Northern march of bluetongue a real concern for British farmers

A TECTONIC plate shifted in animal health during August 2006 when the bluetongue virus – or BTV – strain 8 was found in Dutch livestock.

There have been incursions, 10 in total, of bluetongue in Europe in the past 10 years, but none as significant or risky to the UK.

It was an important event in the annals of veterinary history, certainly in the top five for my veterinary career (which has seen remarkable events such as BSE and foot-and-mouth) so I believe this should concern British farmers for four simple reasons:

1) The latitude of bluetongue in Europe is further north than previously experienced.

2) Cattle are clinically affected, as well as sheep.

3) A different group of midges act as the vector, and it is common to northern Europe, including the UK.

4) Infection is continuing deep into the winter season.

UK bluetongue contingency plans were updated in 2002, but the scenario envisaged then was warming winters, infection creeping slowly up from the Mediterranean rather than a long distance spark from an unknown origin.

In animal health, and certainly for a chief veterinary officer, there is always good reason to expect the unexpected. Now it is vital to take the new situation seriously. It poses big challenges to aspects of livestock farming that we have not faced before.

There are lessons already. Alert livestock keepers and their veterinarians can spot this problem with careful differential diagnosis.

Scientific evidence and veterinary service capabilities are essential and must be flexible to ensure the surveillance and prevention measures are suitable and flexible.

Although there is uncertainty over the level of risk, everything I see makes me think this virus is likely to over-winter and be near enough to the UK to be a real risk this summer.

Infected midges could blow in our direction and we can do absolutely nothing to stop it happening. We will play a key role in helping the industry keep the disease at bay by entry through other routes.

We have been, and will continue to, post-import test all susceptible animals from the rest of the EU to ensure that at least this pathway of infection is blocked off.

The disease would certainly damage the UK’s international status as we would no longer be regarded as free of bluetongue by our trading partners. Therefore, it must be right for anyone who cares at all about the future of British livestock to do two things:

1) Be on alert for bluetongue and spread the message. Early detection and control of a few isolated incidents might just stop it in an early enough stage to prevent the cycle of spread in British midges.

2) Produce a sustainable plan of industry action, which is agreed by those concerned to deal with the new paradigm in 2007.

I am pleased this is already work in progress but if bluetongue arrives here there will be some hard choices for the industry to face, for example, on the needs of sheep versus cattle, the economic impact from constraint on animal movements versus disease control, exports versus domestic markets.