SBV found in Wiltshire
The presence of the Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) has been confirmed on a farm in Wiltshire, marking the first time that the county has been affected. The case is in a sheep, and brings the total number of confirmed cases to 58. Counties known to be affected now stand at Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Cornwall and Wiltshire. The list of areas deemed to be at risk now includes Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and South Wales.
The recent discovery that the northern French coast has been affected by the spread of the virus led to a re-evaluation of the hypothesis that the virus was carried on the wind across the North Sea from Northern Europe by infected midges. It is now believed that it has also come north and north-west form French territory as well, exposing the entire south of England instead of just the east and south-east.
Commenting, a spokesperson for the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) said “Due to the increase in reports of SBV identified in France, the areas at comparatively higher risk in the UK have been revised in line with the plume modelling data from the summer which models areas at risk of midge incursion from northern Europe. The timing of the most dense plumes would have been in late October for this south west region. This is therefore in line with the appearance of deformities in lambs being born now, assuming the highest risk period for lambs is if the mother is infected at approximately one month into gestation.”
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
