Bluetongue affects the trade in ruminants such as cattle out of restricted areas.
The country also saw evidence of this animal disease in 2021.
This has an impact for years.
Koblenz - The whole of Rhineland-Palatinate remains restricted zone longer than expected because of the bluetongue disease feared by farmers.
The reason is a new change in EU law.
The animal disease, which is harmless to humans, broke out in Rhineland-Palatinate for the last time a good six months ago in a cattle in the Eifel, as the State Investigation Office (LUA) in Koblenz told the German Press Agency.
In this case, the exclusion zone means that the animal trade - for example with calves - is severely restricted from this area.
In the past, these restricted zones were designated for two years after an outbreak of disease and then automatically canceled without new cases of animal disease and when other conditions such as negative test results were met in a certain number of animals.
Following the change in EU law, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate recently submitted a so-called eradication program to the EU Commission, for example with information on vaccination rates and examinations of farm animals, as LUA head of division Juliane Pennecke explains. The examination of the approval of this program in Brussels could drag on. "The repayment program is designed for a maximum of six years," says Pennecke. “After successfully completing the course, Rhineland-Palatinate must also apply to the EU for the status of freedom from bluetongue. Only then can the exclusion zone be lifted. "
Exceptions for the trade of calves out of the exclusion zone are currently only possible under certain conditions, for example if the animals have been vaccinated or an examination is carried out to determine that they are free of pathogens.
"Unfortunately, the vaccination rate for cattle in Rhineland-Palatinate was only 38 percent in July 2021," explains Pennecke.
“For the eradication program, the EU provides for a quota of at least 90 percent for cattle.” Vaccinations are expensive, but the state and animal disease fund give a total of 1.50 euros per cattle, adds the veterinarian at the LUA.
"We recommend companies that trade out of the exclusion zone always have a vaccination."
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After a decade without an epidemic, bluetongue reappeared in Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time in 2019.
In that year it was detected in six companies in the state.
A case followed in October 2020 in the Trier-Saarburg district and in February 2021 in the Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm.
Animal disease is an insect-borne viral disease with fever.
In cattle, sheep and goats, the mucous membranes can become inflamed and in rare cases turn the mouth and tongue blue-red.
dpa
