The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is set to host a bluetongue update webinar tomorrow.

The event will take place from 3pm – 4pm on Wednesday (August 7).

Experts from Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland will discuss the latest updates regarding the virus both in the UK and abroad.

Confirmed speakers for the webinar include Leah Shanks from AHDB and Gordon Hickman from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

A vet from the Netherlands is also set to attend, and AHDB said final speakers will be confirmed in due course.

They will represent some of the leading industry, government and specialist veterinary organisations.

The webinar will provide attendees with an update on the current situation in the UK and a summary of the situation in the Netherlands.

Northern Ireland – Great Britain trade and the implications of not having a bluetongue-free country status will also be discussed, and there will be a Q&A.

The event forms part of a series of webinars that AHDB is running to share timely and accurate updates on the current bluetongue situation to help farmers understand what the latest updates mean for the UK.

Those who are unable to attend can still register and will be sent a recording of the webinar following the event.

With recent warming weather, and average daily temperatures being consistently above 12°C, bluetongue virus (BTV) transmission is now possible in high-risk counties.

Due to the proximity to the areas of northern Europe, which are known to have been affected by BTV-3, the high-risk counties are Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent and East Sussex.

Research fellow at the Pirbright Institute, Chris Sanders explains the reason why the temperature increase has a significant bearing on the threat that the new strain of bluetongue, BTV-3, poses to livestock in the UK.

“While there are currently no live cases of BTV-3 in the UK, and no evidence that there is circulating bluetongue virus, with the warmer temperatures we’ve recently seen, we know that the activity of biting midges that spread the virus has increased.

“The development of BTV in midges also depends on the temperature. It is now warm enough that if a midge were to come into contact with BTV-3, local virus transmission between midges and ruminants in the UK would now be possible,” Sanders added.

AHDB Webinar