PRO/AH/EDR> Bluetongue - Europe (03): BTV-8, Spain, OIE

Date: 18 Jan 2008
Source: OIE WAHID Weekly Disease Information 2008 21(3) edited.
< http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=weekly_report_index&admin=0>


Bluetongue, Spain
---------------------
Information received on 17 Jan 2008 from Dr. Lucio Ignacio Carbajo Goni
Subdirector General de Sanidad Animal
Direccion General de Ganaderia
Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion
Madrid, Spain

Summary
Report type: Immediate notification
Start date: 8 Jan 2008
Date of first confirmation of the event: 10 Jan 2008
Report date: 17 Jan 2008
Date submitted to OIE: 17 Jan 2008
Reason for notification:New strain of a listed disease
Manifestation of disease:Sub-clinical infection
Causal agent: Bluetongue virus
Serotype: 8

Nature of diagnosis: Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to: the whole country

New outbreaks
Outbreak 1 (LA 2008/1)
Ribamontan Al Monte, Solares, CANTABRIA
Date of start of the outbreak: 8 Jan 2008
Outbreak status: Continuing (or date resolved not provided)
Epidemiological unit: Farm

Species: Cattle
Susceptible: 194
Cases: 7
Deaths: 0
Destroyed: 0
Slaughtered: 0

Affected population: cattle farm
Summary of outbreaks:Total outbreaks: 1

Species Cattle
Apparent morbidity rate: 3.61 percent
Apparent mortality rate: 0.00 percent
Apparent case fatality rate: 0.00 percent
Proportion susceptible animals lost*: 0.00 percent
* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction
and/or slaughter

Epidemiology: Source of the outbreak(s) or origin
of infection: Unknown or inconclusive

Laboratorio Regional de Sanidad Animal de Cantabria (Local laboratory)
Species: Cattle
Test: PCR (reaccion en cadena de la polimerasa)
Test date: 10 Jan 2008
Result: Positive

Laboratorio Central de Sanidad Animal de Algete (National laboratory)
Species: Cattle
Test: PCR en tiempo real (real time PCR - Mod.PC]
Test date: 15 Jan 2008
Result: Positive

--
Communicated by:
Sabine Zentis
<http://www.cvlonghorns.de>

[This report represents an expansion of territory for the BTV-8
serotype into Spain, which has traditionally dealt with other
Bluetongue serotypes i.e. BTV-1 and BTV-4. It will be absolutely
fascinating to see how quickly this serotype spreads. The question of
how the infection arrived in Spain is also critically awaiting an
answer as there is quite a geographic gap between it's previous
distribution in France and the northern coast of Spain where it has
been newly identified.

Whittmann, Mellor and Bayliss published an interesting paper which
used BT-1 data in 2001. It indicated that Culicoides distribution can
be best predicted by the following climatic factors: minimum of the
monthly minimum temperatures, maximum of the monthly maximum
temperatures and the number of months per year with a mean
temperature 12.5 DEG C (54.5 DEG F). A similar analysis for the
spread of BT-8 could be instructive. See
<http://www.oie.int/eng/publicat/RT/2003/WITTMANN.PDF > for the complete paper.

An EU map of BTV restriction zones, updated on 14 Jan 2008, is available at
< http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/diseases/controlmeasures/BlueTongue_RestrictedZones_2008.jpg>.
The outbreak location can be seen in the OIE WAHID refernce given above or at
< http://encarta.msn.com/map_701511426/Cantabria.html> - Mod.PC]