Study Links Spread of Bluetongue Virus to Animal Transport, Researchers Say

The bluetongue virus, which killed tens of thousands of sheep last autumn, appears to be partly spread by transporting animals.

This allowed the virus to travel far, think researchers from the university in Wageningen.

The virus was detected in September in the nearby towns of Wijdemeren (North Holland) and Stichtse Vecht (Utrecht). This was the first time since 2009 that the disease was found in the Netherlands. After that, the blue language spread quickly. More than a week after the first case, the government announced that there were so many infections that measures were no longer useful. At the beginning of October, more than a thousand livestock farms were affected and in November the counter stood at more than five thousand affected companies.

In some cases the virus came from a nearby farm. That short distance infection was probably through infected midges, tiny little flies. But sometimes the virus traveled tens of kilometers further, and that points to “other transmission routes”, the researchers say.

Bluetongue is a disease that mainly affects sheep, but goats, cows, deer and some zoo animals can also be infected. The virus causes, among other things, blue tongue, high fever and swelling in cattle. This can cause them to die. The virus is not contagious to humans.

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