Lumpy skin disease testing sites expand from 2 to 13 as diagnostic authority shifts to local governments

The number of institutions authorized to conduct precision diagnostics for lumpy skin disease has expanded from two to 13 provincial and municipal sites. The move is designed to shift disease testing toward a faster, locally led system ahead of the reclassification of lumpy skin disease from a Class 1 to a Class 2 livestock infection, effective in October.

The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency announced Monday that it had transferred precision diagnostic authority for lumpy skin disease to animal health laboratories in 11 additional provinces and cities. Combined with the existing facilities in Gyeonggi Province and South Chungcheong Province, animal health labs in 13 regions across the country can now perform precision diagnostics.

The newly authorized facilities are the animal health laboratories in Incheon, Daegu, Ulsan, northern Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, North Chungcheong Province, North Jeolla Province, South Jeolla Province, North Gyeongsang Province, South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju. All 11 have been conducting lumpy skin disease precision diagnostics since Sept. 21.

Lumpy skin disease is a livestock infection that affects cattle and spreads through blood-sucking insects such as stable flies and mosquitoes. Infected animals develop high fever, widespread skin nodules and loss of appetite. The disease was first confirmed in South Korea in October 2023 and has since been managed as a Class 1 livestock infection.

The government decided to reclassify lumpy skin disease as a Class 2 livestock infection starting Thursday, citing a mortality rate below 10 percent and the availability of effective vaccine prevention.

Until now, precision diagnostics for lumpy skin disease could only be performed at the quarantine agency headquarters and the two local government facilities in Gyeonggi and South Chungcheong provinces. As suspected lumpy skin disease reports from slaughterhouses increased and the volume of tests — including samples from animals under quarantine or deferred culling orders and environmental samples — became concentrated at headquarters, the need to restructure the testing system around local governments grew.

Before transferring the testing authority, the quarantine agency conducted training and assessments at the 11 animal health laboratories. On Sept. 14, staff were trained on how to use diagnostic kits that distinguish between vaccine virus and field virus strains, and how to interpret the results. By Sept. 17, the labs had been evaluated on their ability to identify single and co-infections involving both strains. All 11 passed with a "satisfactory" rating, correctly differentiating vaccine virus from field virus in every case.

The quarantine agency said it plans to continue providing diagnostic training and assessments to maintain the reliability and consistency of lumpy skin disease precision diagnostics nationwide.

"Now that precision diagnostic authority has been transferred to local governments, we expect disease control responses to become faster," agency chief Choe Jeong-rok said. "We will continue to share information — including full-genome analysis and viral characterization of lumpy skin disease — so it can be used to investigate outbreak epidemiology."