A viral disease known as Lumpy disease has been spreading fast among cattle-heads in various unions of Bera upazila of Pabna for last couple of months.
The disease is spreading fast in villages of the unions of Haturia-Nakalia, Koitola nd Jatsakini.
Kalu Shiekh and Abdul Latif of Char Sarasia Village under Haturia-Natalia union, Kashem of Hauria village, Prasanta Goswami and Momin Pramanik of Jagannathpur village, Nayeb Fakir and Ramjan Ali of Koitola village, Abu Sayed and Solaiman of Boktarpur village under Jatsakini union informed, many of their cattle-heads have been attacked with the Lumpy disease.
According to sources, Lumpy disease is a viral disease that only affects cows and buffaloes. This disease was first detected in Zambia in 1929, later it spread to all countries of the world. In 2013, the disease spread to middle eastern countries and in 2014-2015, it spread to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and surrounding countries. It spread to Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Serbia and Cosovo in 2016.
In 2019, it spread to India and China and the disease is now seen to spread in various villages of Bera Upazila.
Dr. Goura Chandra Saha, Upazila Animal Resource Officer informed, Lumpy disease is being infected in domestic animals through a virus known as Capripox virus. It is learnt to be affected by mosquito, house-fly, unclean water and fodder.
However, this virus does not spread among human beings. He, however, said the mortality rate by being attacked with the disease is low and by using anti-biotics, the affected animals are being cured gradually. More than 500 cattle heads were attacked with Lumpy disease in Bera upazila.