Bluetongue Anguish For Dutch Farmers
Sumaira FH Published August 30, 2024 | 11:00 AM
Oosterwolde, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2024) One sheep dribbles, another limps, a third can barely stand: the bluetongue virus is causing havoc for Dutch farmer Erik van Norel, who thought he had seen the back of it.
Still recovering from the impact of the virus last year, the 41-year-old thought the nightmare was finally over -- then bluetongue staged a comeback on his farm.
Bluetongue is a non-contagious, insect-borne viral disease that affects sheep and cows but not pigs or horses. It is difficult to control once it takes hold.
In September 2023, when the BTV-3 strain of the virus broke out in the Netherlands, Van Norel rounded up his ill animals and transported them on his quad bike to the stable.
Some died within 12 hours. He lost 80 animals in total, roughly three quarters of the sheep that fell sick.
"The situation was desperate. There was nothing I could do," he told AFP, surrounded by his flock in Oosterwolde, in the north of the Netherlands.
Symptoms include excessive salivation, the swelling of lips, tongue, and jaw, and the loss of offspring for pregnant animals, in proportions varying from farm to farm.
Unlike bird flu for example, an animal infected with the virus is not automatically slaughtered.
Bluetongue is rarely fatal for cows, but leads to a dramatic drop in milk production.
The virus poses no danger to human health.
Dutch authorities have registered outbreaks of the virus in 6,384 places, with the rate steadily rising.
However, farming union LTO says this is hugely underestimated, as farmers are no longer taking blood samples from all infected animals.
The virus has also been recorded in France, Belgium and Germany. Nearly 1,200 Belgian farms are affected, according to figures out Tuesday, a tripling in three weeks.
