March 28, 2012

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) infection has been identified on 209 UK-based farms with 17 positive cases being diagnosed in cattle, 192 in sheep, and none to date in other species such as goats, camelids or deer.

Currently, SBV infection has only been identified in areas predicted to be at risk of midge incursion from Northern Europe during summer / autumn 2011.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Authority has not ruled out the possibility that domestic (local) midges may have transmitted SBV within the affected areas. Domestic midges may have been infected after biting a local animal infected last summer after incursion of continental midges.

Disease has been reported in one new county, Bedfordshire, as well as in Jersey, Channel Islands.