Blood test for SBV available soon
A blood test for the Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) may be available for the UK's vets and farmers as soon as the next few weeks. The serology test would replace the current PCR test, which has been called 'time consuming and expensive' due to its reliance on testing posthumously-acquired brain stem samples in Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) facilities.
Professor Trevor Drew, Head of AHVLA's Virology Department at Weybridge, confirmed that “We are working with diagnostic companies developing a rapid and cheaper serology test, which we hope to be able to offer in a week or so,” and added that “We have to remember that this is not a notifiable disease. Our regional laboratories will be advising private practises and farmers on how the test might be used in helping to control the disease.”
However, it appears that farmers will have to pay for the test personally should they wish to use it. Paul Roger, who serves on the BVA's Schmallenberg Working Group, said “The industry needs to know where the virus has been and where the threat lies for the future. But where it is an exotic disease, there is a clear Government responsibility and I would encourage it to fund the surveillance, particularly given the implications of the disease for animal welfare, which is one of the priorities in policy on animal production in this country.”
AHVLA has also confirmed that the current number of known cases in UK territory stands at 239, of which 25 are in cattle and 214 in sheep. It is likely that the rate at which new cases are detected will slow due to the conclusion of lambing season, although observers have speculated that another significant increase in cases may also occur in this coming calving season due to infections at time of conception last autumn.
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.
