, and it may lead to severe losses, especially in naive animals. Originally affecting cattle across Africa, the disease has spread outside the continent with outbreaks in Israel and Lebanon in 2012–2013 and currently (2013–2016) epizootics in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Albania and the Russian Federation are reported.
To control the current LSD epidemic in the European Union (EU), stamping-out type measures combined with vaccination strategies are being applied (read EFSA advice 2016 and 2015 opinion).
Given the emergence of this disease in Europe is important to be alert to the appearance of lesions compatible with the disease in the animals arriving at the slaughterhouse. In fact, earlier this year we published a case of a calf with neoplasic cutaneous lesions which were similar to those seen in Lumpy Skin Disease.
Below we have compiled some images of common skin lesions of this disease.
Nodular skin lesions in the skin of a cow. Image credit: Noah's Arkive, PIADC.
Detail of the nodular lesions in a cow's skin. Image credit: Noah's Arkive, PIADC.
Multiple nodular skin lesions. Image credit: TUFTS.
Image credit: Esther Meusel , South Africa (More iamges at Veterinary pathology Image Database).
