Schmallenberg virus.

Bizzum

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1030/schmallenberg-virus.html

I see the first Irish case has been detected in Cork.

razor8

not good, not good at all.

Conor556

Is there a vaccination available??

greysides

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=62464&highlight=schmallenburg

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=64430

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=73113&highlight=schmallenburg

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

Feck does it ever end

bob charles

of course nothing would do the Cork lads than be first. Another problem to concentrate the minds and hurt the pocket. It really was only a matter of time. we were lucky bluetongue didnt arrive last year. presume the summer just past wasnt attractive for bluetongue.

blue5000

At ag college we had an old guy(R.I.P.) doing the vet/animal health lectures. One of his lines was something like this, 'There will always be diseases'.

I wonder how long has it been in? There won't be midges around for much longer this time of year. Looks like we are less than a year behind UK on this one.

pakalasa

http://www.independent.ie/farming/first-case-of-rare-virus-found-in-irish-cattle-3278555.html

greysides

Vets are hopeful that the outbreak can be contained given the short infectious cycle of the virus and the fact that cold, frosty weather prevents its spread by limiting insect activity.

Optimistic.

bogman_bass

fiver says he was a pedigree breeder that brought over stock

AntrimGlens

See we've a case up north today. Feck!!

greysides

This is taken from a ProMed post from March 2012. I have tidied it up a bit. There is still no vaccine available.

SCHMALLENBERG VIRUS - EUROPE (24): UPDATE, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION[/FONT]
************************************************** ****************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>

In this update:
[1] UK update
[2] Comment on SBV epidemiology
[3] Germany, cattle, field observations, comment [4] Germany: serological tests in contact persons

******
[1] UK update


Date: Mon 5 Mar 2012
Source: The Telegraph [edited]
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9124445/Schmallenberg-cases-reach-121.html#disqus_thread>


Schmallenberg virus [SBV] is spreading across Britain with 4 new counties affected

---

The number of farms affected by the virus, that causes lambs to be born deformed, jumped by a 3rd over the weekend from 92 to 121. Devon, Dorset, Cambridgeshire, and Somerset, that all have a large amount of livestock, are the latest counties to be infected with the disease.

It is thought the disease, that 1st emerged this summer in the German town of Schmallenberg, [has been] spread by midges that came across the channel. Midges are inactive at this time of year but the disease is only just emerging as animals give birth.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) found 113 cases in sheep and 8 in cattle. Goats are also affected [though no cases registered yet in UK] but no cases have been found in wild species of cloven hoofed animals such as deer.

The largest number of cases have been reported in eastern counties -- Suffolk, Norfolk, East Sussex, and Kent -- but the disease has been found as far west as Cornwall.

The increase in cases had been expected by the industry as lambing and calving gather pace.

Little can be done to protect livestock beyond housing them inside [during the vector season], which reduces exposure to midges. Nets and insecticides have proven to be of little use.

Reports so far suggest that on affected farms between 10 per cent and
50 per cent of lambs are lost to the infection.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was vital that farmers continue to report any suspicions as soon as possible, to help gather information about progress and effects of the disease.

SBV is not thought to be a threat to human health but could decimate the Britain's lamb and beef industry. It is hoped a vaccine will be developed in the next 2 years but in the meantime the farms affected will have to bear the losses of dead lambs.

---

[The Telegraph's reader "Don" has submitted the following corrective comment to the newspaper:

'"The Schmallenberg virus is spreading across Britain" -- wrong. It is not spreading. It did spread last year. There are no midges active now. The birth defects that are seen now are the results of infection when the embryos were in the womb. Obviously the disease spread widely last summer and no symptoms at all were seen at that time. The defects seen now are the only signs of last summer's epidemic.'

******

[2] Comment on SBV epidemiology


Date: Sun 4 Mar 2012
From: Peter Roeder [edited]
<peter.roeder@taurusah.com>


Subject: Epidemiology of Schmallenberg virus (SBV) infection

---

I am concerned that some reports in the media give an imprecise explanation of SBV epidemiology and tend to suggest that SBV is transmitting between lambs in affected flocks and spreading between flocks by this means; I would suggest that more needs to be done to ensure that the public is better informed on the epidemiology of this disease. I would also like to make some comments about Europe's vulnerability to virus invasions.

