PARIS (Reuters) -More outbreaks of the highly contagious lumpy skin disease have been detected in cattle in southwestern France near the Spanish border, the agriculture ministry said ahead of a ministerial visit to one of the latest affected regions on Friday.
France is struggling to contain a surge in cases of lumpy skin disease, a virus spread by insects that causes blisters and reduces milk production in cattle.
The disease, which is sweeping across Western Europe for the first time, does not pose a risk to humans but often leads to trade restrictions and severe economic losses.
REBOUND IN OUTBREAKS
Farms in three communes of the Pyrenees-Orientales – La Bastide, Oms, and Valmanya – have reported cases, prompting a mandatory vaccination campaign in the surrounding area, the farm ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
The affected villages are close together and about 30 kilometers from the Spanish border. Local authorities earlier this week had mentioned only a single outbreak in the region.
France reported a sharp drop in outbreaks in late August after a mass vaccination campaign, but cases have picked up again this month, spreading in the east and now to the southwest.
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard is due to visit Jura, one of the latest affected regions in eastern France, on Friday for a crisis meeting on the disease.
Western Europe had been spared from lumpy skin disease, which is usually present in Africa and the Middle East, until this summer.
Italy’s Sardinia reported the first outbreak in late June, followed by cases in France and, most recently, Spain.
The three countries are already battling the bluetongue virus affecting sheep and bovines that has spread across Europe.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, editing by Mark Heinrich)
