Current Legislation and Trade Recommendations

In case of lumpy skin disease (LSD) incursion, national legislation needs to be in place to provide the competent veterinary authorities with means to effectively control and eradicate LSD and to carry out surveillance programmes. National legislation forms the basis for a contingency plan that is used in an exceptional disease situation. A good contingency plan describes administrative and logistic organisation, states the legal powers of the veterinary authority at all administrative levels and describes the measures to be conducted in order to halt the spread the disease. The legislation also indicates the source of funding for the control and eradication measures, such as but not limited to the costs of the vaccination campaign, implementation of stamping-out and associated measures, disposal of the carcasses and compensation farmers receive of cattle culled due to LSD infection or those animals died of LSD. A well-prepared contingency plan must be regularly updated, and simulation exercises should be organized for the staff at appropriate strategic levels. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has published a contingency plan template designed for the lumpy skin disease. The template is available and free to download on FAO website (http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/reu/europe/documents/LSD_template.pdf).