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The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying has stepped up prevention, surveillance and control of Lumpy Skin Disease, coordinating with States and UTs on vaccination and other containment measures.
More than 36.18 crore cattle have been vaccinated or re-vaccinated against LSD so far; there are 3,461 active cases at present, mainly among young, unvaccinated animals and those with co-morbidities.
Since July 2026 sporadic cases have been reported mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand, with very low severity and recovery generally within a week.
A Central Expert Team was deputed to Uttar Pradesh in August 2026, and review meetings with States and UTs were held on 27 August and 7 September 2026.
States have been advised on timely vaccination of heifers and young cattle, ring vaccination, movement control, isolation, vector control, disinfection, stray animal management and quarantine of newly introduced animals.
LSD is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus, a member of the genus Capripoxvirus — the same genus as sheeppox and goatpox. It spreads chiefly through biting insects rather than direct contact, which is why vector control matters as much as vaccination. Morbidity can be high but mortality is usually low.
Simple Analogy: The insect, not the sick animal next door, is the main carrier.
India's first indigenous homologous live-attenuated vaccine against Lumpy Skin Disease, developed from a domestic LSD virus strain isolated at Ranchi.
Key: Developed jointly by ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE), Hisar, and ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar; the technology was released on 10 August 2022. Being homologous, it uses the same virus as the disease rather than a related sheeppox or goatpox strain.
Launched in September 2019 to control Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis by vaccinating the entire susceptible livestock population, with the aim of controlling FMD by 2025 and eradicating it by 2030.
Key: A Central Sector Scheme funded 100% by the Centre, with an outlay of Rs 13,343 crore for 2019-20 to 2023-24, covering over 50 crore livestock for FMD and about 3.6 crore female bovine calves a year for brucellosis.
The umbrella Centrally Sponsored Scheme of DAHD for animal disease control, veterinary service delivery and laboratory strengthening.
Key: It carries NADCP alongside the Critical Animal Disease Control Programme (CADCP), Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases (ASCAD), Pashu Aushadhi, and the Establishment and Strengthening of Veterinary Hospitals and Dispensaries - Mobile Veterinary Units component, which funds roughly one Mobile Veterinary Unit per one lakh livestock, dispatched on farmers' calls to a call centre.
India's premier laboratory for research on exotic and emerging animal pathogens; provides technical support for LSD diagnosis. It has been designated a Category A rinderpest holding facility by WOAH and FAO.
The intergovernmental body that sets animal health standards and receives member countries' disease notifications — the reason transparent reporting of LSD incidents matters.
The nodal department for livestock health, running NADCP and LHDCP and issuing technical advisories to States and UTs.
GS Paper 3 > Agriculture > Animal Rearing; Science and Technology > Biotechnology
General Awareness > Science and Government Programmes
The genus of poxviruses that includes the lumpy skin disease virus along with sheeppox and goatpox viruses.
Vaccinating all susceptible animals in a defined radius around an outbreak to contain its spread, rather than vaccinating the whole population at once.
A vaccine made from the same virus species that causes the disease — as with Lumpi-ProVacInd — rather than from a related virus.