MR. PETROVIC: “THERE WERE NO ANIMAL DEATHS CAUSED BY BLUETONGUE”

4. September 2014.

The Director of the Nis-based Veterinary Specialist Institute, Milos Petrovic, said that there were no domestic animal deaths caused by the bluetongue disease, the existence of which was confirmed by lab results in the municipality of Medvedja, as well as in the villages of Grbavce and Ravna Spa.

Mr. Petrovic said that the veterinary station in Lebane informed the Veterinary Specialist Institute that the disease at issue was bluetongue, adding that immediately upon this, the epidemiological service, veterinary inspections and veterinarians from Lebane visited a flock of sheep, while the clinical picture of the animals indicated the presence of the disease.

“The samples were sent to the reference laboratory of the National Veterinary Institute in Belgrade for inspection and the disease was confirmed, Mr. Petrovic said, noting that all the relevant services were ready to intervene in a timely fashion, because the disease was already present in the nearby Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania.

The Veterinary Directory passed the instruction on how to monitor bluetongue in the area of the veterinary specialist institutes in Nis and Zajecar, where the risk zones were located.

The monitoring provides for the active supervision of the health status of animals, as well as for serological, virological and entomonological testing, which led to the discovery of the disease.

The owners were instructed to keep domestic animals in the facilities where they would be protected from mosquitoes that transmit the disease, as well as to put protective mosquito nets on the facilities, adequately treat the manure and water resources and use mosquito repellants. Mr. Petrovic noted that a mild clinical picture was present in the infected animals.

Source: “Tanjug” News Agency and Coordination Body