There have been 33 new cases of Schmallenberg virus confirmed in Britain since last week, according to the latest data published by the AHVLA. Two of the newly reported cases, confirmed on Friday, are on the Channel Islands.

AHVLA said Schmallenberg virus has now been identified on 223 farms in the UK, including twenty cases in cattle and 203 in sheep. Although in mainland Europe, the disease has infected goats and bison and there are fears it could affect deer and camelids, to date, no other species have been infected in the UK.

AHVLA officials maintain that the infection is still localised to the areas deemed to be ‘at risk’ from midge incursion from Northern Europe during late summer and autumn 2011, though the animal health agency said in a statement yesterday, “We cannot rule out the possibility that domestic (local) midges may have transmitted SBV within the affected areas. Domestic midges may have been infected after biting a local animal infected last summer after incursion of continental midges.”

Cases continue to rise throughout the eight infected European states. Germany, thought to be the epicentre of the virus outbreak, remains the worst affected country with 1, 061 cases, followed by France, where there have been 894 cases.

The number of infections appears to have levelled off in the Netherlands, which was one of the first states to report infected farms; there are currently 194 confirmed cases in the country. Belgium last week confirmed 255 cases and Luxembourg, Italy and Spain have reported cases in single figures.

The disease, which affects cows, goats, sheep and other ruminants, can lead to spontaneous abortion, still birth or congenital abnormalities in the foetuses of pregnant animals.

Although the European Union has been urged to step up measures to combat the disease, due to its novelty (the virus was first discovered less than a year ago and was only named in the winter) pathologists have said that at this stage they can only monitor the spread and build knowledge.

Researchers working in France have devised a blood test for SBV, which they say will provide more accurate results. However, there is more work to be done on the test before it can be widely used.

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