The day after the announcement of the first case, there was already fear of a spread. In total, 22 suspected cases of bluetongue serotype 3 were recorded in the Nord department, with farmers fearing a “dramatic” spread of the disease, which could be fatal for sheep.
“A veterinarian visits each time there is suspicion. Samples and analyses are taken,” said the Nord prefecture, which emphasizes that “in the event of contamination, the animal must be isolated and disinfected.” The first case of serotype 3 FCO in France was confirmed on Monday in Marpent (Nord), a few kilometers from Belgium where the disease was already present, the prefecture announced on Wednesday.
Suspicions have arisen in two to three farms in the North and three to four in the Aisne, all “under analysis”, says Simon Ammeux, president of FRSEA Hauts-de-France, regional federation of the FNSEA agricultural union. He also reports “two suspicions” in Seine-et-Marne.
“She was knocked out”
“When I saw her start to drool, I understood…” lamented a breeder of a sick animal. The first symptoms appeared on July 29 in this three-and-a-half-year-old ewe, tested immediately by her owner, who has a small flock of fifteen sheep “for fun”.
“She was knocked out, she didn’t eat for a week… Luckily she was in good shape and had reserves, but it takes a lot of care to prevent her from wasting away,” says this individual. Ten days after the first symptoms, the infected ewe “started eating again, but is still really weak,” says the breeder.
She is “keeping her fingers crossed” that there are no other cases in her flock, which she has brought indoors and treated for insects. So far, no other sheep have shown symptoms.
“It’s extremely worrying.”
“People who have sheep” around Marpent “are individuals […]they are not breeders. They don’t have many heads,” assures Nicole Decherf, who is part of a family of cow farmers on a farm in this town of 2,700 inhabitants. “As a precaution,” she will disinfect her cows.
“It’s extremely worrying,” admits Alexandre Cousin, a breeder in Pas-de-Calais who owns a herd of 37 goats and 15 sheep. “In terms of care, curative […]we don’t have much control.” Like many other breeders, he is eagerly awaiting the launch of the vaccination campaign, announced Monday by the Ministry of Agriculture, which says it has 4.6 million doses.
But, while veterinarians are due to receive them from August 14, Alexandre Cousin’s veterinarian “does not yet know at all how or when” vaccination will be able to begin. “The five departments of Hauts-de-France are in the priority zone for the distribution of vaccines,” says Marie-Sophie Lesne, vice-president of the region in charge of agriculture. The region’s sheep farms number 100,000 heads, not including individuals, she specifies.
“Blue Tongue Disease”
Bluetongue disease (BTD), also known as “blue tongue disease,” is characterized by fever, respiratory problems, a hanging tongue, or the loss of pregnant pups.
It passes from an infected ruminant to an uninfected animal via biting insects, the Culicoides midges. Its detection does not lead to the euthanasia of the animals, unlike avian flu.
Bluetongue, which is not transmissible to humans, is also present in France by serotypes 4 (in Corsica) and 8 (in mainland France). But French herds have not developed any resistance to serotype 3, which they have never encountered. Serotype 8 had already “decimated entire herds” about fifteen years ago, recalls Bruno Leclercq, facilitator of the Hauts-de-France and Normandy sheep association.