Beja, Portugal, May 1, 2025 (Lusa) — As temperatures rise this spring, the threat of bluetongue is once again looming, but sheep farmers in the Alentejo are confident that vaccines will protect their animals and only fear a new variant of the disease.
The Ovibeja agricultural fair, which runs until Sunday in Beja, is a meeting point for many livestock breeders, experts and association leaders and a privileged moment to ‘x-ray’ the sector.
In the livestock pavilion, Luís Campos, who has a farm near Monforte, in the district of Portalegre, told Lusa that in March, he vaccinated his herd of 250 sheep against the new serotype 3 of bluetongue, which appeared in Portugal in 2024.
‘I hope this will give me some protection, because I'm almost certain that bluetongue will come back in a big way,’ he said, due to the rain this winter and spring, indicating that he has invested €1,200 in vaccinating his animals.
Luís Campos recognised that most farmers have not yet vaccinated their animals against serotype 3, which he attributes to economic reasons, since the vaccine against this disease variant ‘is paid for out of pocket’.
‘There's no support from the state, unlike serotypes 1 and 4, a vaccine that has already been given free of charge for several years,’ he added.
This sheep farmer said that, with vaccination, the animals are protected against serotypes 1, 3 and 4, but acknowledged that the danger won't disappear completely: ‘If type 8 appears, which is already in neighbouring Spain, we'll be back to square one,’ he concludes.
Miguel Madeira, a campaniça sheep breeder with 2,400 animals in the municipality of Mértola, in the district of Beja, also plans to vaccinate his herd against the three serotypes soon. He believes this is the best way to protect his herd.
‘There is no vaccine that fully protects them, but [the animals] are reasonably protected, even if some of them get sick, they won't get sick as severely as an unvaccinated animal,’ he told Lusa.
Even with the animals vaccinated, Miguel warns that he will be on the lookout for the possible emergence of serotype 8 of the disease already detected last year in Nisa, in the Portalegre district, and ‘there is one in Spain’.
‘We have to be vigilant so that if we realise that serotype 8 [is] continuing to spread, we also have to take action,’ he added.
The breeder recalled that when bluetongue serotype 3 appeared in Portugal last year, there was no vaccine and says he believes that this year, ‘if the animals are vaccinated on time’, there won't be so many deaths and abortions.
Miguel Sena Esteves, a breeder from Monforte, said that last year, he didn't vaccinate against serotype 3 and managed to avoid ‘greater evils’ by disinfecting his animals and facilities. This year, he's following the same strategy.
‘We even set up a watering system to spray 70 animals at a time, which helped a lot as a repellent,’ he recalls.
Miguel Sena Esteves is wary of using the vaccine against serotype 3 because it's new, could have side effects, such as miscarriages, and does not protect against other variants of the disease.
‘We will never be protected against all serotypes,’ so “the big bet will be to create efficient mechanisms to repel the mosquito,” he reiterated.
Serotype 3 of the virus that causes the disease is transmitted by insects, mainly affecting sheep, and was detected for the first time in mid-September 2024 in the Évora district, spreading throughout the country, with thousands of dead animals.
SM/ADB // ADB.
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