SBV outlook for year ahead
Researchers have reported that the outlook for the schmallenberg virus (SBV) looks "grim" this year, with severely affected holdings expected to suffer as high as 30 per cent losses.
Virology experts from Nottingham University's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science have collected SBV data and are already seeing deformities and neurological defects in early lambing flocks.
SBV was discovered in autumn 2011 and spread to the UK within months via midges. In 2012, the disease affected more than 6,000 farms in northern Europe, with more than 700 reported cases in the UK alone.
Affected sheep and cattle show only mild symptoms – if any – however, the virus will replicate in the nerve cells of a foetus, causing abnormalities of the skeleton, neurological defects and sometimes abortion.
Dr Rachael Tarlinton, an expert in virology and a registered veterinary surgeon, said: "Things aren't looking good for this year's sheep farmers. We are already seeing a lot of reports of abnormalities in the early lambing stock, as well as ewes requiring caesarean births… It is a grim picture.
"It is likely the virus is here to stay. Because the midges are all over Europe, the virus will eventually settle down to be endemic. When this happens we hope that most animals will be infected in their first year of life before they get pregnant and can build up immunity.
"Most cattle and sheep in the area where the virus was first identified have has it. It is assumed that they are now immune and wont have another affected lamb. We are concerned about the animals that were infected after being mated in autumn last year."
A SBV vaccine has been developed, and is currently undergoing the registration process. It is expected to be available by summer at the earliest.
RCVS' Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has launched round two of its veterinary mental health research grants.
