1Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Hebbal, Bangalore-24, India
2Veterinary College, Hebbal, Bangalore-24, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the International Conference of Indian Virological Society on “Emerging and Re-emerging viral Diseases of the Tropics and Subtropics” at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, December 11–14, 2007.
Bluetongue is one of the important vector borne viral diseases of domestic and wild ruminants. Bluetongue can cause serious outbreaks and has been listed under notifiable diseases category by OIE because of its global prevalence (400 North and 350South latitude). Although it is more than four decades of its first report in India, the disease is still wide spread and is causing severe economic loss among the farming community. Plurality of the serotypes (24 serotypes) and difficulty in vector control contribute to the disease problem. The disease primarily affects sheep among domestic ruminants and in case of outbreaks the disease morbidity may go up to 100% and mortality may reach up to 80% depending upon the herd and the virus type involved. Affected sheep may suffer and die due to acute or chronic illness or recover with weight loss and poor wool quality. The losses due to the disease go unnoticed at large and assessing the disease economics is very much essential to take up control measures and also to know the impact of the disease at the state and national level. India with more than 61 million sheep and with steady growth in livestock sector there is an urgent need to take note of disease economics of Bluetongue so as to initiate suitable measures. While considering the losses incurred due to the disease it is essential to take account of both direct and indirect losses incurred by the farmers. The details of the disease economics will be discussed in detail.
