What is nodular dermatitis, the disease that has put Catalan livestock farmers on alert?

BarcelonaLumpy skin disease (LSD) has put the entire Catalan livestock sector on alert, and by extension, public administrations, especially the Generalitat (Catalan government) and the Spanish government, which this Wednesday began vaccinating some 90,000 cattle in the Girona region. This disease seriously affects cattle—that is, cows, bulls, oxen, and calves—and is highly contagious among these mammals, but has no effect on the health of humans or other animal species.

The symptoms caused by LSD in infected cattle are primarily the appearance of nodules on the skin, internal organs, and mucous membranes, according to the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. In addition, the disease also causes fever, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and skin edema, and in severe cases can lead to death in animals.

The DNC virus is part of the Poxviridae, a large family of viruses, some of which affect all types of animals and also humans, such as the smallpox virus (eradicated worldwide since 1980). The main problem with the DNC virus is that it spreads rapidly through flies, mosquitoes, and other insects, especially parasites like ticks, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

For the moment, the Catalan government's Department of Agriculture has identified two outbreaks on two farms in Alt Empordà, where approximately 400 cattle have been slaughtered in recent days to prevent the disease from spreading to other nearby farms. These are currently the only cases detected in Spain, where the disease has arrived after approximately 143 outbreaks have been detected in recent months on farms in France and Italy.

The Catalan government began vaccinating cattle on Wednesday at 700 farms, with 90,000 animals, located within a 50-kilometer radius of the two farms where the outbreaks occurred. Furthermore, the government has restricted the movement of cattle within a 20-kilometer radius of the two farms and has mobilized a €4 million package to compensate affected farmers who have to slaughter their cattle.

In parallel, due to the proximity of the two outbreaks to the Spanish-French border, French authorities have also begun vaccinating cattle on all farms in 75 municipalities in Northern Catalonia, among other measures to prevent the virus from spreading to the south of France.

Arrived in the EU in 2015

The presence of NCD in Europe is fairly recent. The disease is very common among cattle in sub-Saharan Africa, where the virus originates. Beginning in 1988, it began to spread through North Africa, with the first cases detected in Egypt, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. It later spread to the Middle East, with possible unconfirmed cases in Bahrain.

"In 2012, it spread from the Middle East to southeastern Europe," Efta explains on its website. In 2015, it entered the European Union from Turkey, with the first cases detected in Greece and Bulgaria.