Farmers warned to 'remain vigilant' to foot and mouth amid 'surge' in bluetongue cases

The calls come with at least 618 confirmed cases of bluetongue and more than 2,200 suspected cases, which are waiting to be tested.

Fears have been raised that delays in bluetongue testing due to a “surge” in suspected cases could allow more serious animal diseases such as foot and mouth to slip through the net.

While there are currently no cases of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in the UK, both Shadow Farming Minister Robbie Moore and Wales’ chief veterinary officer Dr Richard Irvine urged farmers to remain vigilant against all biosecurity threats.

The calls come with at least 618 confirmed cases of bluetongue and more than 2,200 suspected cases, which are waiting to be tested.

The vast majority are in the South West, however positive cases have now been confirmed in North, West and East Yorkshire, with more coming every day.

An Environment Department (Defra) spokesperson said: “We are working with vaccine manufacturers to increase vaccine supplies so that farmers who have not already done so can vaccinate their livestock.”

Sheep face the highest risk of illness and death, while milk and meat from infected animals remain safe to eat.

While bluetongue is not as serious as FMD, it has very similar symptoms and there have been a number of outbreaks across Europe in recent years.

Mr Moore, the Keighley and Ilkley MP, said the delay of at least three weeks for test results to come back, raises the spectre of a farmer assuming his livestock have bluetongue when in fact they could be infected with FMD.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “Defra must treat this as a national emergency and get to grips with the capacity issues in turning the test results around, so we can monitor the spread of the virus in real time, rather than just being reactionary.

“The worry factor is a farmer is raising concerns about bluetongue, but it is actually foot and mouth.

“It is still taking Defra three weeks to turn a positive response back.

“It’s deeply concerning on the wider biosecurity issues that Defra are not treating this as an emergency, because what if there is a hidden foot and mouth positive case within all of those bluetongue cases.

“It’s prevalent on the continent, luckily we have not had any foot and mouth cases in this country.”

Wales’ chief veterinary officer Dr Irvine also urged farmers not to forget about FMD when testing for bluetongue.

He said: “We need to maintain that vigilance, not just for bluetongue, but so that we don’t miss any other diseases.

“We know in Europe, in the last year or two, foot-and-mouth disease has been present.

“We do not have foot-and-mouth disease in the UK, but nor would we want to inadvertently miss it.”

Meanwhile, the UK’s deputy chief veterinary officer Dr Ele Brown admitted that laboratories were struggling to keep up with the number of tests.

“We are working very hard to get through the backlog on testing,” she told an NFU webinar earlier this week.

“We know that we’ve had a large surge of cases that have come through.”

Despite additional staff being deployed, she acknowledged that confirmed cases were lagging behind reports from farms.

The Defra spokesperson added: “This is an incredibly difficult time for animal keepers and vets who are on the frontline of this disease and we are monitoring the situation closely.

“Vaccination is the best tool available to prevent bluetongue.”

A Labour source said while Mr Moore was Farming Minister “the National Audit Office found Defra had let Weybridge, this country's front line against animal disease, deteriorate until facilities were no longer fit for purpose”.

“We are putting a billion pounds into fixing it,” they added.