Bluetongue vaccines in Europe

The article reviews the history, present status and the future of BT vaccines in Europe. So far, an attenuated (modified live viruses, MLV) and inactivated virus vaccines against BT were developed and used in the field. Moreover, the virus-like particles (VLPs) produced from recombinant baculovirus, and live recombinant vaccinia or canarypox virus-vectored vaccines were tested in the laboratory. The main aims of BT vaccination strategy are: to prevent clinical disease, to reduce the spread of the BTV in the environment and to protect movement of susceptible animals between affected and free zones. Actually, all of the most recent European BT vaccination campaigns have used exclusively inactivated vaccines. The use of inactivated vaccines avoid risk associated with the use of live-attenuated vaccines, such as reversion to virulence, reassortment of genes with field strain, teratogenicity and insufficient attenuation leading to clinical disease. The mass vaccinations of all susceptible animals are the most efficient veterinary method to fight against BT and successful control of disease. The vaccination of livestock has had a major role in reducing BTV circulation and even in eradicating the virus from most areas of Europe.     

Bluetongue in the United Kingdom and northern Europe in 2007 and key issues for 2008

As predicted, bluetongue arrived in the UK in 2007. Here, John Gloster and colleagues investigate the meteorological parameters that allowed this incursion into the UK and discuss key issues related to the disease's possible re-establishment in 2008.     

Bluetongue in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: history of occurrence prior to 2006

Bluetongue virus (BTV) exists around the world in a broad band covering much of the Americas, Africa, southern Asia and northern Australia. Historically, it also occasionally occurred in the southern fringes of Europe. It is considered to be one of the most important diseases of domestic livestock. Recently BTV has extended its range northwards into areas of Europe never before affected and has persisted in many of these locations causing the greatest epizootic of bluetongue (BT), the disease caused by BTV, on record. Indeed, the most recent outbreaks of BT in Europe are further north than this virus has ever previously occurred anywhere in the world. The reasons for this dramatic change in BT epidemiology are complex but are linked to recent extensions in the distribution of its major vector, Culicoides imicola, to the involvement of novel Culicoides vector(s) and to on-going climate-change. This paper investigates these recent outbreaks in the European theatre, up to the beginning of 2006, highlights prospects for the future and sets the scene for the following papers in this special issue.     

Ethics: The new challenge for animal agriculture

This paper introduces this volume dedicated to ethics in animal agriculture, in which moral responsibility of the actors of the animal production chain and relations between science, production and the society are analysed. Ethical concepts and their evolution through the ages, and ethical issues arising across different modes of production are presented. The diversity of viewpoints and interests of the stakeholders (farmers, technicians, scientists, consumers and citizens), relative to their values, cultures, and production conditions, is emphasized. The processes by which norms can be built while taking into account this diversity and societal objectives are illustrated at the levels of the profession, the country, Europe or the world. Ethics in animal production is a condition of the acceptability of the products, but also of the animal production sector as a whole.     

新世纪新机遇

中美关于中国加入世界贸易组织问题的双边谈判终于在去年11月15日达成协议,标志中国加入世界贸易组织迈出了关键性的一步.中国加入世界贸易组织的谈判经过了13年曲折的历程.     

Bluetongue in western Turkey

In October 1977 clinical bluetongue broke out in Aydin province, western Turkey and spread to adjacent provinces in the autumn months of 1978 and 1979. The outbreak was caused by a virus of serotype 4 and appeared to occur in a totally susceptible population. It was eventually controlled by widespread use of attenuated type-specific vaccine. Bluetongue virus was isolated from sheep on several occasions and also from a calf with congenital arthrogryposis and hydranencephaly. This latter finding is discussed in relation to Akabane virus, a recognised arbovirus teratogen thought to be present in the same area at the same time.