Long-term battle needed against lumpy skin disease: experts analyze the habits of three vector insects

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), which has ravaged the globe, has invaded Kinmen, and infected cattle either die or are left with nothing but skin and bones. The Council of Agriculture is going all out to block the virus and prevent it from spreading to the main island of Taiwan. Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng said the vaccine will arrive by next Tuesday at the latest to build an epidemic prevention wall, while Kinmen has mobilized the whole county to disinfect and eliminate insects inside and outside every cattle farm.

Du Wu-jun, a professor in the Department of Entomology at National Chung Hsing University, said that among the three vector insects that transmit lumpy skin disease, Culicoides biting midges prefer humid environments and stable flies are attracted to white, so white sticky traps can be used to catch them. The only one that cannot fly is the tick, whose blood-feeding habit is to stay on the animal's body for long periods, and when not feeding on blood it hides in the grass, so it will not appear on vehicles.

Du Wu-jun reminded that "the top priority for epidemic prevention at cattle farms on the main island right now is to keep the environment dry and remove weeds." Although cattle farms everywhere apply chemical controls such as spraying disinfectant, which is effective in the short term but has a limited disinfection range, the virus has an incubation period and the vector insects can fly long distances, so epidemic prevention at cattle farms will be a long-term battle.

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