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Bluetongue restrictions to be lifted

Published on Tuesday 14 June 2011 at 16:30

Great Britain’s bluetongue disease status will change from its current Bluetongue 8 Low Risk Zone to that of Free from Bluetongue (without vaccination) with effect from 5 July 2011.

The impact of this change of status means that from 5 July 2011:

  • vaccination against bluetongue virus will no longer be permitted in Great Britain
  • there will no longer be any specific bluetongue conditions for exports of susceptible livestock (including to Northern Ireland) from Great Britain.

There is no change to the rules for imports into Great Britain from countries/areas that remain within bluetongue restricted zones. A map and table of bluetongue restricted zones can be found here.

Bluetongue susceptible animals from these areas will need to continue to meet the conditions set out at Annex III of EC Regulation 1266/2007, unless they are moves directly to slaughter. This is important as it will ensure that the bluetongue virus does return to the country through moves from these areas. The conditions most likely to be used for such imports would be:

  • vaccination plus 60 day wait
  • vaccination plus a test 14 days after onset of immunity
  • booster vaccination within time period of immunity.

A copy of the Bluetongue Regulations can be found here.

Post-import testing for bluetongue virus (BTV) of all serotypes will continue on a risk-assessed basis.

The 5 July 2011 date has been set in order to livestock keepers who wish to do so to purchase vaccine and vaccinate their livestock before this date.

There has been no evidence of BTV circulating in Great Britain since 2007 and there have been no positive cases found as a result of post import testing since 2008. The numbers of cases of the disease in other EU member states has also fallen significantly throughout 2009 and 2010 (there are currently no reports of any active BTV circulation within northern EU Member States) and information received suggests that sales of BTV vaccine in Great Britain are very low.

Remaining within a Low Risk Zone (LRZs) could potentially pose an enhanced risk of reintroduction of disease via free movements from other confluent BTV8 LRZs in Europe, and would also mean that Great Britain would have to undertake further ongoing surveillance to satisfy the requirements of a LRZ.

The full announcement from Agriculture Minister Jim Paice is available on the Defra website.

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Page last modified: 6 October, 2011