The Consellería do Medio Rural has notified the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), through the Veterinary Health Alert Network, of the appearance of the first case of the season of a cattle infected by serotype 3 of bluetongue on a livestock farm in the province of Pontevedra. The positive has been confirmed by the Central Veterinary Laboratory of Algete (Madrid).
This new outbreak adds to the four previous cases already reported in Galicia, corresponding to serotypes 3 and 8 and located in the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo, within the current season of circulation of the transmitting vector (insects of the genus Culicoides spp), which began after the end, last April, of the winter period free of activity of these insects.
The affected cattle farm is located in the municipality of Vila de Cruces and the case was detected thanks to the passive surveillance of its owner, who reported to the official veterinary services the suspicion of the disease within the framework of the annual monitoring program of bluetongue developed by the Xunta de Galicia. After the tests carried out, the circulation of serotype 3 was confirmed in the laboratory.
During the year 2025, the present serotypes of this disease in the community were also 3 and 8, affecting all four Galician provinces. Serotype 4 has not been identified in Galicia either in 2025 or so far in 2026, a circumstance that is linked to the mandatory vaccination campaigns carried out in previous years.
Since 2025, there is no longer a program in Spain for the eradication based on mandatory vaccination against this pathology. However, the Xunta de Galicia continues to recommend voluntary vaccination of cattle and sheep as a protective tool and to curb the spread of the disease.
The vaccines against these serotypes, as well as against the rest circulating in Spain, can be purchased through the usual commercial channels for the distribution of veterinary medicines, always with the appropriate prescription. At the same time, the Consellería do Medio Rural maintains the free provision of vaccine doses against serotype 4 for cattle and sheep, and against serotypes 3 and 8 for sheep, a species that usually shows more intense clinical symptoms.
In addition, it is advised to reduce in livestock farms the favorable areas for the breeding of vector insects (humid spaces with organic matter, waterlogged soils or accumulations of manure) and to carry out periodic insecticide treatments of the animals, the facilities, and the vehicles used for the transport of livestock. It is also reminded of the obligation of livestock owners to inform the official veterinary services of the Rural Environment in case of any suspicion of the disease in their herd.
Blue tongue does not affect humans, but only ruminant animals, which also do not transmit the disease to each other, as transmission occurs exclusively through the bite of a vector insect. There is also no risk of contagion for the population from the consumption of animal products (meat or milk) from affected animals.