Summary
During
the recent severe outbreaks of bluetongue (BT) in the Mediterranean
Basin, the BT virus (BTV) spread beyond its historical limits into
the Balkan region. One of the primary impacts of BT is the cessation
in livestock trade which can have severe economic and social consequences.
The authors briefly describe the development of the collaborative
East-BTnet programme which aims to assist all affected and at-risk
Balkan states and adjoining countries in the management of BT, and
in the development of individual national surveillance systems.
The beneficiary countries involved, and led by the World organisation
for animal health (Office International des Epizooties) Collaborating
Centre for veterinary training, epidemiology, food safety and animal
welfare of the Istituto Zooprofilattico dellAbruzzo e del
Molise G. Caporale in collaboration with the Institute
for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen, the European
Commission Joint Research Centre (IPSC-JRC), were Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia,
Kosovo, Malta, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia and Turkey.
A regional web-based surveillance network is a valuable tool for
controlling and managing transboundary animal diseases such as BT.
Its implementation in the Balkan region and in adjoining areas of
south-eastern Europe is described and discussed.
Keywords
Balkans, Bluetongue,
Culicoides, Geographic information systems, Europe, Surveillance
networks, Web-based technologies. |