Members' News

DIARY DATES
Council Meeting 4th September
AGM 13th November
Both meetings at Sandwell Park Farm, West Bromwich

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From www.vetsmed.com 04 Jun 2010
Veterinary associations have welcomed the European Commission announcement that Britain’s bluetongue status will be reclassified as a Lower Risk Zone (LRZ) for bluetongue virus (BTV8) and are asking members to get the message out to clients as soon as possible.

Britain is currently part of the BTV8 Protection Zone, which covers much of Europe, and will become a LRZ on Saturday 12th June 2010. The LRZ is a new classification which requires stricter vaccination conditions to be placed on bluetongue-susceptible animals being imported. These stringent conditions are:
       vaccination plus a 60-day wait; or
       vaccination plus a test 14 days after onset of immunity; or
       booster vaccination within the time stated on each vaccine’s data sheet.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and its specialist divisions the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), the Goat Veterinary Society (GVS) and the Sheep Veterinary Society (SVS) are urging veterinary surgeons to inform clients who import susceptible animals of the changes to import rules, which will take effect on 12th June.
As part of the JAB (Joint campaign Against Bluetongue) campaign group, the veterinary profession is also urging farmers to continue to vaccinate their livestock due to the small but ongoing risks of re-infection from wind-borne spread of the disease, and the risk of importing infected foetuses. 
The profession believes that a small but significant number of pregnant animals could be carrying a BTV-infected foetus but still test negative in the post-import blood test. The newborn animal could infect the local midge population and restart the circulation of the disease. Once the disease is in the midge population it can spread huge distances in short periods of time.
Commenting, Nicky Paull, Past-President of the BVA and member of Defra’s Bluetongue Core Group, said: “The move to a Lower Risk Zone is fantastic news for Britain and another step in the direction of disease-free status. It is something that the veterinary profession has fought for and we are delighted that the new arrangements mean that vaccination can continue in Britain.
“With imports to Britain increasing at a high rate, we know that the biggest threat to the country was importation of the disease. That is why the additional vaccination measures for imports are vital in protecting British livestock. “Veterinary surgeons need to inform clients who import susceptible species of the changes to the imports rules as soon as possible and direct them to further information on the Defra website or at the local Animal Health Office.”
Gareth Hateley, Chair of the BCVA Notifiable and Exotic Diseases Working Group, said: “The move to a Lower Risk Zone must not be seen as an excuse to relax vaccination measures. Although it does greatly reduce the likelihood of importing the disease, that threat still remains from the small, but significant, risk of an infected foetus being imported."The threat of wind-borne re-incursion also exists and once the disease is in the midge population it can spread very quickly.”
Nick Clayton, Hon Secretary of the GVS, said: “Vaccination remains the key to protecting British livestock.  Vaccination now will protect your livestock, but if you wait until disease is present, you will be shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. In an emergency vaccine production may not keep pace with demand if BTV is confirmed in the UK. “Vets need to encourage farmers to maintain a high level of immunity in the livestock under their care.  If a ‘breakdown’ occurs, awkward questions are certain to be asked."
Paul Roger, Bluetongue Stakeholder Representative for the SVS, said: “This is a very important step for Britain and we must pay tribute to the hard work of the Chief Veterinary Officer, Nigel Gibbens, and his team in Defra. “The veterinary profession wholeheartedly welcomes the move to a Lower Risk Zone and the additional protection it affords Great Britain.”
Minister for State for Food and Agriculture, Jim Paice MP commented: ‘This is a great result that speaks volumes for the work done by farmers and vets, who’ve worked with the Government to achieve this Lower Risk Zone status for bluetongue. It will help protect our livestock producers but they must remain vigilant and anyone importing stock must make sure that they meet the new requirements for importation.’
Chief Veterinary Officer, Nigel Gibbens said: ‘The news from SCoFCAH that Great Britain has achieved Lower Risk Zone status is testament to the excellent cooperation between industry and government demonstrated from the earliest days of 2007’s bluetongue outbreak. We have remained in a bluetongue Protection Zone since the first case was confirmed and the efforts of responsible livestock owners and vets in vaccinating stock and the surveillance work by Animal Health, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, and the Institute for Animal Health has allowed us to successfully apply for this revised status. ‘But we cannot become complacent, and I’d encourage farmers and vets to continue to vaccinate their livestock and remain vigilant for disease while additional targeted surveillance continues in the higher risk areas.’

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Show Champions for 2009

Cheshire Show 2009
Pictures from this years Cheshire show
http://gallery.me.com/carolinetaylor#100008
http://www.photoscymru.com

BLUE TONGUE (click on images for larger versions)
Blue Tongue. Shropshire breeder and vet, Anne Tordoff, has kindly written this article to help members understand the disease.

Blue Tongue is caused by a virus of which there are 24 different strains. It is primarily spread by insect vectors particularly a species of midge but there can also be limited transmission by infected semen or blood products.

The disease was previously thought to be a problem of warmer countries and had never spread further than approximately 40 degrees north – Southern France, Spain & Portugal. However that all changed in the summer of 2006.

