The 300,000 doses of vaccine that the Region intends to use to try to stem the outbreak of lumpy skin disease that threatens to spread among cattle have arrived in Sardinia .
The latest available data, updated as of July 17 (so the numbers may be higher) , reports 29 active outbreaks concentrated in the Nuoro area, with 184 infected animals, 31 deaths from the disease, and 447 already culled. The affected farms have a total of over 1,800 affected animals. All of them are at risk of being culled, even if they are healthy.
The killing phenomenon is being addressed with vaccinations: doses should be made available to local health authorities starting tomorrow, and widespread administration should begin the following day. Farmers cannot refuse, and according to the Department of Health's guidelines, they are subject to fines (up to €20,000) and will not receive compensation for damages caused by the disease. Cow owners are concerned: "With the vaccines, cattle will experience a reduction in milk production for four months, but the other side effects shouldn't be that significant," Councilor Armando Bartolazzi said in the Regional Council a few days ago.
While awaiting the crisis unit's decisions, M5S regional councilor Gianluca Mandas explained the reasons for the hard line: "For the outbreaks currently affecting Sardinia, it is mandatory to follow the EU health procedure, which does not allow arbitrary derogations. The measures envisaged include: immediate isolation of the outbreak farm, demarcation of the infected area and surveillance zone, mandatory culling of all susceptible animals on the affected farm, without exception, movement ban, activation of emergency vaccination at the regional level, biosecurity measures, and vector control. No region can choose a different approach."
But where did the virus come from? And when? The Region has its own version. According to health reports, Lumpy skin disease has been in Sardinia since at least March. And according to official documents, "the hypothesis of the virus's introduction via vectors from the African continent has been formulated, as well as other hypotheses, which are currently being investigated. The results of ongoing clinical, laboratory, and entomological surveillance," according to a document from the Department of Health, "could provide crucial information on when LSD was introduced into Sardinia. Laboratory tests conducted by CESME on the sequencing of the viral genome have so far revealed that, from comparison with the sequences deposited in the database, the sequence obtained from the salivary matrix of a bovine from the first Sardinian outbreak clusters with an isolate from Nigeria in 2018 and is related to other African sequences described in Namibia and South Africa between 2010 and 2022."