As is common knowledge, the epidemiology of SBV infection seems to be similar to that of Akabane virus and other orthobunyaviruses of the Simbu Group which affect ruminants. Useful insights can be gained from a global view of Akabane disease over the last 40 years or so since its 1st description. Akabane virus infection is endemic in many tropical and subtropical areas. In these, susceptible ruminant species become infected at an early age when fed on by ubiquitous midge and mosquito vectors and develop a long-lasting protective immunity by the time of breeding; thus, congenital abnormalities are seldom seen in endemic areas even though cases can occur when naive, susceptible animals are introduced into such areas. Under favourable environmental conditions, the vectors (and hence the virus) may spread beyond their usual range, and outbreaks of congenital disease then occur in areas where the disease process has rarely, or never been experienced before.

Essentially it is at the interface between free and endemic areas that severe outbreaks are to be expected. Acute infection following postnatal exposure, accompanied by unremarkable clinical signs, is usually not recognised to have occurred until malformed lambs and calves are born. By this time the virus is no longer present in either dam or offspring; antibodies disclose the presence of earlier infection. Akabane viruses vary in their virulence but only rarely has pathology been associated with post-natal infection (ref 1).

Outbreaks at the interface tend to occur infrequently but are recognised to have occurred in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Israel, and Turkey (ref 1) and southern Africa to the north and south of the endemic zone. Repeated outbreaks in Turkey and Israel over the last 40 years indicate clearly that, at least from 1970 until 2010 or 2011, the eastern Mediterranean was situated at the interface between endemic and free areas.

Now that a Simbu Group virus, like bluetongue viruses in 2006 to 2010, has made the leap northwards in Europe, and without understanding the determinants that favoured the change, it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Will the virus "burn out" and the earlier status be re-established (whatever that was); are we to see a permanent shift in the interface between endemic and free zones; or, alternatively, will the epidemic wave move on as vector range extends or previously free populations of vectors become infected for the 1st time? It has been reported that SBV is most closely related to Shamonda virus, one of a number of Simbu Group viruses detected in Nigeria in the 1960s. Having not been seen since, emergence of the virus in Japan in 2002 (ref 3) illustrated that we know little of the epidemiology of such potential pathogens. One thing is clear -- our vision of the threat posed by the presence of these viruses at the edge of Europe was too complacent by far.

Several other viruses are in a similar situation to that of SBV and pose an immediate threat to the livestock of northern Europe. Not least of these are the orbiviruses causing epizootic haemorrhagic disease [EHD] of ruminants, African horse sickness [AHS], and equine encephalosis [EE]. Enhanced surveillance and applied research are surely essential at this time to prepare for the introduction of new vector-borne diseases which now seems inevitable.

---

[The following passage, derived from chapter 2.9.1 of OIE's terrestrial manual which addresses Akabane and other bunyaviruses, falls in line with Dr Roeder's appreciated commentary and adds supportive background:

"In endemic areas, antibody in the female animal prevents fetal infection, but Akabane virus is capable of establishing a long-term infection of the placenta in susceptible cattle and sheep. This takes place between 30 and 70 days gestation in the ewe and between 30 and
150 days gestation in the cow. Akabane virus has a predilection for brain, spinal cord and muscle cells where non-inflammatory necrosis interferes with morphogenesis.

"Akabane virus infection has been studied experimentally in sheep and goats with the production of arthrogryposis/hydroencephaly, kyphosis, scoliosis, micro- and porencephaly, stillbirths and abortions.

"Experimental Akabane virus studies have been carried out in pregnant cattle and it was shown that the type of abnormality is dependent on the gestational age of the fetus with hydroencephaly seen at 76-104 days and arthrogryposis at 103-174 days gestation. This time differential in appearance of abnormalities is clearly seen in bovine fetuses, whereas in sheep with a shorter gestation period, brain and skeletal lesions appear concurrently in the same fetus.

The sequence of events during an epizootic of Akabane virus-induced fetal loss are the birth of uncoordinated calves, followed by those with arthrogryposis and dysplastic muscle changes, and lastly those with hydrocephalus and other severe CNS lesions. These events may be preceded by stillbirths and abortions."

