Gujarat: 18 animals die of sheep pox in Surendranagar

Barely has lumpy skin disease outbreak in cows been controlled, the state government is facing another health challenge among milch cattle with the highly contagious sheep pox rearing its head.

At least 18 sheep have died in the last 12 days in a village of Patdi taluka of Surendranagar district.

However, the administration claimed that the viral disease was under control and a large number of animals in the 15 km radius of the affected village have been vaccinated.

According to official sources, a breeder having 145 animals in Himmatpura village, which is close to the Little Rann of Kutch, had reported that some of the sheep had fallen sick on August 21. 

The animals were suffering from fever, runny nose and stopped taking fodder. Some lesions, a telling symptom of sheep pox, had also developed on their bodies.

Teams of the animal husbandry department visited his farm and found eight sick and two dead sheep. Officials said 30 sheep fell ill and 18 died between August 23 and September 3. 

Officials said that sheep pox is not new and scattered cases were reported in Morbi district last year. 

The lumpy skin disease affected 24 districts out of the total 33 in Gujarat and close to 3,800 of the 98,000 cattle have died of the infection over the past couple of months.