More than 20,800 cattle were found infected with lumpy skin disease in Madhya Pradesh and 336 of them have succumbed to the infection so far, officials said on Saturday.

A total of 20,874 cattle got infected with this disease across 31 districts of the state till October 13, an official said. Of these, 18,351 animals have recovered till now, while 336 have died, he said.

Dhar, Betul, Morena, Ratlam, Ujjain, Khandwa are among the worst hit districts from the spread of this disease, the officials said. So far, 17.21 lakh animals have been vaccinated for the protection from the disease, they added.

According to them, more vaccines are available in the state than required. Medicines were made available in adequate quantities in all the districts within time.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a contagious viral disease that affects cattle and causes fever, nodules on the skin and can also lead to death. The disease gets spread by mosquitoes, flies, lice, and wasps by direct contact among the cattle, and through contaminated food and water.

The main symptoms are fever in animals, discharge from the eyes and nose, salivation from the mouth, soft blisters like nodules all over the body, reduced milk production, and difficulty in eating, which sometimes lead to the animal's death.?

(With PTI Inputs)