MUZAFFARGARH: Farmers rearing animals claim that lumpy skin disease is now affecting goats and sheep.

Livestock officials, however, say the small animals are affected by chickenpox virus whose symptoms are similar to those of the lumpy skin disease.

Hundreds of goats and sheep are brought to the Kot Addu cattle market for trade. On Friday, there were few buyers and most of them were from outside the district and demanded animals on reduced rates due to symptoms of disease.

“Goat farming is a lucrative business but the sale of the animal has dropped because of the lumpy skin disease,” said Malik Imran, a restaurant owner. He said his restaurant was near the river Chenab and locals and travellers stopped by to enjoy food but there was not much demand of mutton meat these days as people were aware of the disease. He said there were reports of spread of disease in Muzaffargarh and Layyah districts.

Muhammad Ramzan told this correspondent that he bought four goats at the rate of Rs1,200 per kilogram but he was disappointed as the traders offered as low as Rs800 per kilogram due to news about the disease. He said he sold the goats at low rates.

Rab Nawaz, a trader of Gilwala, said he had suffered financial setback due to loss of cattle. He said the lumpy skin disease had affected goats and sheep. He said when he contacted the livestock officials, they advised him to give Panadol tablet and herbal syrup to animals but the medicines were not available in the market.

Livestock officials claim that the lumpy skin disease is reducing.

District Livestock Officer Dr Tariq Chajra told Dawn that there were few cases of chickenpox in small animals. He said the symptoms of the viral infection were similar to those of lumpy skin disease and therefore, the traders were wary of buying it.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2022