Bluetongue and midge borne viruses update with Conor McAloon

Conor McAloon, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis (CVERA) at UCD joins Stuart Childs to give us an update on Bluetongue and other midge borne viruses in Ireland currently.

Conor says he had not seen any convincing evidence that blue tongue overwintered in Ireland from 2025 and believes that the 2026 cases that are being picked up were more likely linked to infected midges arriving from the UK during the summer.

While this was good from the point of view of it not hitting during the early stages of the breeding season, he expects infections that occurred during autumn to bring a risk of abortions and calves with congenital or neurological problems in spring 2027.

Conor says that vaccination matters, but plans may need to change: vaccination was a sound decision for the herds that chose it albeit no vaccine is 100% effective, it did protect the herds that did go that route. An annual booster for now, pending more information, will be required in 2027 but vaccination advice will have to be adapted each year potentially as different disease risks emerge and recede.

He finishes by saying be prepared and make decisions with good advice: midge-borne disease incursions are likely to become more common and farmers should take an adaptable approach to animal health.

He stresses working with vets and advisers, weighing vaccine costs against potential losses and the labour of managing sick or affected animals as key in helping people make the decisions necessary for their own farm.

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