Bluetongue control strategy, including recourse to vaccine: a critical review

The bluetongue (BT) epidemic that has prevailed in Europe since 2000 is the first example of continental spread of the BT virus (BTV) in large naive populations of susceptible animals. Based on the results of intensive surveillance and research in countries of the southern Mediterranean that were affected by the infection early on in the epidemic, a new strategy for prevention and control of the disease was developed to limit direct losses and to reduce the consequences due to movement restrictions. The basic innovations that were introduced were the use of mass vaccination of all domestic ruminant species to limit the spread of BTV and the use of intensive active surveillance to limit, as far as possible, the zone where movement restrictions must be applied. The novel strategy that was adopted dramatically reduced the number of clinical outbreaks in southern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin and ensured safer animal trade. In 2006, the first BTV-8 epidemic occurred, this time in north-western Europe. During this epidemic, affected countries adopted a 'wait and see' approach. No vaccination was implemented until 2008 and, in many instances, the movement of animals was authorised within restricted areas, thereby facilitating the spread of infection. The delay in administering vaccination was due to the decision to avoid the use of modified live virus vaccines, although this type of vaccine performed satisfactorily in the previous BT epidemics in southern Europe. Bluetongue has demonstrated that the infectious agents present in southern Africa can easily spread to the Mediterranean Basin, which should be considered a single entity as far as the epidemiology of animal diseases is concerned. Therefore, any effective strategy for the prevention and control of animal disease in Europe must take into account this reality and recognise the need for regional surveillance networks that include all the countries that border the Mediterranean.