Medycyna Wet. 65 (11), 739-742, 2009
| Niedbalski W., Kęsy A |
| Epidemiology of bluetongue in Europe |
| The article reviews the history of BT occurrence in Europe and the present status. Up to 1989 cases of BT were noticed in Cyprus, on the Iberian Peninsula and on some Greek islands. Since this year the situation changed considerably. BT caused by BTV serotypes 1, 4 and 16 spread rapidly in the Mediterranean Basin and disease outbreaks were detected in Greece, Turkey, Spain (Minorca), France (Corsica), Italy (Sardinia) and in Cyprus. During the last three years the BT situation in Europe become disadvantageous and is getting more complicated. Since August 2006, the BTV passed for the first time the latitude 50N and BT outbreaks caused by BTV serotype 8 occurred in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, and Luxembourg. In the next year BTV-8 spread to the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, and Czech Republic. In total, about 41,000 outbreaks BTV-8 were reported by EU Member States in 2007. In 2008 the BT situation in Europe still become worse. Application of emergency vaccination to control of BT highly reduced the number of outbreaks in comparison to 2007 but BT spread on the new territories and appeared new, never noticed before in Europe BTV serotypes. The new BTV-8 outbreaks occurred in Spain, Italy, Austria, Sweden and in Hungary and BTV-1 was spreading in Spain, France and Portugal. Besides, on 24 October 2008 in the Netherlands, and then in Germany serotype BTV-6 was detected, that has not been reported in the territory of UE. In Switzerland, new orbivirus called “Toggenburg Orbivirus (TOV) was diagnosed in goats and on the basis of its genetic similarity to BTV, was recognized as 25 serotype of BTV. |
| Keywords: bluetongue, Europe, epidemiology |