First instances in France of epizootic hemorrhagic illness on farms

The primary instances in France of epizootic hemorrhagic illness (EMD), affecting deer and cattle, have been detected on farms within the Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the Ministry of Agriculture stated in a press launch on Thursday. The ministry specifies in its press launch that three farms are affected in these two departments of the South-West and that “measures to handle this illness are put in place by the ministry’s providers together with skilled organizations”.

The export of stay cattle has been fully banned in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Haute-Garonne and Ariège, and partly in six neighboring departments (Gironde, in Lot- et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Tarn, Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales). In response to the Basque union ELB, exports are additionally “blocked” to Spain and Italy for fattening, however not for the fast slaughter of cattle.

Lower than 1% mortality in cattle

Found in america in 1995, MHE primarily impacts deer and cattle and is transmitted by biting midges. It causes fever, weight reduction, mouth lesions, respiratory difficulties in animals and “generates solely very low mortality”, specifies the ministry. “We observe lower than 1% mortality in cattle however the virus will be very lethal in deer, with mortality charges of greater than 90% noticed in america,” Stephan Zientara, director, informed AFP. from the animal well being laboratory of the French Nationwide Well being Safety Company (ANSES).

“We don’t but understand how the virus will have an effect on European deer,” he provides, whereas ANSES indicated in Might that it had detected the illness for the primary time in Europe within the fall of 2022, in Sardinia then in Sicily. Its arrival on the continent is, in keeping with the well being company, a consequence of local weather change, which permits midge vectors to outlive. Epizootic hemorrhagic illness will not be transmissible to people and no vaccine is but accessible in opposition to the kind of virus noticed in Europe.