Dear Member
Having attended the Defra stakeholder meeting on 6 May we are able to provide the latest news on the Bluetongue situation in England.
The
good news is that the cold wet spring and the fact that Intervet has managed to
deliver 3 million doses of vaccine three weeks ahead of schedule, means there
is a real chance we can stop this disease in its tracks.
The
bad news is that there have been 125 farms affected in the UK and a number
of calves have been born this spring already infected with Bluetongue. This
suggests that BTV8 can over-winter in the foetus and makes pregnant females a
potential disease risk.
Vaccine
The
vaccine is now available for farms in the Protection Zone (PZ). It is
a dead vaccine and should not cause illness. It can only be
obtained via your vet who must write a prescription and order the vaccine
on your behalf. It is supplied in
20ml or 50ml bottle. It must be used within 8 hours of opening the
bottle. In the case of
very small herds your vet may supply you with, or deliver and
administer, preload individual syringes. Dr Claire
Whitehead is currently undertaking research for camelids, but for the time
being the advice for camelids is that two 1ml doses should be administered
three weeks apart. Full immunity should be realized three weeks after the
second dose. There is no benefit in treating cria under one month of age
because they are not able to generate immunity. They should receive some
protection from their mother's milk.
EU
law prevents the vaccination outside the Protection Zone because some areas of
Europe are still using live vaccine. Animal movement is permitted within
each zone but it is impossible to tell if an animal is suffering from
the disease or from a mild live vaccine-induced reaction.
Vaccination outside the Protection Zone is therefore prohibited.
However, Defra can move the zone boundaries. Once there has
been an 80% plus uptake of the vaccine in the current Protection Zone, the Zone
will be rolled out, probably county by county. This will ensure that as
the vaccine is delivered by Intervet it will be made available to those
animals most at risk from the disease.
To check which zone you are
in type your postcode into the interactive map on the Defra web site Bluetongue
page.
Disease Outbreak
Obviously if there is
disease outbreak outside the current Protection Zone the zones will be forced
to move more quickly. If the European 2007 experience is
replicated sick animals could start appearing any time now but it may be
that this does not happen until mid June,
which gives a real chance that the vaccine will outstrip the disease.
This
is a notifiable disease. Please check your animals regularly and
call your vet if you are at all
concerned.
Licence
Once vaccinated
animals will need a vaccination licence. There are three options
available and it is very important you consider which you will need before you
vaccinate:
1 .
Vaccination for Protection only - If you are sure you will not wish to move
your animals out of the Protection Zone you can obtain the vaccine from your
vet, do the vaccination yourself and record the details in your medicine book
in the normal way.
2.
Vaccination
to move to English Free or Welsh Restricted Zones. You will need to
complete a general licence EXD479(BT) available on the Defra web
site.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/bluetongue/pdf/ex479-080430.pdf
This includes a copy of the vaccine
prescription. You will also need to take the empty bottle back to the vet
with a list of the animals vaccinated and he/she will need to sign to
confirm the animals have been vaccinated. Vaccinated animals can
only move out of the Protection Zone after they have received two doses three
weeks apart, and no sooner that 60 days after the first injection. Finally,
no pregnant females can move out of the protection zone even after
vaccination. In effect this will mean any female of breeding age.
3.
Vaccination for export or to move to Free areas in Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland - Vaccination must be carried out by a vet who will need to sign
annex 1 of the general licence EXD479. Once again no females of breeding
age can be moved out of a Protection Zone into these Free Zones. No animal can move until 60 days after the first
injection. If
you are currently in a Free Zone and are planning movements into these free
areas you may wish to consider movements before the Protection Zone rolls over
you.
Movement Licence
All animal movements, even
within zones, still require a general movement licence. These are
temporarily missing from the Defra website but we have asked that they be
reinstated on 7 May.
We are pushing for a 100%
vaccination of camelids.
Please protect your herd.
Joint
Health & Welfare Committee
If
you have queries, concerns or feedback on any of these issues, or the process
itself, which your vet is unable to answer, please
contact Liz Butler:
llamaliz@hotmail.com, or 01737 823375.
Brenda Birmingham
Secretary - British Llama Society
Lower Braundsworthy, Shebbear, Beaworthy, Devon EX21 5TB
t: 01409 231704 e: llamarati@aol.com or Secretary@BritishLlamaSociety.com
British Llama Society - a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England
no. 04897204.
Registered office: Mansion House, Princes Street, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1EP.