Lumpy skin disease increases poverty rates among affected farmers

TIRANA, Nov. 22 – The lumpy skin disease continues claiming livestock lives throughout Albania, most recently in the central part of the country, increasing poverty rates among thousands of households who rely on cows to make a living. The disease has recently affected households in Lushnja and Elbasan, central Albania, where vaccination and vet services have not been available from the beginning despite the virus affecting several areas of the country since last summer. The situation is more critical in some villages of Elbasan where milk and calves secures a living for most local farmers. “The cow started going numb…