Geographic Distribution of Lumpy Skin Disease

A cattle disease causing skin nodules and fever was known to circulate in the Central Africa for years (Thomas and Mare 1945) before it was reported in Zambia in 1929 (Thomas 1945; MacOwan 1959). After sweeping throughout and causing substantial economic losses for the cattle farming in the Southern African region in the 1940s, the disease continued to spread towards the north, and currently it is present practically everywhere in Africa, including Madagascar (World Animal Health Information database, OIE WAHID Interface). Only Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are still officially free of lumpy skin disease (LSD).