The number of Schmallenberg Virus cases in the UK has dropped off over past weeks in line with veterinary scientists’ expectations, according to the latest available data from the AHVLA.

AHVLA announced today that there have been four newly confirmed cases of the novel livestock disease this week. AHVLA scientists said that, as sheep infected at the critical time of pregnancy have mostly given birth by now, the number of cases in sheep should begin to fall. This pattern is being seen across affected EU states.   

There have now been 243 reported infections in the UK so far, all within the ‘at risk’ zone identified by AHVLA modelling. Of these 28 cases are in cattle and 215 in sheep. However, as cattle have a longer gestation period, AHVLA expects the cases in cattle to rise relative to those in sheep into the summer months.

Although SBV gives cows flu-like symptoms and has no apparent symptoms at the time of infection in sheep, the virus can cause still birth, spontaneous abortion and congenital abnormalities in foetuses if pregnant animals are infected.

There has been speculation that, as the only country in which SBV has been made notifiable is Germany, where the disease is thought to have originated last year, there could be more cases than have been reported, as farmers are not reporting cases for fear of stigmatisation. Authorities and farm groups throughout Europe have urged farmers to inform their vet of any abnormalities to enable animal health organisations to build up as accurate a picture as possible of infection.

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