Foot and Mouth and Bluetongue News - ARCHIVED

Latest NFU update on Bluetongue 14-11-08

Bluetongue serotype 6 has now been confirmed for the first time in Germany and all hopes that the outbreak of the latest serotype to hit Europe would be limited to The Netherlands have been dashed. The Dutch police are still investigating the source of the outbreak believed to have started by the illegal use of a live attenuated vaccine from South Africa. BTv8 has now been found in Austria for the first time.

NFU Bulletin fron NFU HQ (We acknowledge NFU for this Bluetongue update 29-10-08)

BTv 6 in the Netherlands

The EU reference laboratory has confirmed that the bluetongue virus detected in four animals in the Netherlands corresponds with the vaccine virus strain. The vaccine (which is a live modified vaccine) is used for BTv6 and other serotypes in South Africa (and possibly elsewhere). This type of vaccine is not registered for use in the EU currently so there are serious questions about how this ended up in the Netherlands. The Dutch authorities are carrying out a full investigation and the European Commission emergency vet team has been sent to help. It would be wrong to speculate on the reasons until the results of the investigation are published. The tight controls in the Netherlands remain in place - the controls have the effect of stopping all exports of susceptible animals.

BTv1 in France

The latest data and maps released by the French government show that BTv1 appears to have jumped to the North West tip of the country. Clearly this is a worrying development and it brings the BTv1 zone much closer to the UK. At this stage we do not know why/how the virus has made this jump and we will try and find this out in the coming days.

NFU Comment

These latest developments are very worrying and it is an important reminder that while we have not seen BT circulating in the UK this year it has not gone away and we have seen the introduction of a new strain BTv6 and the spread of BTv1. This should provide a stark reminder to people of the need to protect their stock from BTv8 – ‘don't hesitate, vaccinate!’ It is also a reminder of the risks of importing animals from BT areas. While we may not be able to legally ban imports the industry need to seriously question the need for importing animals from these areas. So perhaps our new slogan should be ‘Think before you buy - Keep bluetongue out’! As always, we will publish BTv updates in our dedicated Bluetongue channel on NFU Online as they become available.

Bluetongue update from Regional Animal Health (24-09-08)

• Bluetongue disease is circulating again in mainland Europe, over 8000 cases have been found in France, and over 500 in Germany in the last month alone.

• No circulating Bluetongue disease has been found in the UK in 2008 as yet, however, given the current high risk period we are in i.e. peak midge activity,  this would not be unexpected. 

• Vaccination remains the only effective tool to protect susceptible animals from Bluetongue. Farmers throughout the Protection Zone should vaccinate as soon as vaccine is available to them. The message remains clear - don’t hesitate, vaccinate.

• Livestock keepers wishing to source animals from within UK or abroad should be aware of the potential risks to their livestock and their neighbours’. 

• The Bluetongue positive imported animals identified at the end of August at premises in East Sussex, Hertfordshire, Devon and Durham will remain under restrictions until mid to late October while further veterinary investigations are carried out.  Any further such positive import cases detected may also be restricted for a period of time depending on veterinary risk assessment.

• The Protection Zone was extended to all of England (and Wales) on 1 September.  It will take around 6-8 weeks from now for livestock keepers in the North of England and Wales to have had sufficient opportunity to vaccinate their livestock and to gain immunity (3 weeks in sheep, and 6 weeks in cattle).  We would encourage all livestock keepers in those areas to order and begin vaccinating as soon as possible.

The Bluetongue Protection Zone will be extended at 00.01am on Monday 11th August to cover the counties of:

• Durham and Tyne and Wear (Metropolitan Boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland)
• Unitary Authorities of Hartlepool, Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland.

This extension has been agreed following a review of the vaccine available in the supply chain. 

