The Bharatiya Janata Party has held a massive protest over the death of thousands of cattle caused by lumpy skin disease in Rajasthan. 

At the protest, the Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Poonia climbed on top of a police barricade. Earlier this week, a BJP MLA for the Pushkar constituency reached the Rajasthan Assembly with a cow in tow. His aim was to protest the spread of the lumpy skin disease happening in the state. 

The disease hit cattle sometime in August this year, ravaging cows across Maharashtra, Gujrat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. So far, it has left thousands of cows dead cross these states.

What is lumpy skin disease?

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is caused by a virus called Capripoxvirus and is said to be an “emerging threat to livestock worldwide,” according to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. 

The virus is epizootic in nature, meaning that it can affect multiple animals of one kind at the same time. LSD is characterized by the eruption of nodules on the skin of animals and can cover the entire body.  Genetically, Capripoxvirus is related to the goatpox and sheeppox virus. 

It is spread by blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes and ticks as well as other insects like flies. The disease can potentially be fatal. 

Symptoms of the disease include fever, lesions in the mouth, weight loss, excessive nasal and salivary secretion. However, transmission of the infection can be halted by quarantines, slaughter campaigns of infected animals and vaccination. 

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The good news is that it cannot spread to humans and is not zoonotic, which indicates that humans cannot be infected by the viral infection in an animal.

While the virus has been infecting livestock, some states have been using the goat pox vaccine to contain the spread of  the disease, according to Animal Husbandry and Dairying Department Secretary Jatindra Nath Swain.