The circulation of the bluetongue virus was detected in a number of sentinel cattle in the Province of Cadiz, southern Spain, on Wednesday.
Bluetongue is an easy-spreading viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants transmitted by insects. It is not known to affect humans.
As a safeguard measure, the European Commission has adopted a decision banning the dispatch and export of live animals and their semen, embryos and ova of the bluetonguesusceptible-species (sheep, goats, cattle and wild ruminants) from some southern provinces of Spain. The Provinces are: Cadiz, Malaga, Sevilla and parts of the Provinces Huelva (comarca de La Palma del Condado et de Ayamonte), Cordoba (comarca de Lucena, de Montilla et de Posada) and Granada (comarca de la Alhama de Granada et de Loja).
The Commission decision and the disease situation will be reviewed at the meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Heath on Tuesday.
