<p>Seoul: South Korea plans to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign to contain an outbreak of lumpy skin disease in cattle, the government said on Wednesday, after 29 cases have been reported since the first outbreak last week.</p><p>Authorities are in talks with domestic and foreign companies to secure 4 million doses of vaccine by the end of this month, an amount sufficient to inoculate all the cows in the country, the agriculture ministry said.</p><p>The highly infectious viral disease, which causes blisters and reduces milk production, is transmitted by blood-sucking insects such as mosquitoes, ticks and flies. It does not pose a risk to humans.</p><p>A total of 29 cases have been confirmed across South Korea as of Wednesday morning after the country reported its first outbreak of the disease at a cattle farm last week.</p><p>Authorities have culled all the cows at the affected facilities and imposed a temporary transport ban at nearby farms, while vaccinating cattle there using 540,000 doses they had in stock, the ministry said.</p><p>The government plans to complete the vaccination of all cattle in the country by early next month.</p><p>"If the nationwide vaccine inoculation is completed as planned, the outbreak of lumpy skin disease is expected to stabilise within November given the three-week period needed to develop antibodies for immunization," the ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>Seoul: South Korea plans to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign to contain an outbreak of lumpy skin disease in cattle, the government said on Wednesday, after 29 cases have been reported since the first outbreak last week.</p><p>Authorities are in talks with domestic and foreign companies to secure 4 million doses of vaccine by the end of this month, an amount sufficient to inoculate all the cows in the country, the agriculture ministry said.</p><p>The highly infectious viral disease, which causes blisters and reduces milk production, is transmitted by blood-sucking insects such as mosquitoes, ticks and flies. It does not pose a risk to humans.</p><p>A total of 29 cases have been confirmed across South Korea as of Wednesday morning after the country reported its first outbreak of the disease at a cattle farm last week.</p><p>Authorities have culled all the cows at the affected facilities and imposed a temporary transport ban at nearby farms, while vaccinating cattle there using 540,000 doses they had in stock, the ministry said.</p><p>The government plans to complete the vaccination of all cattle in the country by early next month.</p><p>"If the nationwide vaccine inoculation is completed as planned, the outbreak of lumpy skin disease is expected to stabilise within November given the three-week period needed to develop antibodies for immunization," the ministry said in a statement.</p>