Hello again!
I thought I'd update my blog with a recent issue affecting livestock in the UK currently known as the Schmallenberg virus as part of my aim to gain a wider understanding of issues of prominence in farming in the hope that I will be an informed potential vet applicant after seeing about it on the Telegraph website.
According to them 209 farms have reported cases of the virus, believed currently to be transmitted through three different species of midge which acts as a vector for the virus, and these species of midge are in fact found in the UK as well as in other countries such as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands which have also have cases reported. The idea that these midges could potentially lead to more cases of the Schmallenberg virus has naturally got the farming community worried, especially as many fear the virus may have survived over the winter in dormant insects.
The impact of the Schmallenberg virus is that it can cause calves and lambs to be stillborn or even extremely deformed with problems such as fused limbs or necks twisted at unusual angles which leads to the animals eventual death. Adult livestock seem to be able to survive the disease however only showing symptoms such as a reduced milk yield in cattle and a fever.
The implications of this particular disease for farmers is the loss of the their livestock also means a loss of profit since farms are primarily businesses with each lamb being sold at market for roughly around £100 it is evident the damage this virus could cause a farmer financially if an outbreak were to occur on their farm.
Currently, there is no vaccine against the virus and as with most potentially new vaccines the development could take two years or more. DEFRA an AHLA are keeping regular updates upon the virus upon their website of the location of reported cases in both cattle and sheep.
Thus concludes this installment upon a current issue I happened to find interesting in veterinary science for this week, however I'll probably be updating again very soon, I'm really getting into this blogging!
If you're interested in finding out more or want to know where I found about this issue, here are some useful websites that acted as my sources:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/a-z/schmallenberg-virus/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/9164468/Schmallenberg-virus-alert-over-midges-as-weather-warms.
http://vla.defra.gov.uk/science/sci_schmallenberg.htm
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