Gyeonggi-do Animal Hygiene Testing Center Designated as Lumpy Skin Disease Precision Diagnosis Institution

The Gyeonggi-do Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory was recently designated as a precise diagnostic institution for the livestock infectious disease Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency.

Lumpy Skin Disease is a viral disease transmitted by blood-sucking insects, causing symptoms such as high fever and skin nodules (lumps) in infected cattle.

Designation as a precise diagnostic institution requires national approval as a 'Biosafety Level 3 (BL3) research facility' and meeting equipment and personnel requirements.

Exterior view of the 'Biosafety Level 3 Research Facility' at Gyeonggi-do Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory

The Gyeonggi-do Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory can now determine positive cases through its own testing without requesting precise tests from the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency when suspected LSD infections occur in livestock.

Previously, the Gyeonggi-do Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory was successively designated as a precise diagnostic institution for four types of disaster-level livestock infectious diseases, including LSD: foot-and-mouth disease in 2013, highly pathogenic avian influenza in 2015, and African swine fever in 2019.

Shin Byung-ho, director of the Gyeonggi-do Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory, stated, "We are the first local government livestock quarantine institution nationwide to secure personnel and diagnostic capabilities to independently diagnose all four types of disaster-level livestock infectious diseases. We will reduce damage to livestock farms not only by preventing infectious diseases but also by conducting rapid and accurate testing when outbreaks occur."