Brussels, 15/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - A report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the impact of the Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) on animal health backs the views of the European Commission, explains the latter in a press release published on Friday 15 June. The report agrees with the Commission that the trade restrictions issued by some non-EU countries as a result of the outbreak of the virus in Europe are disproportionate. The EFSA report shows a sharp decrease in the number of animals suffering from SBV from March 2012 onwards.
Following its initial detection in Germany in 2011, SBV had been detected in 3,745 farms in the EU by May 2012 with eight member states reporting its presence. In the report, EFSA says that the impact of this animal disease on farms is less than 4% for sheep and 2% for cattle at the member state level.
In terms of how the virus is transmitted, there is no proof that it is transmitted by mother animals to their offspring via the placenta or vector-borne routes like the biting midge (Culicoides obsoletus). EFSA has examined the animal species most likely to contact the virus, pointing out that it has been detected in cattle, sheep, goats and a bison. SBV antibodies have been detected in deer, but no other species appears to have been infected. EFSA says that new studies confirm the European Disease Prevention and Control Centre's preliminary assessment that it is highly unlikely that SBV is dangerous to human beings. The likelihood that SBV would survive the winter to spread in 2012 and emerge at the end of this year and the beginning of next is hard to assess due to lack of data. (LC/transl.fl)