first three outbreaks detected in the Pyrénées-Orientales

Vaccination is now compulsory throughout the department. Animals on affected farms must all be slaughtered.

Three first outbreaks of bovine lumpy skin disease have been detected in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the prefecture announced on Wednesday October 15. Vaccination is now compulsory throughout the department, placed entirely in a surveillance zone.

Since October 4, part of the Pyrénées-Orientales was already in a surveillance zone, with limitations concerning the movements of cattle, after the detection of an outbreak in Catalonia, Spain.
From now on, a protection zone, within 20 km around these outbreaks, has been set up in the French department. Animal movements are prohibited and health visits will be organized on each farm. Also, “in these circumstances“, all animals located on farms with dermatosis will have to be slaughtered, recalls the prefecture.
Bovine lumpy skin disease is a strictly animal disease, not transmissible to humans. It spreads between cattle, through the movement of infected animals or via insects.vectors“, like horseflies or biting flies.