Warning over bluetongue risk as two cases confirmed in Britain

THE danger of bluetongue being brought into Ireland through imported animals was highlighted again yesterday after two new cases of the disease were confirmed in England.

Both cases, the first tobe found in Britain this summer, were in rams imported from the same premises in a bluetongue restricted zone in central France, according to the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in London.

Defra said the cases were found on premises near Lewes in East Sussex, and at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. There was no evidence that the disease was being circulated by midges in the areas where the cases were found.