MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Blue tongue outbreak in Holland and Belgium

Belgium reported this week several outbreaks of blue tongue disease in sheep and cattle in several farms close to the villages of Liege and Fourons north of the country.

The appearance of this virus which is extremely harmful for ruminants but does not affect humans follows a similar outbreak in the south of neighbouring Holland close to the Belgian border.

Belgian authorities have banned all transport of ruminants in an area covering most of the province of Liege and Limburg. Besides a mandatory fumigation of all cattle and sheep to prevent mosquitoes from spreading the disease was imposed, according to the Brussels Federal Agency for Food Security.

Belgium reported the cases to the European Commission, and given the original outbreak in Holland, the EU Food Chain and Animal Health Committee of experts has been summoned to report on the issue and recommend precautionary measures.

Blue tongue is an epizooty quite common in the south of Europe, Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, but had never been detected so far north in the continent. Scientists speculate that ticks which host the virus could have moved north given the changes in climate conditions.