August 30, 2007

 

Bluetongue continues to wreak havoc in EU

 

 

As UK continues to battle foot and mouth disease, several other European countries are also struggling against bluetongue disease outbreaks.

 

According to the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), bluetongue has re-emerged this year in the Northern European countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of western Germany and areas of northern France) affected during 2006.

 

The Netherlands last week has widened its bluetongue security zone in covering two-thirds of the country. Dutch agriculture officials pegged the number of reported cases at 336 last Thursday.

 

Luxembourg reported six new cases of bluetongue to the World Organization for Animal Health last week.

 

DEFRA said on August 23 there is a low but increased risk of spread to the UK from the affected areas and published a revised bluetongue disease control strategy for the country.

 

DEFRA and the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been working together to review bluetongue control measures and share decision-making to control the disease.

 

Bluetongue differs from other diseases in terms of its effects and the way it spreads wherein response should be appropriately done to prevent further outbreaks.

 

The virus is spread by midges that transfer the virus from animal to animal by biting them. Transmission of the virus during an outbreak, therefore, depends on continuing cycles of infection between infected animals and vector insects. Bluetongue cannot be naturally transmitted directly between animals.

 

Bluetongue affects all ruminants, such as cattle, goats, deer and sheep. Clinical signs can vary by species; although symptoms are generally more severe in sheep, cattle can also show signs of disease (and can act as a reservoir for the disease to keep infection circulating).

 

Bluetongue virus transmission between animals occurs via an insect vector (midges of Culicoides species), when a midge bites an infected animal and passes the infection to an uninfected naive animal. Experts say the disease is not a threat to human health.

 

Prior to 2006, bluetongue virus had only been found in Mediterranean regions of Europe, but the specific strain isolated last year was from sub-Saharan Africa.