France, the world's leading exporter of live animals, is facing a severe crisis as a highly contagious cattle disease disrupts its industry and sparks farmer protests. Since June, the country has been grappling with lumpy skin disease (LSD), a viral illness that devastates herds. However, a proven blueprint for containment exists, drawn from the successful response of several Balkan nations nearly a decade ago.
The Balkan Blueprint: Alert, Vaccinate, Contain
In 2016, when lumpy skin disease was detected in neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria, Serbia immediately went on high alert. Tamas Petrovic, head of virology at the Scientific Veterinary Institute in Novi Sad, Serbia, explained that a dedicated task force was formed to monitor the threat. Although LSD poses no risk to humans, it severely impacts milk production, fertility, and can be fatal for cattle, making a swift response critical.
Faced with the disease's prolonged incubation period, which made tracking difficult, officials pivoted to mass vaccination as the primary weapon. At the time, no vaccine was registered in Europe, so Serbia urgently imported one from South Africa. Within just one week of the vaccine's arrival, it was tested and the first cattle inoculations began.
Phased Vaccination and Targeted Culls
The mass vaccination campaign was executed in strategic phases. Authorities first targeted large livestock populations in infected districts before broadening the effort nationwide. In total, about one million doses were administered across Serbia. This methodical approach, combined with mandatory culling of affected herds, yielded dramatic results.
"We stopped the disease within two to three months after it entered the country," stated Petrovic. The culls, though necessary, were limited in scale due to the rapid action. In Serbia, fewer than 1,000 cattle were slaughtered from a national herd of nearly 900,000. Regional efforts also included insect control to curb transmission by mosquitoes, ticks, and flies.
A Regional Success Story and Lessons for Today
The Balkan response was a coordinated regional triumph. By 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reported that over 70% of the region's cattle had been vaccinated. Croatia's preventive vaccination, approved by the EU, kept the disease out entirely despite outbreaks in nearby Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina also ran extensive vaccination and booster campaigns from 2016 to 2018.
Petrovic emphasised that the Balkans proved to be "more than a good example" in disease control. The key lesson, he insists, was that experts must lead the response. "The state and politicians acted in line with the experts and followed what needed to be done -- and they did it," he said. This model of decisive, science-led action stands in stark contrast to the prolonged turmoil currently facing French farmers, who are protesting government-mandated culling protocols. The Balkan experience demonstrates that with swift vaccination, strategic culling, and political will, even a major livestock epidemic can be controlled in a matter of months.
