Russia and Mexico have suspended imports of sheep and sheep meat from countries worst hit by the new Schmallenberg virus in cattle, sheep and goats.
About 350 Dutch farmers have reported symptoms, although less than 100 cases have been confirmed.
In Belgium, nearly 300 farms have been tested. Germany has more than 100 confirmed cases. France and the UK have a few confirmed cases.
Germany has argued for the disease to become notifiable across Europe; Dutch farmers have been ordered to report all birth deformity symptoms since mid-December.
There will be no restriction on livestock movements between EU countries until the disease becomes notifiable. In the UK, cases were confirmed in Norfolk, Suffolk and East Sussex, where stillborn or unviable lambs were delivered. No restrictions or culls have been imposed on the farms concerned.
The disease, believed to be carried by midges, affects adult animals in the warmer months, causing fever and diarrhoea, but foetus deformities are the main eventual symptom.
Schmallenberg virus cannot be transmitted from one animal to another, but there is no vaccine.
British vets are on alert for symptoms in newborn ruminants and aborted foetuses of limb or brain defects such as locked joints, jaw deformations and twisted necks, limb malfunction, paralysis and blindness — especially where there is a history of importation from Europe.
Schmallenberg Virus, discovered only months ago, is believed to have originated in Africa, like the Bluetongue Virus which disrupted EU livestock movement in recent years.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, February 02, 2012