The midges tend to breed in damp or wet soil enriched by fresh or composted dung or organic matter. They feed on the blood of large vertebrate animals such as cattle, horses, sheep, goats & deer. They tend to be most active around dawn & dusk or on dull days and in the shade. Populations fall dramatically as the weather gets colder through the winter though it is not unknown for some to emerge on a mild winter’s day. The average life span of the midge is around 10 days.

Transmission of Disease
On biting an infected animal, blood containing virus is taken in to the midge’s gut. It then takes 7 to 10 days for the virus to pass through the body & the virus to become fully established in the salivary glands of the midge. The midge is then said to have become “competent”.
One bite of a competent midge can transmit infection to a susceptible animal and large numbers of midges may feed on a single animal during the course of a night, possibly 10,000 bites / hour in cattle.

The ability of the midge to become competent and transmit the virus depends on the ambient temperature. The virus can’t develop in the midge below about 14 degrees C. Peak development and the shortest time for competency to develop is around 30 degrees C.

Midges can fly only about 1km per day but can be carried on a favourable wind up to 100km. The wind speed, temperature and humidity also play a part. It is possible for the virus to over-winter in an animal. A cow bitten at the beginning of winter could possibly still be carrying virus capable of being taken up by a midge, into March or April. If the temperature in the spring is just high enough to allow the virus to establish in the midge then “bingo” – the disease is back. This is thought to be how the virus re-emerged in Europe this year.

Clinical Signs
These vary with the strain of the virus and the species of animal. The worst disease tends to be seen in sheep. The incubation period from the bite of an infected midge to the first clinical signs is 3 to 8 days.

Acute cases produce the following symptoms: fever lasting a week or so; reddening of the mucosa (inner lining) of the mouth & nose; salivation, runny eyes and nasal discharge; the lips & tongue may become swollen & the swelling may extend over the head, ears and under the jaw “bottle jaw”. There may also be tiny haemorrhages over the mucosa of the mouth, nose & conjunctiva, necrotic lesions on the gums, cheeks and tongue after 5 to 8 days which gradually heal under a membrane of serum & pus. Breathing may be laboured breathing & the animal may pass bloody diarrhoea. There may also be inflammation just above the horn of the hoof, lameness & a hunched back, rapid weight loss, weakness & twisted neck. Up to 78% of infected animals may die.

In chronic cases the signs are muscle damage causing long term lameness; wool break leaving patches of bare skin; swollen feet, sometimes just 1 foot affected & seen long after the original infection.

Control Strategies
The disease is most likely to be introduced to the UK by the wind spreading infected midges from northern France, or the importation of an infected animal or midges travelling with these animals. There are various measures currently in place to counteract these.

The Met office is working closely with Defra to plot the weather conditions each day around the nearest infected areas to us and so predict when a risk of windborne midges arriving here may occur.

No imported animals are allowed to enter this country from the infected areas however other imported animals are allowed to transit the restriction zones on their way here. These animals must be treated with an approved insecticide before passing through the zones. On arrival here they are immediately restricted and subjected to a clinical inspection by a Veterinary Officer, followed by blood sampling. The restrictions are not removed until clear test results are received.

Should BT be confirmed in any animal then the affected farm will be immediately restricted until at least the source is determined. If it is a recently imported animal and the chances are that midges may not yet have become infected then it is possible that this animal may be slaughtered. If the animal has not been imported so has likely been infected by a midge here.

A 100km radius protection zone will be set up and a surveillance zone a further 50 km out from that. Licensed movements will be allowed within these zones but probably not between restricted areas & free areas. Midge monitoring using light traps will be started to determine if competent insects are present.

Advice will be given for farmers to try to minimise contact with the vector such as housing from dusk to dawn (not very effective unless use tiny mesh screens or covers over doorways impregnated with insecticide). Insecticides may be used. Midge habitats may be altered by mending leaking taps/pipes, draining wet areas, clearing up muck heaps etc and by the use of larvicides on breeding habitats.

Vaccination may be considered especially if the disease becomes endemic, however there are problems associated with this. No BT vaccine currently has a marketing authorisation in the UK, however unapproved ones could be used if the CVO directed, in an emergency. The best vaccine to use is one containing the specific serotype involved, failing this a closely related strain vaccine may give some protection against disease.

My latest information is that a BTV – 8 vaccine was not yet available although nearing completion however it may not be ready until the end of this year or next year.

Treatment
Being a viral disease there is no specific treatment. It is only possible to treat the symptoms and support the animal as it tries to recover itself. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs along with antibiotics may be of some use but sometimes the only way is euthanasia to relieve suffering.

BT is spreading dramatically in Europe and it was with great regret that we heard that a member of our breed society on the Continent had had it confirmed in his sheep. I’m sure we all offer him all our support and best wishes and hope that the disease will be as limited as possible.

I feel it is only a matter of time before we have a case emerging in this country, most likely in the south of England. We were lucky last year that the cases that were recorded in the North of France, just across the Channel, occurred at a time when the wind conditions were unfavourable to the movement of midges over here. We may not be so lucky this year!

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