Record Bluetongue Outbreak Hits UK Farms, Exceeding Past Three Seasons Combined

British farmers are confronting the most severe bluetongue season on record, with the number of confirmed cases now surpassing the total from the previous three years combined.

The viral infection, which impacts sheep, cattle, and other livestock, can trigger high fevers, mouth ulcers, head swelling, and lameness. In severe instances, an animal’s tongue may turn blue and protrude from its mouth, and death can follow.

Transmitted by biting midges and originating in Africa, the virus has moved across Europe over the last twenty years—a shift the World Organisation for Animal Health attributes to climate breakdown. The current strain, bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3), was first detected in England in 2023.

Researchers indicate that transmission is tightly coupled with environmental temperatures. Rising heat linked to the climate crisis is driving a rise in recorded cases at increasingly northerly latitudes.

While bluetongue poses no risk to human health or food safety, Robyn Munt, vice-president of the National Farmers’ Union, noted that producers must maintain “constant vigilance” and regularly inspect their herds for signs of infection.

During the current bluetongue season, running from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, Defra has logged 2,201 cases, including 1,103 in September alone.

Although the 2026-27 season is only three months old, it has already recorded more cases than the preceding three seasons combined.

Defra counts a case as any premises where at least one infected animal is present, meaning the actual number of affected livestock is likely higher than the reported case figures.

Vaccination is available for livestock, yet Munt described it as “really challenging” for farmers to access, characterising the distribution as a “demand-led process.”

“During a year where livestock businesses, due to the climate impact of drought, have carried a whole load of cost in their business that they might not have been expecting, dealing with vaccinating animals and then potentially having to treat animals with bluetongue is just more labour pressure and stress on a farm business,” she said.

This summer, the disease crossed into Scotland for the first time, appearing as far north as Aberdeenshire.

With temperatures remaining high enough in much of the UK for the virus to develop within midges, Tom Cantillon, a senior analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, labelled this year’s record outbreak a “harbinger of things to come.”

“With climate change increasing the likelihood of milder winters and hotter summers, pests and pathogens that were once unable to survive here can now make their home. This will profoundly impact not only farmers, but the wider public,” he said.

Earlier this summer, mosquitoes capable of carrying Zika virus and dengue fever were discovered breeding in residential properties across east London, with specialists warning that a rapidly warming climate could result in more frequent “incursions of invasive mosquitoes.”

Cantillon concluded: “Adequate preparation for these pests and pathogens is necessary, including vaccinations for farm animals. But, ultimately, we cannot vaccinate against the kinds of climate that encourage these outbreaks. They will only get more likely until we reduce our emissions to net zero and stop warming altogether.”

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