Herts and Essex in restricted zone as bluetongue cases in livestock rise

Bluetongue cases in livestock are on the rise in the county, according to Essex Trading Standards.

The disease was first confirmed in Norfolk on August 26 in a single sheep and this month three cases were identified in Essex. There have been 98 incidents in total across the country.

As a result, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has introduced a restricted zone which now covers Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and Greater London. The East Riding of Yorkshire is also affected.

Bluetongue is a notifiable disease caused by a viral infection mainly spread by biting midges. It affects sheep, cattle, other ruminants such as deer and goats, and camelids such as llamas and alpacas. It does not affect people or food safety.

The zone places movement restrictions on livestock to help prevent spread of the disease. Affected animals are culled.

Keepers are permitted to move animals anywhere within the restricted zone – providing they show no clinical signs of bluetongue on the day of travel – but are forbidden from moving animals outside of the zone except with a licence from a veterinary inspector.

Essex Trading Standards says: “Keepers of livestock must keep a close watch for, and report any suspicion of, bluetongue in their animals.

“The severity of the infection depends on the type and strain of the virus, but symptoms include ulcers or sores in the mouth, discharge from eyes or nose, fever, lameness, stillbirths and birth deformities.

“While cattle can remain infectious for several weeks showing little sign of the disease, sheep are affected far worse with high rates of mortality.”