Thousands of cows infected with lumpy skin disease in Kandahar

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Lumpy skin disease is spreading rapidly in southern Kandahar province and so far 15,000 cows have been infected with the viral infection and more than 1,200 cows have died.

People say the disease has spread to all districts of the province, but it is more common in Spin Boldak, Zheri, Panjwai and other districts that are locared near the Durand Line.

Mohammad Islamil, a resident of the Zheri district, told Pajhwok Afghan News that two of his cows were infected with lumpy skin disease and no medicine was effective against the virus.

He added that nodules appeared on the body of cows, then water came from their eyes and mouth, and could not eat.

According to him, he gave medicine to the infected cows provided by the Agriculture Department but the animals are yet to recover from the disease.

Nazar Mohammad, a resident of Spin Boldak district, said he had two cows and one of them died due to lumpy skin disease.

He said initially big nodules appeared on the cow’s skin, water came from their eyes and mouth, and their situation worsened.

Abdul Ahmad, head of a cattle farm in Panjwai district, told Pajhwok his cows were yet to be infected with the disease, but if they were infected he would suffer 200,000 afghanis loss.

He said the relevant authorities must take necessary action to prevent the disease from becoming a disaster.

Dr. Hakim Mohammad Alkozai, a prominent herbalist of the province, said he had made a medicine that could eliminate any kind of animal disease in two hours.

He told Pajhwok: “I have made medicine for animals, so far I have given it to hundreds of animals and many people take the medicine to Pakistan.”

Dr. Mohammad Dawood, director of animal health of this department, told Pajhwok: “According to the numbers we have collected so far, more than 15,000 cows in all districts of Kandahar have been infected with lumpy skin virus and more than 1200 have died.”

He added the Department of Agriculture lacked enough resources and they could not prevent this disease, but they were striving to get a vaccine from foreign countries in cooperation with aid agencies.

Agriculture department called Alkozai’s medicine useless and said the department had stopped activities of Alkozai as he did not have a license.

Veterinarians say people should separate cattle infected with lumpy skin disease from other animals and pay more attention to their good food, clean environment and washing them every day.

sa/ma

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