Germany designates SBV a Notifiable Disease
The upper house of the German Parliament, the Bundesrat, has confirmed that the Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) will be designated a Notifiable Disease within German territory with immediate effect. Germany has been hit particularly hard by SBV, with 1120 confirmed cases detected thus far since the first case was found in the Schmallenberg region from which the virus draws its name.
SBV is already a Notifiable Disease in the neighbouring Netherlands, which shares the German definition of a Notifiable Disease whereby the local Heads of Inspection Authorities are charged to report any and all diagnosed cases of designated Notifiable Diseases within their respective jurisdictions. This is in contrast to the UK approach, whereby farmers, vets and other forms of responsible animal keepers are legally charged with reporting the disease instead.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has indicated that changing SBV's UK designation to Notifiable Disease status was not believed to be necessary in light of the ‘great response from farmers and the veterinary profession in voluntarily reporting suspected cases’.
A full breakdown of known cases in the UK and their location may be found at the AHVLA website.
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.
