08 December 2008
The Institute’s bluetongue experts have urged veterinarians and livestock farmers to take all possible steps in 2009 to repeat the success of 2008. There were no instances of bluetongue in Britain, although animals infected with bluetongue virus (BTV) had been present in the UK, and the disease had been widespread in France. Writing in a letter to The Veterinary Record in the December 6th issue and quoted in a media release from the National Farmers’ Union on December 4th, IAH scientists said that it was vital that farmers should vaccinate their stock against bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) again next year. They believe that the high take-up and voluntary application of bluetongue vaccine, for which British farmers (especially in the south and east of the country) should be congratulated, had played a vital part in keeping the UK bluetongue-free.
The risk of bluetongue next year could also be minimised by farmers not importing stock from risky areas of the Continent. In addition to BTV-8, which came to neighbouring Continental countries in 2006, BTV-1 has travelled through France, reaching Brittany this autumn. Furthermore, a third serotype, BTV-6, was detected recently in the Netherlands and Germany.
The Institute’s Dr Chris Oura will be talking with farmers in Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Kent over the next couple of months. He is Head of the National, European Community and OIE Bluetongue Reference Laboratory, situated at the Institute’s Pirbright Laboratory.