Bluevac BTV8

Bluevac BTV8 is a vaccine used in cattle and sheep to protect them against bluetongue disease, an infection caused by the bluetongue virus, which is transmitted by midges. Clinical signs of the disease include fever, skin ulceration, as well as swelling and occasionally blueish discolouration of the tongue mainly seen in sheep. The vaccine is used to prevent viraemia (the presence of viruses in the blood) and to reduce clinical signs caused by bluetongue virus in sheep and to prevent viraemia in cattle. The vaccine contains inactivated (killed) bluetongue virus serotype 8.

The vaccine is available as a suspension for injection and can only be obtained with a prescription.

The vaccine is given to cattle and sheep as two injections under the skin. The first injection is given from two and a half months of age and a second injection is given three weeks later. For booster vaccination a single injection is given every year. Protection starts 31 days after the second injection in cattle and 20 days after the second injection in sheep. Protection lasts for one year.

Bluevac BTV8 is a vaccine. Vaccines work by ‘teaching’ the immune system (the body’s natural defences) how to defend itself against a disease. Bluevac BTV8 contains a bluetongue virus that has been inactivated so that it cannot cause the disease. When it is given to cattle and sheep, the animals’ immune system recognises the virus as ‘foreign’ and produces antibodies against it. In the future, if the animals are exposed to the same type of bluetongue virus, the immune system will be able to produce antibodies more quickly. This will help to protect against the disease.

Bluevac BTV8 contains bluetongue viruses of one type (‘serotype 8’). The vaccine also contains ‘adjuvants’ (aluminium hydroxide and saponin) to stimulate a better reaction by the immune system.

The effectiveness of the vaccine was investigated in a number of laboratory trials in sheep and cattle of the minimum recommended age. The main measures of the effectiveness of the vaccine were viraemia (levels of BTV8 in the blood) and clinical signs of bluetongue virus infection. In all studies the vaccinated sheep and cattle were compared with unvaccinated animals (controls). The studies showed that the vaccine prevents viraemia in sheep and cattle and reduces clinical signs in sheep when infected with bluetongue virus serotype 8.

The most common side effect with Bluevac BTV8 (which may affect up to 1 in 10 animals) is an increase in body temperature between 0.5 and 1.0˚C that lasts no longer than one to two days.

For the full list of restrictions and all side effects reported with Bluevac BTV8, see the package leaflet.

No special precautions are required.

The withdrawal period is the time required after administration of a medicine before an animal can be slaughtered and the meat used for human consumption. It is also the time required after administration of a medicine before milk may be used for human consumption.

The withdrawal period for meat and milk from cattle and sheep treated with Bluevac BTV8 is ‘zero’ days, which means that there is no mandatory waiting time.

The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use (CVMP) concluded that Bluevac BTV8’s benefits are greater than its risks and recommended that it be approved for use in the EU.

Bluevac BTV8 was originally authorised under ‘exceptional circumstances’ because, as bluetongue disease falls under national disease control programmes, limited information was available at the time of approval. As the company had supplied the additional information requested, the ‘exceptional circumstances’ ended on 15 March 2016.

The European Commission granted a marketing authorisation valid throughout the EU, for Bluevac BTV8 on 14 April 2011.

For more information about treatment with Bluevac BTV8, animal owners or keepers should read the package leaflet or contact their veterinarian or pharmacist.