(For additional data and references, see
<http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Health_standards/tahm/2.09.01_BUNYAVIRAL_DISEASES.pdf>)

According to the said data, and provided SBV behaves similarly to its closely-related Akabane virus, increasing numbers of CNS-affected cattle may be anticipated during the coming 1 - 3 months.

******

[3] Germany, cattle, field observations, comment



Date: 4 Mar 2012
Source: Warmwell.com - Schmallenberg virus news [edited] <http://www.warmwell.com/schmallenbergall.html>


Important opinion from an experienced cattle farmer in Germany

---

Extract:
"..Believe me, nothing can beat hands on examination and good experience.

Just one example: Here they enter confirmed cases of SBV into the database without any information about breed, age or farming details so what information should the epidemiologists work with?

In my opinion SBV is not new, has popped up the 1st time in 2007/2008 and then has been dormant until last year. The fact that dams of affected calves, at least in our region, are rather young (about 3 years, 1st-2nd calvers) while older cows produce healthy offspring should make everybody think. You won't find this information in the computers yet it could be of importance once data for the whole country could be compared."

Nearly one and a half [thousand] farms are now affected throughout the European Union, with Germany the worst at present.

---

[It would be interesting to note from informed sources in the Netherlands and Belgium (where at least 82 cattle farms with SBV-affected congenital malformed calves have already been recorded), if they observe an age distribution pattern which is similar to the one described above from (a region) in Germany, and if sheep -- older than 4 years -- have been affected. - Mod.AS]

******

[4] Germany: serological tests in contact persons



Date: Mon 5 Mar 2012
Source: Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany -


Information on Schmallenberg virus

---

... From investigations in affected animals [carried out by FLI], in some animals virological tests indicated that certain tissues have a relatively high viral load. Virus was detected in placentas and birth fluids. Therefore people assisting animals during parturition are considered as coming more frequently into contact with the new virus.

The new virus is similar to other viruses from the group of Orthobunyaviridae. Closely related viruses of the Simbu serogroup, known to infect cattle, don't have a zoonotic potential and don't pose a danger for humans. Therefore even if there is contact with animals infected with the SB, this is not regarded a risk for humans.

So far the RKI has no information that humans have tested positive for the new virus. Nevertheless, when dealing with animals possibly infected, the general guidelines on hygiene and maternity regulations should be adhered to.

Though, so far, there is no evidence of risk to humans, the RKI is conducting, as a precaution, screening of persons exposed to the virus to determine whether infection can occur in certain individuals.

On 29 Feb 2012, during a meeting of sheep breeders in Northrhine-Westphalia whose animals had been affected by SBV, the RKI conducted a survey and took blood samples. The RKI has developed a blood test to detect the virus as well as antibodies in human blood.
The sheep farmers in attendance supported the scientific research and a very high number, 61 sheep farmers, agreed to take part in the study.

Interviews with farmers gave no indication that the virus might have caused disease in humans. The blood samples are currently tested at the RKI lab and only after analysing the samples reliable information will be made available.

blue5000

Thanks for that greysides. Just wondering would the foetal abnormalities show up in a scan?

greysides

Blue, I can't give you a straight answer. The pictures of lambs I've seen are fairly extreme and I think they might show up. With cattle having a bigger offspring and the requirement to be able to scan to a much deeper depth to check it all- which I don't think the scanners can do- I'm not so sure.

greysides

Courtesy of Google:














These sort of deformities are going to lead to severe lambing problems if flocks have been affected at the wrong time.

The virus is present in surviving deformed lambs. It may be present in the surviving normal twin to a deformed lamb.

greysides

http://www.farmanimalhealth.co.uk/news/category/latest-disease-updates/









DISEASE SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS:

• Disease implications are most severe in animals if affected during pregnancy

Cattle: diarrhoea, fever and reduced milk yield (up to 50%) can occur in adults, and the result of infection during pregnancy is likely to be deformed offspring. Highest risk period: days 62-173 of pregnancy.


Sheep: show little or no symptoms in adults, however when dams are infected during pregnancy they can abort or have stillborn offspring with congenital defects. Highest risk period: days 25-63 of pregnancy.

