Bluetongue emergency in Abruzzo

Since the first outbreak was confirmed on the 30^th of July 2014, the regional institutions are jointly committed in facing the health emergency related to the presence of bluetongue outbreaks in Abruzzo. The Abruzzo Region, the Istituto Zooprofilattico dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” (IZSAM) and the Local Health Units are taking all the necessary measures to contain the disease, which, in any case, doesn’t represent a danger to human health.

In effect, the virus affects above all sheep and goats causing in some cases death. It is a vector-borne disease transmitted by little insects similar to midges (culicoides).

The infection affects also bovines, who generally don’t become ill but are a possible source of infection for culicoides and therefore cause the spread of disease.

The first confirmed outbreak in Abruzzo occurred on a farm in the district of Tagliacozzo. Since then, the disease has spread involving the provinces of L’Aquila, Teramo and Pescara. Today, there are 32 official confirmed outbreaks of bluetongue in the Region.

The viral strain responsible for the infection was detected for the first time in 2012 in the southern part of Sardinia, invading Sicily in 2013 and the coastal areas of Lazio and Tuscany. In 2014, the infection reached the Regions of Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo, Molise, Calabria, Basilicata and Campania.

For the control of epidemic emergencies, Italy uses a management system, which sets rigorous procedures disciplining the behavior, which has to be observed in order to minimize the spread of the virus and facilitate the control and eradication of the disease.

After the first outbreak was confirmed, the Abruzzo Region immediately called to a meeting the Regional Committee of Zooprophilaxis (Comitato Regionale di Zooprofilassi CRZ).

The Committee is charged with the responsibility to adopt containment and control measures and verify the compliance to them. These measures consist in adopting the necessary provisions to eliminate the outbreaks and the provisions aiming at limiting the spread of the disease, i.e. delineating of the protection and surveillance areas, verifying of the health conditions of breeding, imposing livestock movement restrictions, planning and implementing of vaccination campaigns. In particular, vaccinations remain today the only tool for the protection of animals from the infection, for the reduction of the virus spread and allowing movement of the animals from the infected areas.

The Region can rely on the presence of IZSAM, which is the national reference laboratory for Bluetongue and the national reference center for veterinary epidemiology and risk analysis. For this disease, IZSAM is also the reference laboratory of the World Organization for Animal Health. The facilities operate together with the regional and local veterinary services, on the one hand for the laboratory diagnosis of the disease and on the other hand for the management and analysis of the data needed to guarantee the availability of the necessary governmental instruments for the control of bluetongue.