Spanish cattle farmer Ricardo García takes a journalist from El Mundo on a tour of his herd. Dozens of his 280 cows and bulls are sick. They are lethargic, thin, and feverish. Many have sores on their udders. Others seem sensitive to light. One has very strange symptoms—its tongue has turned black and hangs out of the mouth constantly. Some have undergone personality changes—their once gentle behaviour is now unpredictable.
It pains Ricardo to see his animals suffering, and he doesn’t even bother to calculate the economic losses he’s suffered with eight cows killed by the disease and many others now unsuitable for the market. The situation reminds him of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The disease spreading through his herd, and its origins, are well known. But the Spanish authorities that monitor public health problems and have the power to approve the only known remedy—a vaccine—have turned a blind eye, according to farmers. And like COVID, the problem currently concentrated in Spain could easily spread to other parts of Europe.
His animals are suffering from epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHE), spread by mosquitoes of the genus Culicoids. The bug reached Spain from Africa, and this is not the first disease it has spread among animals.
Juan José Badiola, veterinarian and pathologist at the Center for Encephalopathies and Emerging Communicable Diseases of Zaragoza, explained to El Mundo that EHE is “an infectious, non-contagious viral disease” that affects ruminants—goats, sheep, cow, and deer. The mosquito that spreads the disease was already present in North America, Asia, and Africa, before reaching Spain and spreading from south to north. In hot weather, mosquitoes reproduce faster, meaning there are more vectors to infect cows. Similar to a disease-laden droplet from a sneeze, a mosquito can be carried by the wind, in its case even up to 500 kilometers, to spread the infection further.
Luckily, only the mosquito can transmit EHE. It is not transmitted from animal to animal or from animal to humans. But as Spanish farmers are finding, the bugs are efficient spreaders.
Almost all of Ricardo’s herd has been infected. In most cases, the disease causes mild cold-like symptoms that resolve without treatment in about three days. Fifteen percent of the cows will suffer a severe form or never completely recover. The infection can also make them more susceptible to other bacteria and illnesses.
Ricardo sees other similarities between EHE and Covid, particularly in poor planning by the public administration.
“The parallel, apart from the course of the disease, is in all the circumstances that have surrounded it,” he told the newspaper. “The difference is that nobody had COVID-19 before the pandemic and this was a thing that has been known about for years ago and in many places. Hence, the lack of foresight is unforgivable”.
According to farmers, the Spanish government far underestimated the possible repercussions of the virus, estimating, as they did in 2020 with COVID, that cases would be isolated. As Ricardo and other farmers are experiencing personally, the opposite proved true.
The farmers’ union ASAJA also issued a statement in September calling out the public authorities for their negligence.
“The Government knew the probable scenario, in which the disease has colonized all the territories where the mosquito is active … and has not coordinated with the Autonomous Communities a true, effective response against the disease. Currently, cattle breeders are totally helpless and powerless,” it read.
There are vaccine issues, too. Two vaccines are available against the virus, one made in the U.S. and one in Japan, but neither have been approved for Spain nor is approval on the horizon. Farmers have no idea when the administration will take the disease seriously and begin moving towards a vaccine.
In the meantime, the mosquito will keep biting.
