NEW OUTBREAKS of Bluetongue disease in cattle and sheep in Britain and Denmark in the past two days have led to increased vigilance here.
The disease, which is spread by midges, has been moving into northern Europe over the past five years, probably because of global warming.
Two new British cases of Bluetongue were detected in two rams, which were imported from a premises in the Bluetongue-restricted zone in France.
They were found on premises near Lewes, east Sussex, and Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire.
The Danish cases were found in the southern part of the country at Bredebro, Tønder kommune, in a cattle herd with 104 cattle and 13 sheep.
The suspicion was based on clinical signs, which were in connection with vaccination of the herd on August 26th, 2008, according to a report filed with the international animal health organisation, the OIE.
While there have been two cases of the disease on the island of Ireland last year - in imported animals on a farm in Northern Ireland - Ireland has not embarked on a vaccination programme of its animals.
Many European countries are already vaccinating their animals. However, recently a new strain of the disease has emerged in Spain which would render vaccination useless.
The new strain of the listed disease, which is known as serotype 8, was found on a cattle farm in Solares, Cantabria, and all the animals were then slaughtered.
A mass vaccination campaign against the disease, which can be fatal to cows and sheep, began in Britain in April last and some 21.5 million doses of vaccine have since been made available to farmers.
Britain's deputy chief veterinary officer Alick Simmons said yesterday that Bluetongue had recently been confirmed as circulating this year in the Netherlands and large areas of France, despite vaccination programmes being undertaken.
"Similar re-emergence of the disease in the UK would also not be unexpected in the coming weeks," he said.
The main farming organisations have called on their members not to import any animals from abroad for the time being because of the fear of bringing in the disease, which could bring trading to a halt if it arrived here.
The Department of Agriculture has called for increased vigilance because of the new Bluetongue outbreaks.