What is known as bluetongue, which occurs mainly in sheep, is a disease that livestock farmers in Spain have been living with (and suffering from) for decades. It could be similar, for example, to human flu, although in the case of bluetongue it is transmitted by a mosquito, so cases can appear especially when the weather is good and disappear when cold and frost arrive.
The fact is that it is also infectious, so to prevent it from spreading throughout the cabin, there are a series of measures that are taken to try to affect as few livestock as possible. The general director of Agricultural Planning, Joaquín Cuadrado, explains to La Tribuna that in summer, when some outbreaks appeared in the region, the mandatory vaccination area had to be expanded to Albacete, Ciudad Real, Toledo, leaving part of Cuenca as voluntary vaccination . Later, this restriction zone, that is, mandatory vaccination, has also been extended to the province of Cuenca.
In Spain there are other autonomous communities also with this situation and with these mandatory vaccination measures such as Murcia, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Madrid, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria. Spain is modifying the zoning of the map and later the European Union is updating it, removing the disease-free status by territory.
Cuadrado explains that vaccination rules vary depending on the animal species, since it is a disease that can also affect goats or cows. He points out that if you are going to move the cattle, such vaccination is mandatory to prevent the disease from spreading. On the other hand, if they are lambs going to the slaughterhouse, they do not have to be vaccinated. And it does not affect food safety in any way.
“It has no major significance,” says Joaquín Cuadrado, “it is a disease that has a vaccine and is controlled quite well.” He says that precisely this vaccine is financed almost entirely by the Board and is administered through the Health Defense Groups.
Cuadrado points out that until the frost arrives and the mosquito that transmits it disappears, exports of adult specimens cannot begin. He recognizes that with Climate Change the cold periods are becoming shorter and in turn new diseases arrive that are also transmitted by mosquitoes, such as epizootic hemorrhagic disease, which has arrived from Africa through Andalusia.
2023-11-25 04:00:00
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