Two new outbreaks of a new type of bluetongue detected in France

Sixteen farms are “likely to be affected” in the Ardennes, warns the prefecture. A first case was confirmed on Wednesday in the North.

Three outbreaks of bluetongue, which is fatal to sheep, were confirmed on Friday 9 August by the Ministry of Agriculture, which decided to bring forward the vaccination campaign by two days. A first outbreak was discovered on Monday in Marpent (Nord), a few kilometres from Belgium, where the disease was already present. Two new outbreaks, in Aisne and the Ardennes, were confirmed on Friday. In total, s9 regions are concerned: Hauts-de-France, Normandy, Ile-de-France, Grand Est, Centre-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

The outbreak in the Ardennes department was identified by the animal health laboratory of theNational Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety, in a sheep farm in the village of Vireux-Wallerand, a few kilometers from the border with Belgium. “Sixteen other farms are likely to be affected” in the Ardennes, specifies the prefecture.Analyses are underway.”

FCO, also known as “blue tongue disease”mainly affects sheep, cattle and, more rarely, deer. It is not transmissible to humans. Symptoms include fever, respiratory problems, a hanging tongue or even the loss of pregnant young. It passes from animal to animal via biting insects, culicoides midges. It weakens animals, causes economic losses and disrupts international trade.

A first case was confirmed on Wednesday in a breeding farm in Marpent (North), near Maubeuge, and 22 “suspicions” had been recorded in the department on Thursday. Two suspected cases were also recorded in Pas-de-Calais, which does not share a border with Belgium, the department’s prefecture said on Friday. Bluetongue (BT) is already present in France, with serotypes 4 (in Corsica) and 8 (in mainland France), but French livestock have not developed any resistance to serotype 3, which they have never encountered.