Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana organized an online panel discussion on Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) of animals to inform the farmers and other stakeholders about the disease and to bust various myths related to it. Dr Parkash Singh Brar, Director Extension Education, said that the university is getting more than a hundred calls daily about LSD and people are scared by some myths about its transmission through milk and vaccination. Dr Swarn Singh Randhawa, Director, Veterinary Hospital, GADVASU said that this disease is cattle and buffalo specific, occurs in hot and humid environment, spreads by vectors like mosquitoes, flies and ticks and has fever and nodular signs on the skin. 
Dr Jasbir Singh Bedi, Director, Centre for One Health, shattered the myths by revealing that this disease neither spreads to humans through direct contact nor through drinking the milk of affected animals.He highlighted that milk should be boiled before consumption. Further, Dr Bedi said that carcasses of affected animals should be disposed of through incineration or buried in a 6x6x6 pit with lime. Dr Deepti Narang, Head, Department of Veterinary Microbiology revealed that vaccination of all healthy animals above four months of age is a viable method to control this disease. Dr R K Sharma, Head, Department of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry Extension acquainted the participants with indigenous methodologies to enhance the immunity of animals, treat the disease and prevent vector attack. Sh Sandeep Singh Randhawa, progressive dairy farmer and Sh Maninderjit Singh Bawa, dairy farmer cum environmentalist and Sh Surinder Singh Dhindsa , progressive dairy farmer cum social activist also joined the panel and gave their valuable inputs. Dr Harpreet Singh, Associate Professor, Communication successfully coordinated the event. After the initial information on LSD, queries of participants were answered by the panelists. More than 160 participants comprising farmers, veterinary officers, extension workers, subject matter specialists from Punjab, Jammu, USA and adjoining states joined this discussion. The programme lasted for more than three hours. At the end, Dr Brar explained the disease and bust the prevalent myths and said that the university is always ready to help the livestock farmers of the state. Farmers can contact the university on any working days on the tele-advisory numbers 62832-97919 and 62832-58834.
