The newly emerging Shamonda virus, spread by biting midges, has been detected in Ireland, Agriland reports. A private laboratory in the south of the country found it in samples from three cattle on two farms, understood to be dairy farms where a drop in milk yield had raised suspicion. More testing is under way and further detections are considered likely.
Shamonda belongs to the same group of viruses as Schmallenberg and mainly affects cattle, causing fever, diarrhoea, lethargy and lower milk production; abortions have also been documented. Until this year it had been found only in parts of Africa and in Japan. In late July and August it was detected in Switzerland, France and southern Germany, according to Germany's Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), then in Austria and the Netherlands, and Defra has reported it in cattle in Jersey.
Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine said in August that infected cattle show mild signs, but that "the most significant impact of the virus is on the unborn foetus, where infection can result in abortion or severe foetal malformation", with musculoskeletal and nervous-system malformations seen in calves. It said there is no evidence of Shamonda causing disease in humans.
Like bluetongue, the virus spreads mainly through Culicoides midges, and it can also pass to offspring during pregnancy. There is no vaccine and no treatment; the FLI says vaccines could be developed but would need "sufficient lead time" and would depend on how significant the disease becomes in Europe.
Photo: Eric Jones / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Source: Agriland
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