Bluetongue disease

How does the disease spread?

The strain of Bluetongue virus detected has been identified as Serotype 8. This is the strain found in Belgium, France Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands since August 2006 where there have been several thousand reported cases. Bluetongue disease is transmitted by midges. It is passed from animal to midge and from midge to animal, but is not transmitted from animal to animal. Further investigations are underway to try to establish if the disease is circulating in the midges and susceptible animals and this could take some days to assess.

Midges of the Culicoides group act as vectors and there are several native varieties in the UK that can transmit the disease if infected. These tend to be in largest numbers in late summer and early autumn. They can travel up to 1.5-2 km a day but up to 200km in mildly windy conditions. Defra does not recommend the treatment of the general environment with insecticides, as this will have little effect on midge  populations and can have serious environmental implications. 

What could be the impact on society?

Mortality rates in sheep during an outbreak can be severe.  Loss of condition to animals especially sheep and cattle would also have serious economic consequences for farmers. The disease is likely to cause mortality in some wildlife species (for example, deer). There are no human implications to this disease.  

The current status of Foot and Mouth means that export and movement restriction are already in place. However, it will be very difficult to control and eradicate Bluetongue and so export trade restrictions and some animal movement controls could be long-term and therefore damaging to the farming industry.

Further information is available on the Defra website.