Worst bluetongue season on record hits British farms

Mixed · 2British farmers are experiencing the worst bluetongue season on record, with case numbers already above the combined total of the past three years. 1 2 Mixed · 2Defra has recorded 2,201 cases since the 2026-27 season began on 1 July, 1,103 of them in September; the season runs to 30 June 2027. 1 2 Mixed · 2Defra counts a case as a premises with at least one infected animal, so the number of animals affected is likely higher than the case count. 1 2

Mixed · 2The virus crossed into Scotland for the first time this summer and has been found as far north as Aberdeenshire. 1 2 Mixed · 2Bluetongue affects sheep and cattle, causing fever, ulcers, a swollen head and lameness, and sometimes a blue, protruding tongue; severe cases can be fatal. It does not affect people or food safety. 1 2 Mixed · 2The disease is spread by biting midges and originated in Africa. It has spread through Europe over the past two decades, which the World Organisation for Animal Health links to climate breakdown. The current strain, serotype 3 (BTV-3), was first found in England in 2023. 1 2

Mixed · 2Robyn Munt, vice-president of the National Farmers' Union, said farmers must keep up "constant vigilance" and keep checking animals for symptoms. She said getting vaccines had been "really challenging" because supply is a "demand-led process", and that drought costs already weighing on livestock businesses were adding labour pressure and stress. 1 2 Mixed · 2Tom Cantillon, a senior analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, called the outbreak a "harbinger of things to come". He said temperatures remain high enough in many parts of the UK for the virus to develop in midges, and that milder winters and hotter summers let pests and pathogens establish themselves. He argued that vaccination is needed but "we cannot vaccinate against the kinds of climate that encourage these outbreaks", and called for cutting emissions to net zero. 1 2 Mixed · 2Both reports note that mosquitoes capable of transmitting Zika and dengue were found breeding in homes in east London earlier this summer, with experts warning of more "incursions of invasive mosquitoes". 1 2