The contagious nodular dermatosis continues to progress in the mountains of Savoyard, since it has already led to the killing of a thousand animals in the Alps. Transmitted by insect bites, this animal viral disease is attacking cows, buffalo and cebus. A case of nodular dermatosis was detected for the first time in France at the end of June, in a saboya breeding, before it quickly extends to other farms in the region.
As of July 30, 2025, 51 homes were detected in around thirty farms in French territory, including 27 households in high quality and 24 homes in Savoy, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. To counteract its rapid advance in France, while the summer period is particularly favorable for stingy insects (flies, Taa) that transmit the disease, the State had ordered the systematic killing of the entire flock within which an infected animal has been identified.
Mandatory vaccination
A large vaccination campaign, whose cost is covered by the State, was rapidly launched in mid -July thanks to the ordered doses of the European Union. This same vaccination campaign, which is based on the vaccine of a South African laboratory, is limited to a “regulated zone” that covers the two Savoyard departments and overflows in Ain and Isère. No cow escapes it: vaccination became mandatory within the regulated area.
In addition to vaccination and preventive killing, other biosafety measures (disinfection, unsection, cleaning, etc.) and a prohibition of cattle movements within the area regulated to the list of precautions for use. At the moment, it is a career of judgment in the time that is involved in alpine passes to stop the progression of the epizotal, against which there is no treatment currently to treat sick animals.
There is a mortality rate “of about 10%” in contaminated farms, while survivors can have “serious sequelae”, such as weight loss, abortion or milk production, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. However, animals that seem healthy can transport the virus, due to the long period of incubation (28 days) or an absence of symptoms, hence the choice of preventive killing to stop their transmission.
THE DISORDER OF THE BROWNS
But these “depopulation” measures are stirring the agricultural world. In the territories in question, the refractory breeders mobilized at the beginning of the epizootic to block access to certain farms and prevent the killing of animals, without inflating the strategy of the State and the health authorities. A Savoyard breeder, supported by the rural coordination that denounces the “institutional brutality” of systematic massacre, recently saw its appeal rejected by the State Council.
The depopulation of a reproduction results in a tracking space of approximately twenty days: if the repopulation is theoretical possible at the end of this minimum period, it is still difficult to implement provided that the regulated zone limits the movements of the cattle. To calm the concerns, the Ministry of Agriculture promised significantly to extend the “unproductive period” included in the compensation system to take into account the prohibition of the return of animals.
As a reminder, contagious nodular dermatosis (DNC) is not transmitted to humans and does not lead to any risk of food and dairy products.
In the eyes of the general public, contagious nodular dermatosis has been unexpectedly invited. In the attack of the Alps between Albertville and La Plagne, stage 19 of the male cycling career on Friday, July 24, around thirty kilometers had been shortened in the last minute to avoid the Col des entrances, after the detection of a house of the disease inside a herd.
“Faced with the disorder of the breeders in question and to preserve the serenity of the race, it was decided, according to the authorities, modify the course”, the organizers of the Tour of France were justified.
Source: BFM TV
