SEOUL - South Korea's battle against lumpy skin disease in cattle has reached a new milestone with the vaccination of approximately 70 percent of the national herd, authorities announced on Friday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as of Thursday, about 2.8 million out of the 4 million cattle across the country, which translates to 68.8 percent, have been vaccinated. The ministry has scheduled to finish the vaccination campaign by November 10, although it is expected that there could be new cases in the interim as cattle take around three weeks to develop sufficient antibodies after being vaccinated.
To date, there have been 75 confirmed instances of lumpy skin disease in South Korea. The disease, non-transmissible to humans, is highly contagious among cattle and can cause symptoms such as nodules on the skin, fever, and loss of appetite, and can lead to decreased milk production and possibly death in affected animals.