January 12, 2012

 

 

Farm vets and farmers are recommended to make sure of their awareness on the clinical signs of Schmallenberg virus (SBV), according to the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) and the British Veterinary Association (BVA).

 

Farm managers are being encouraged particularly to check for the symptoms of the emerging disease for cattle which has been imported from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, where the disease was recently detected.

 

Carl Padgett, President of the BVA, commented, "The symptoms described in adults are quite generic, but this disease seems to affect a few animals, not just one.

 

"Clinical symptoms initially reported in the affected areas include fever, reduced milk yields, loss of appetite, loss of condition and in some cases diarrhoea, with clinical signs disappearing after a few days."

 

The SAC's Veterinary Services Manager Brian Hosie has written to veterinary practices and the farming industry requesting they report incidences of limb and brain defects in new-born animals and foetuses.

 

Foetal malformations occur when pregnant animals are infected with SBV.

 

While there is no evidence that SBV is currently present in Britain, the enhanced surveillance aims to ensure that, should SBV infection occur, it is detected and controlled at the earliest stage.

 

Hosie also recommends that any reported stillbirth, malformation or nervous disease in new-born animals or foetuses that are born to ruminant dams that were imported from mainland Europe throughout last year should also be investigated by the SAC.

 

"We want to fully investigate certain types of limb and brain defects in new-born ruminants and foetuses. Specifically, contractures that are present at birth that result in reduced mobility of several limb joints. In severe cases, limbs and the spine may also be twisted. The brain damage caused by this virus is severe and results in blindness and brain function such that calves and lambs appear like "dummies"," he added.

 

The ANM Group is to begin a consultation process with the 59 staff at the Yorkshire Premier Meat processing plant in Sheffield over a proposal to close the site.

 

Due to continuing difficult trading conditions in the industry, the company proposes to concentrate the majority of its activities in Yorkshire Premier at its second plant in South Kirkby.