All healthy cattle on the outlying island of Kinmen have been vaccinated for lumpy skin disease. That’s the word from the Council of Agriculture on Wednesday.
Kinmen is famous for its beef products. But the island has recently seen an outbreak of lumpy skin disease, a disease that affects cattle and may be fatal. Last month, the county culled many cattle found with or suspected to have the disease. Now, a total of 6,342 healthy head of cattle have been vaccinated at 472 farms across the island.
The government says that lumpy skin disease has an incubation period of up to 28 days. It causes illness in 10%-20% of infected animals and death in 1%-5%.
The virus responsible for the disease does not affect humans. The disease is characterized by fever, enlarged superficial lymph nodes on the skin and mucous membranes.