May 16, 2007

 

Europe alerts ruminant raisers for bluetongue

 

 

An alert on the bluetongue virus has been raised in Europe as it, to date, affected 2,151 ruminants in Europe resulting to widespread interruption to livestock trading.

 

The virus was prevalent last year in the UK which has been spread through midges (a kind of tiny fly) which resulted to high mortality rates particularly in sheep. Though it doesn't pose any health risk in humans, death rates can be high and up to 30 percent of the infected animals have died last year.

 

The Netherlands has had 474 bluetongue cases, Belgium 695, Luxembourg eight, Germany 957 and France 17. Before last autumn the disease had largely been restricted to southern parts of Spain and Portugal as well as minor outbreaks in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria.

 

Veterinarians have been baffled over its spread to northern Europe as it originated from sub-Saharan Africa. Odds are, according to experts, that the source will never be traced.

 

The fear from the UK perspective is that it might cross the Channel and become endemic.

 

Charles Milne, the head of the State Veterinary Service Scotland (SVS), while not seeking to downplay the risks to the UK livestock industry, was decidedly pragmatic on the situation. He said that while the disease is deemed to halt during winter, the possibility of the virus being transmitted in the UK is either through importation of animals from affected regions and by midges being blown across the Channel and alighting in the southeast corner of England.

 

The midges, according to Milne, feed on the blood of an infected animal before it can spread the disease. Scotland has more than its fair share of midges during the summer months, but the good news is that the Highland species is not reckoned to be a carrier of bluetongue.

 

Milne has found some reassurance from meteorological experts as it have confirmed there are only 100 hours each month when the weather might make it possible for the midges to cross the Channel. However, he said, the country is now reaching the peak activity period for these midges in late May and early June and 16 surveillance sites have been put up in the UK, mostly in England. Milne confirmed any incidence should be stepped up carefully.

 

Should the disease reach Scotland, or elsewhere in the UK, under current legislation an infected area would be declared and should comprise a protection zone of at least 60 miles around the affected vicinity and should hold a surveillance area within 30 miles and beyond. 

 

Farmers would be compensated to infected flocks but if the disease came from the imported stock in Europe, no compensation would be available.

 

But Milne said bluetongue is very difficult to eradicate as controlling the midge population is impossible, thus, preventive measures should always be ensured.