Lumpy skin disease epidemiological report IV: data collection and analysis

Abstract In 2019, no lumpy skin disease (LSD) outbreaks were reported in South‐Eastern Europe, the mass vaccination regional campaign with homologous LSD vaccine continued for the fourth year with over 1.8 million bovines vaccinated in the region, preventing further outbreaks since 2016. LSD outbreaks were reported in Turkey, including western Turkey, in Russia and in eastern Asia affecting China, Bangladesh and India for the first time. The use of homologous vaccine should be considered in the countries still affected in order to eliminate the virus. Besides passive surveillance, which is implemented in all the countries, active surveillance for early detection based on clinical examination could be conducted ideally during April–October every 5 weeks in at‐risk areas, based on possible re‐emergence or re‐introduction from affected neighbouring countries. Active surveillance for proving disease freedom could be based on serological testing (enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)) targeting 3.5% seroprevalence and conducted on a random sample of cattle herds on non‐vaccinated animals. LSD re‐emerged in Israel in 2019, after vaccination became voluntary. This shows that, if the virus is still circulating in the region, the reduced protection might result in re‐emergence of LSD. In case of re‐emergence, a contingency plan and vaccine stockpiling would be needed, in order to react quickly. From a study performed in Israel to test side effects of live‐attenuated homologous LSD vaccine, milk production can be reduced during 7 days after vaccination (around 6–8 kg per cow), without a significant loss in the 30 days after vaccination. Research needs should be focused on the probability of transmission from insect to bovine, the virus inactivation rate in insects, the collection of baseline entomological data, the capacity of vector species in LSDV transmission linked to studies on their abundance and the control of Stomoxys calcitrans being the most important vector in LSD transmission.