As many as 1,192 cases of Bluetongue disease were detected in Belgium just last week. Although not dangerous for humans, the virus is fatal for livestock and poses a significant threat to food systems.
Bluetongue is a viral disease that infects livestock via midges and causes fever, respiratory problems and a hanging tongue. The Federal Agency for Food Chain Security (Afsca) announced that 1,192 cases were detected last week, up from 847 the previous week. Alpacas are now being infected along with sheep and cattle.
The epidemic first appeared in the provinces of Antwerp, Liège and Limburg, where there are now 200, 171 and 156 cases respectively. There have also been 103 infections in Namur, 77 in Hainaut, 67 in Luxembourg and 34 in Walloon Brabant. In the north, there have been 191 outbreaks in East Flanders, 137 in Flemish Brabant and 55 in West Flanders.
Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
Bluetongue can be fatal for sheep, and Afsca strongly recommends that farmers vaccinate all animals. So far, 579 sheep, 601 cattle, 7 goats and 5 alpacas have been infected. Statbel figures show that there are only 1,500 alpacas in the country.
Afsca expects the number of outbreaks to increase until the end of September or even the beginning of October. "New cases are normally not detected from late autumn to early spring, when temperatures are below 10°C and the mite is not active."
'We are seeing a huge increase'
The first Belgian outbreak of Bluetongue occurred on a sheep farm in Merksplas (Antwerp) in October 2023. It has now killed an estimated 11,000 sheep and 6,000 cattle, according to figures from Rendac, the company that cleans and processes carcasses on behalf of the government.
Rendac has been forced to work on Saturdays and public holidays in order to cope with the "huge increase" in animal deaths as a result of the virus.
"We don't check ourselves whether the animal has died of bluetongue or of natural causes. In summer, mortality is also always a little higher," Managing Director Sebastian Feyten told Belga News Agency. "However, we are seeing a huge increase: four to five times as many sheep and twice as many cattle."
The company says it has been collecting 5,000 sheep and 2,500 cattle every week since the outbreak of the disease compared to typical weekly intakes of over 1,000 sheep carcasses and around 2,500 cattle carcasses.
Rendac converts carcasses into renewable fuel and will continue to work with the animals at hand despite the disease, which does not pose a threat to humans. "Thanks to the high processing temperatures, there is no danger to public health," said Feyten.
