SEVILLE, July 11 (EUROPE PRESS).
Technical specialists from the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Blue Economy confirmed that several deer died due to epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD). It is a non-contagious mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects wild and domestic ruminants but never affects humans.
This is a pathology that particularly affects deer, but also roe deer and fallow deer, although to a lesser extent. Large deer are also not at risk due to the thickness of their skin, which is more resistant to bites from these mosquitoes.
The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Blue Economy is monitoring and special supervision of this situation in order to prevent the spread of this hemorrhoid fever.
So, according to a press release, animal health experts have found several positive results on livestock farms in the municipalities of Córdoba, Cardegna and Villanueva del Rey. In cattle, it can cause mild and self-limiting symptoms for about two weeks, but is treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and the animals recover.
Similarly, outbreaks of deer deaths have been reported in Adamus and Cardegna, Córdoba, as well as in El Pedroso (Seville) and Zufra (Huelva). For this reason, those in charge of the Council ask citizens to work together to stop the spread of this disease that affects wild animals.
Thus, the administration calls on hunters and owners of reserves and farms to inform the territorial offices of the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Blue Economy, as well as conservation agents, if they find any sick animal or with symptoms of this disease. .
Hunting ground owners in cases of severe impact on specimens can use the exclusive permit for selective hunting for certain types of game, established by the Decree of May 30, 2023 of the General Directorate of Political Forestry and Biodiversity. to stop suffering and limit the spread of disease.
It is also important to prevent the spread of the disease by not moving deer between different hunting grounds, even within or between areas where no cases are currently reported, as the presence of the disease in wild animals may not yet be detected. .
The Council’s technical staff does not recommend biosecurity measures that minimize the risk of wildlife exposure to disease-carrying mosquitoes, which are only recommended in some very specific cases where deer are in restricted areas either for breeding or living in a fence. .
It is a notifiable disease and is subject to surveillance, for which measures must be taken to prevent its spread due to its introduction into the European Union or movements between Member States, as laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/429. There is currently no protocol for action by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food against this deer disease, nor a vaccine against it.
WHAT IS EPISOTIC HEMORRHEIAN DISEASE?
Historically, hemorrhagic fever has circulated in North America, Australia, Asia and Africa, but has never been detected in the EU until authorities in Italy and Spain reported detection of the virus in cattle farms on November 10 and 11, 2022. and deer.
Since the end of June 2023, numerous cases of cattle with symptoms consistent with EHE have appeared on various livestock farms in Córdoba, Huelva and Seville, confirming the diagnosis of the Algete Central Veterinary Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. . Hemorrhoid fever has also been confirmed in deer in hunting grounds in Seville, Córdoba and Huelva.
In herds of cattle in which this disease occurs, the number of affected animals is small and they respond well to adequate treatment with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. It can be foreseen that in deer the picture is similar, although in this species the possibility of applying this type of treatment is excluded.
Symptoms in cattle: fever, inflammation of the nostrils and mouth. Mucus and excessive salivation. Edema of the jaw and swelling of the head. It is difficult for them to move, they are lame. In deer, they are similar, although most of all there is swelling of the head, especially under the jaw, and lameness with difficulty in movement.
