France extends bluetongue vaccination for ruminants after outbreaks

PARIS (Reuters) - France detected two new outbreaks of a new variant of bluetongue virus circulating in ruminants in northern Europe, prompting it to speed up and extend a vaccination campaign in the region, the farm ministry said on Friday.

France reported a first outbreak of the BTV3 bluetongue disease on a sheep farm near the Belgian border earlier this week.

The virus, spread by insects and which can be deadly for sheep, cattle and goats, has been circulating in the Netherlands, northern Belgium and western Germany since late last year.

France increased the number of vaccines that will be given for free to farmers to 6.4 million doses, including 1.1 million for sheep and 5.3 million doses for cattle, from a total of 4.6 million doses previously.

The vaccines will be available from Monday. The ministry had initially mentioned Wednesday as the start of the campaign.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Sandra Maler)