New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, two institutes of agricultural research body ICAR have developed an indigenous vaccine for lumpy skin disease in cattle that has spread to several states in the past few months.
The Center plans to commercialize this vaccine, developed by two institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), to control nodular skin disease (LSD), which has killed cattle in six states. ,
As of August 8, Rajasthan has reported 2,111 cattle deaths, followed by 1,679 in Gujarat, 672 in Punjab, 38 in Himachal Pradesh, 29 in Andaman and Nicobar and 26 in Uttarakhand.
ICAR-National Research Center on Equines (ICAR-NRCE), Hisar (Haryana) developed a homogeneous live-attenuated LSD vaccine “Lumpi-Provakind” in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izzatnagar, Uttar Pradesh Is.
The new technology was released by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Purushottam Rupala at an event organized in the national capital.
Addressing the program, Tomar said, “It is our big responsibility to save the animals.” He stressed on increasing the production capacity of this vaccine so that it reaches the ground level at the earliest and can vaccinate 300 million animals.
Meanwhile, Rupala appreciated the scientists of ICAR for the development of this indigenous vaccine, which he said would help in controlling LSD.
He said, “Scientists have been trying to develop this vaccine since LSD disease first surfaced in Odisha in 2019. Today, the technology has started and now we will go ahead to make sure that this vaccine is available to those people. How to reach farmers who have cattle,” he said.
Rupala said this is a very “encouraging” development as the spread of LSD has become a serious issue.
He said there is a protocol for commercialization of vaccines and the animal husbandry department will see how it can be expedited.
“We have found a solution to this deadly disease,” Rupala said.
As of now, the minister said that states are currently using goat pox to control the disease, which is also effective.
Rupala said that the death rate has come down in Rajasthan.
ICAR Deputy Director General (Animal Science) BN Tripathi said both the institutes can produce 2.5 lakh doses per month.
“The cost per dose is Rs 1-2,” he said, adding that immunity induced by homozygous live LSD vaccines usually persists for a minimum period of one year.
LSD disease was first reported in India in 2019 from Odisha.
In the initial years, it was mainly confined to the eastern part of our country.
Later, it rapidly spread to almost all the states of the country. The outbreaks being reported recently (June-July-August 2022) are widespread and fatal, with mortality rates as high as 15 percent, being reported especially in the western part of the country (Rajasthan). LSD is a disease mainly occurring in cattle. Emerging evidence suggests that the LSD virus can also cause mild illness in buffalo, camel, deer and horses.
“Due to its recent spread in unnatural hosts, there are growing concerns about its zoonotic implications, although confirmatory evidence of human infection is lacking,” ICAR said.
Sheep pox virus (SPV) and goat pox virus (GPV)-based vaccine (heterogeneous vaccine) is generally authorized to induce cross-protection against LSD in cattle, where domesticated LSD vaccine is not available.
The Center has also authorized the use of goat vaccine to control LSD in cattle. However, heterozygous vaccines provide partial protection and are not as effective as domestic vaccines, the ICAR said.
NRCE scientists isolated the virus only in 2019 and have been in the process of developing a live-attenuated vaccine since then.
After preliminary safety and immunogenicity trials of the vaccine in laboratory animals at NRCE, Hisar, experimental trials were conducted in calves at IVRI Mukteshwar.
The vaccine’s safety has also been explored in cattle and buffaloes of all age groups, including lactating and pregnant.
Based on the results of experimental and field trials, it can be concluded that the vaccine is safe and produces protective immunity in animals against LSD, ICAR said.PTI