Most of Spain declared free of serotype 8 of Bluetongue
Almudena Sánchez Matamoros & José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno
November 14th, 2012. SUAT-UCM
On 14 November 2012, Spain has proceeded to declare itself free of serotype 8 of the bluetongue virus (BTV), except the region of Campo de Gibraltar (Cadiz). This action is performed according to Regulation 1266/2007 and Directive 2000/75/EC, after three years of absence of virus circulation of this serotype in Spain. The appropriate strategy for control and eradication of the disease from the entrance of this serotype in Spain in 2008 allowed control the BTV, declaring the last outbreak of serotype 8 in Spain (excluding the region of Campo de Gibraltar) in February 2009. Highlight that this region will expect that reach this status in 2013, as reported the last outbreak of serotype 8 in November 2010.
The restriction zones of Spain as of November 2012 are: Canary and Balearic Island are considered free of disease; Spain mainland would be considered restriction zone for serotype 1, four provinces in southern Spain also have this category for serotype 4 and the region of Campo de Gibraltar also includes serotype 8.
Fig. 6: Bluetongue restriction zones in Spain as of November 2012. Source: MAGRAMA, 2012.
This advance in the fight against BTV relaxes restrictions on exports of cattle, sheep and goats from Spain.