EN
The article reviews the occurrence of Schmallenberg disease in Europe from 2011 to September 2013. The first cases of disease caused by Schmallenberg virus (SBV) were reported in Germany and the Netherlands in the late summer/autumn of 2011 in adult dairy cows displaying hyperthermia, drop in milk production and diarrhea. In November 2011, by means of a metagenomic approach, for the first time the Friedrich-Löeffler Institute (Germany) detected viral RNA belonging to a new virus in blood samples from clinically affected dairy cows. This new virus was called Schmallenber virus after the place of origin of the collected samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that SBV belongs to the genus Orthobunyavirus within the family Bunyaviridae. Ortobunyaviruses are widely distributed in the world; mainly in Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania, in tropical and subtropical areas, with a warm and humid climate. Their occurrence depends primarily on the presence of Culicoides spp. vector and a reservoir for the virus, which are diseased and infected animals. In Europe, since the first cases of SBV infection in 2011 until September 2013 the presence of SBV or specific antibodies were detected in 27 European countries, including twenty three EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and Greece) and four non-Member States (Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Serbia). SBV infection was detected mainly in cows and sheep, in 5636 and 2922 farms, respectively. SBV has since been detected in approximately 9000 farms; the most being found in France (4557) and Germany (2046).