• Disease prevalence rates can be variable, but up to 33% of the animals on a farm can be affected resulting in deformities.
• To confirm diagnosis, veterinary advice should be sought.
• Suspect cases in foetuses or newborn animals will be sampled for histopathological, serological and virological examinations as appropriate. Confirmation of infection is currently by detection of virus sequences using real time PCR on tissues.
• An indirect ELISA test for antibodies to Schmallenberg virus, which has been validated by AHVLA is also available, but though a positive result indicates previous exposure, it will not determine when this occurred.

TREATMENT AND CONTROL OPTIONS:
Currently there is no vaccine and control options rely on reducing the chance of midge exposure and biting:


1. Delaying tupping / serving until midge activity is likely to be reduced during the risk period (consideration should be given to any negative impact later lambing / calving may have on farm profitability).


2. Delaying breeding until 2013 to give immunity a chance to develop, either by exposure to infected midges or through the use of vaccine which could then be available (in sheep).


3. Use of products which repel or control biting insects prior to tupping and in early pregnancy. As midges are widespread and appear to be particularly effective in transmitting the virus, the use of these products should not be exclusively relied upon, however they are one tool that if used during the risk period, could help reduce the chance of disease spreading.


Cattle: FLYPOR® (4% w/v permethrin) has been proven to control midges in vitro# (and is also useful to treat lice and mange* during the winter risk period). For further information on its use for SBV control, veterinary advice should be sought.




Sheep: No products are licensed and veterinary advice should be sought.
4. Farm management to reduce exposure such as housing animals, and removing muck heaps to deny breeding habitats.




5. Serology to assess previous exposure and therefore the likely susceptibility of a flock / herd. There is an enhanced surveillance scheme in place for the acute disease in cattle. For further information, click here.

CHANGING DISEASE SITUATION:

• SBV is not thought to be zoonotic but sensible precautions should be taken when handling suspicious cases.
• The disease is likely to continue spreading, and farmers should remain vigilant for any signs and seek veterinary advice urgently if any suspicious symptoms are noticed.

greysides

Mystery surrounds calf and lamb losses
by Rhian Price

Friday 16 November 2012

Mystery surrounds pregnancy scanning results, which show potentially devastating numbers of calf and lamb losses on UK farms.

Livestock producers face early lambing losses as high as two-thirds on some farms, suggest initial results. Many scanners are reporting barren ewes, failed pregnancies or dead foetuses. Cattle losses are almost as bad in some places.

There is a "strong suspicion" that the Schmallenberg virus could be to blame, say some vets. But other causes, such as poor nutrition following a year of extreme wet weather, have been cited by other vets and animal health experts.

John Barnes, a scanner in the north east of England, told Farmers Weekly he had recorded problems in about two-thirds of 10,000 ewes across 80 flocks. One farm later tested positive with the Schmallenberg virus, which can cause death and deformity in unborn livestock.

Cattle scans revealed up to 50% of 4,000 cows scanned were showing either empty or with dead calves.

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/16/11/2012/136257/Mystery-surrounds-calf-and-lamb-losses.htm

greysides

Schmallenberg vaccine 'ready within weeks'

Philip Case

Thursday 08 November 2012 10:00




A vaccine to protect livestock against the Schmallenberg virus could be available within weeks, Farmers Weekly has learned.


Studies on the vaccine, produced by MSD Animal Health, have shown it can protect pregnant calves, lambs and ewes.

Farmers Weekly understands the company has submitted an application for regulatory approval and licensing of the vaccine for commercial use.

Peter Mertens, head of vector-borne diseases at The Pirbright Institute, said: "A vaccine may be too late for the early stages of this (breeding) season as pregnant animals may already be infected with the virus. However, it could be used later in the season or the year after that.





http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/08/11/2012/136126/Schmallenberg-vaccine-39ready-within-weeks39.htm

tanko

Apparently theres a fair few cases of Schmallenberg around my area at the moment in sheep and cattle. Is this the case all around the country?
I assume the mild Autumn/Winter weather is to blame for this.
Is there any prospect of a vaccine for cattle?

Mooooo

Had one case of it a few years ago, well one known one, an abortion came back positive for it. Vet reckons a share of cows thus side of the country have immunity built up so it's prob reaching ye for the first time?

tanko

Yeah, possibly its working its way north, hadnt heard of any cases around here before.