Bluetongue Continues to Sweep Along Italy's West Coast
ITALY – More Bluetongue outbreaks have hit central Italy leaving a further 3,500 animals susceptible this week.
10 January 2014
1 minute read
The latest five outbreaks centre around the capital city in the Lazio region, potentially affecting over 20,000 head of livestock, the Department for Veterinary Public Health has reported.
One farm, near Cerveteri, has reported 27 sheep fatalities with other farms in the area starting off the New Year with a combined total of 2,850 sheep and 678 cattle classed as susceptible.
The figures appear in a World Organisation for Animal Health notification which states the original source of the outbreak remains unknown.
Lazio is at the epicentre of an outbreak started on 26 September last year which has spread along Italy’s west coast, from Calabria in the far south west of the country to the northern town of Ortonovo in Liguria.
Tuscany, to the north of Rome has also had multiple Bluetongue cases confirmed.
Health authorities were notified of the further outbreaks following diagnostic tests at the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute in Rome.
Over 8,000 cattle and 13,000 sheep and a small number of goats have been labelled ‘susceptible’ to the outbreak since September.
Movement restrictions and zoning has been enforced.
TheCattleSite News Desk
