Schmallenberg (SVB): A New Disease in Ruminants

Abstract

Schmallenberg (SBV) is an emerging viral disease caused by an <em>Orthobunyavirus </em>that was first detected in cattle at the end of 2011 in Germany. If similarly affected sheep and goats, which particularly generated congenital malformations in fetuses of pregnant females of these species, as well as fever and low milk production. Nowadays, this disease is already distributed in several European countries, and it is known that <em>culicoides </em>vectors and mosquitoes—which play an important role in the epidemiology for the affected species— are involved in the transmission of the disease. On the other hand, it has been established that SBV cannot be considered a zoonosis, seeing as so far there is not enough scientific evidence to prove otherwise.