The epizootiological occurrence of bluetongue in the central Balkans

In the last five years, bluetongue has been diagnosed in the following areas of the Mediterranean Basin: Algeria, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey. In the Balkan Peninsula, the disease has been recorded in Bulgaria (since 1999), Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. Bluetongue arrived in the Balkans from Turkey in 1999. In Serbia and Montenegro, the disease was first diagnosed in July 2001 in the Zubin Potok region of Kosovo. In August, the neighbouring regions of Novi Pazar, Tutin, Rozaje and Leposavic were also affected. The disease was simultaneously observed in eastern Serbia in the regions bordering Bulgaria (city regions of Bosilegrad, Pirot and Knjazevac). The occurrence of the disease and clinical signs indicate that the disease was also present in western Serbia in 2001. During 2002, more extensive serological investigations of animals in some regions of Yugoslavia indicated that the disease had spread towards the north of the country. At the same time, serological evidence also revealed the presence of the disease in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The epizootiological data show that the northernmost point of disease spread in Serbia was the River Sava.