Viremia prevented in infected sheep and cattle

A new vaccine against the schmallenberg virus (SBV) has been granted approval under exceptional circumstances in France.

The vaccine, named SBVvax, has been developed by animal health company Merial and will be available to veterinary surgeons in France by October.

During clinical studies, SBVvax was able to prevent viremia caused by SBV in 100 per cent of the infected lambs and calves tested. The vaccination protocol is one shot of 1ml for sheep and two shots of 1ml for cattle, three weeks apart.

SBV is a new virus that was first identified late 2011. It has since caused devastation to farmers across Europe, with more than 8,000 farms having confirmed cases over the past two years.

The vector-borne disease results in stillbirths, malformed newborns, low milk production and adult animal deaths, which largely impacts reproduction and productivity performance in herds.

Dr Silke Birlenback, head of veterinary public health at Merial, said: "When SBV arrived, we did everything we could to offer our customers a high-quality vaccine in record time.

"The first priority for us was to have a solution to protect herds, now we are looking forward to partnering with veterinarians, and the livestock and research community to enhance our understanding of this novel disease."

SBVvax is currently under review for the UK by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD).