Lumpy skin disease vaccine awaiting for approval

Context

  • Almost 10 months since an indigenous vaccine for lumpy skin disease was released by the government, its final approval with the regulatory authorities was still pending, even as there are reports of new cases of the disease in the last two months.

About Lumpi-ProVacInd

  • In 2022, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE) in Hisar, Haryana collaborated with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh to develop Lumpi-ProVacInd.
  • It was India’s first (indigenous) homologous live-attenuated lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccine made by using a local LSD virus strain from Ranchi.

    Lumpy skin disease
    Photo: iStock
  • The vaccine was commercialised to at least four vaccine manufacturers, including Biovet Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru, Indian Immunological Limited, Hyderabad, Hester Biosciences, Ahmedabad and the Institute of Veterinary Biological Products, Pune.
  • Lumpi-ProVacInd is a homologous vaccine made with the same virus as the disease.
  • Homologous live-attenuated vaccines provide better and longer immunity compared to heterologous ones.

About lumpy skin disease

  • LSD virus is a poxvirus that belongs to the same genus as sheep pox and goat pox viruses. It spreads through blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes, flies and ticks as well as through saliva and contaminated water and food.
  • The disease is characterised by 2-5 cm-wide nodules that appear all over the body, particularly around the head, neck, udders and genitals. The lumps open up into large, deep wounds.
  • The virus also causes prolonged morbidity.
  • It also spreads quite rapidly. Within 16 months of India’s first case — reported from Odisha in 2019 — the disease had spread to 15 states.
  • Since the outbreak of the disease in 2019, India has been administering the goat pox vaccine. It is a heterologous vaccine that offers cross-protection (up to 60-70 per cent) for cattle against the disease.
  • Goat pox, sheep pox and LSD belong to the same capripoxvirus genus.

Source: DTE

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