Over the past month France has seen a resurgence of BTV8 with 3,198 new (2008) virus cases and a very rapid increase seen this week, 956 cases in the past 5 days. This is in spite of the introduction of a limited vaccination campaign, which prioritises sheep and bovines for export. The new cases are concentrated along the front edge of last year's outbreak and show the dangers of an incomplete or partial vaccination strategy. Remember it was only this time last year when the plume of infected midges was blown across the channel resulting in our first case in UK

Further extension to Bluetongue Protection Zone from 21st July

• North Yorkshire (Scarborough, Ryedale, Hambleton & Harrogate)
• Cheshire (Macclesfield, Congleton & Crewe and Nantwich)
• Greater Manchester (Rochdale, Oldham, Tameside and Stockport)
• Worcestershire

The districts of Craven and Richmondshire will remain in the free area

Further developments for Bluetongue vaccine 12/07/08

Defra have announced that as of 00:01 Monday 14th July the Bluetongue Protection Zone will be extended again, this time to cover:

• All of the District of Selby
• The Unitary Authority of York
• West Yorkshire (made up of the metropolitan boroughs of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield).  Please note that Skipton mart is in the PZ.
• Derbyshire, Staffordshire and West Midlands

Bluetongue Update: Extension of the PZ into Yorkshire 02/07/08

Defra have announced this afternoon that in accordance with the Bluetongue vaccination plan, the Protection Zone will be extended on Monday 7th July to cover:

• East Riding of Yorkshire (including the City of Kingston upon Hull)
• South Yorkshire (made up of the metropolitan boroughs of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield)
• Gloucestershire (including the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire)
• Warwickshire

Please note, the declaration does not come into force till 00:01 Monday 7th July

Extension of the Protection Zone.
Extension of the Protection Zone to East /West and South Yorkshire and Selby District is planned for Week beginning 2nd June.  Vaccine will be made available at the same time from Vets.  Movements arrangements will also change so check before moving stock.   Will members please help by telling those people who keep animals as pets.  I keep for example three sheep for lawn mowing.  Because such keepers often do not read farming press or receive information from membership of associations they could miss out on the up to date situation.  There will be a postcard reminder sent out in early June to all those who are Defra registered which should include many of these smaller number keepers.  I shall receive one as I have a flock number.  It is very important if we are to control this very painful and debilitating disease of our livestock that as near to 100% vaccination is achieved so please spread the message whenever you can.  Graham Ward

Bluetongue Disease - Latest NFU update.
Defra have announced that the Bluetongue Protection Zones will be extended again at 06:00am on Monday 19th May, following the delivery of an additional three million doses of Bluetongue vaccine. The Protection Zone will be extended to cover all of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire and Somerset, the SZ is unaffected.

Bluetongue – Don’t hesitate Vaccinate!
Now that Bluetongue vaccination is well underway, we are gearing up to promote the need for farmers to vaccinate against this nasty disease in the North East.  In order to spread the word to farmers about the necessity to protect their stock we have secured funding from regional development agencies Yorkshire Forward and One North East to send out over 13,000 postcards as part of the JAB campaign to all cattle and sheep keepers on the Defra database.  These are timed to go out in Yorkshire early June and then to Richmondshire, Craven (currently in the free area), Durham and Northumberland 2 weeks later.  Along with sending out the postcards we are also running some meetings on the disease and vaccination with Catherine McLaughlin who is the NFU national animal health and welfare adviser.  They are being held as follows, all members welcome:

Tuesday 3rd June – Askham Bryan college – 7:30pm

Monday 16th June – The George at Piercebridge – 7:30pm

Tuesday 17th June – Kirkley Hall College, Ponteland – 7:30pm.

Bluetongue vaccine – use in goats
The Goat veterinary Society has issued clarification on their Website on the use of the vaccine in goats; the vaccine is not licensed for use on goats however a vet can prescribe it under the Cascade system. The society has received a letter from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate confirming that when BTV8 vaccine is used in the goat there will be no need to withhold milk or meat from sale at all. They also report that this has been agreed by the EU Commission so is now the basis for the use of the vaccine in goats throughout Europe. Intervet has stated that their recommendation for vaccinating goats will be two doses of 1 ml each, given three to four weeks apart.

Rural Emergency  Contacts

Farm Crisis Network www.farminghelp.org.uk or 07002 326 326

The ARC-Addington Funds - 02476 690 587
Raise money for ARC-Addington Fund just by searching the web!  We are listed on Everyclick.com, the search engine that helps charity. Please follow this link http://www.everyclick.com/uk/arcaddingtonfund and set Everyclick as your home page so that all of your searching benefits ARC-Addington.

Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) - 01865 727888

Samaritans - 08457 909090

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