Bluetongue Virus Update PDF Print E-mail
Written by Cian MacSweeny   
Thursday, 30 October 2008
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Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith is advising farmers not to import livestock after the recent discovery of bluetongue (BTV6) in cattle on farms in the Netherlands. Minister Smith said that this serotype had never turned up in the EU before and is not known to have existed in the surrounding areas. The results from the Community Reference Laboratory is that the virus isolated is most likely to be a vaccinal strain of BTV6 virus and corresponds to a live attenuated bluetongue vaccine that is in use in South Africa for sheep. The vaccine has not been cleared for use in the EU so serious questions have been raised as to how it ended up in the community.

On top of the cases in the Netherlands, France has also seen the bluetongue virus (BTV1) spread to the North of the country and the BTV8 strain has turned up in several other member states. With many member states containing the virus, despite the strict movement controls in the Netherlands and in part of Germany, the Department of Agriculture believe it would be unwise to import any animals from affected regions at this time.  “Ireland is free from bluetongue and I strongly urge Irish farmers and others not to import animals from these regions so as not to jeopardise this status,” said Minister Smith.

The Minister said that the cases in the Netherlands had been discussed at EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCOFCAH) on October 27th and will be discussed further at that committee's next meeting on 11/12 November when more information should be available from the epidemiological and other investigations that are currently being undertaken.

Minister Smith welcomed the announced review and revision of the current EU rules which permit the importation of cattle and sheep that are less than 90 days old or that have proven natural or vaccinated immunity to relevant bluetongue strains from bluetongue-restricted zones. This was announced as part of the future Community strategy on bluetongue.

Mr. Smith reiterated his warning against importing any livestock at this time under any circumstances pending the outcome of the review, saying; “Such imports at this time pose a very real and serious risk to the entire livestock sector. Where imported animals are identified in the course of post-import testing as BTV positive, the animals are liable to be slaughtered and herdowners concerned may not receive any compensation.”



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