Sheep suffer own form of Covid

A lack of ‘social distancing’ b et ween sheep is almost exclusively responsible for the spread of the virus that causes the chronic viral disease maedi-visna, scientists have discovered.

And according to the Scottish and Dutch researchers involved in the project, the findings should help devise prevention, control and elimination strategies for this incurable and eventually fatal disease which is found in most parts of the world where sheep are kept.

The researchers said that as the disease was mostly transmitted via exhaled droplets and aerosols from infected sheep, prolonged close contact, such as during housing, was likely to see the disease spread - but there had been no previous quantitative analysis of virus transmission under farm conditions.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, the Moredun Research Institute and GD Animal Health in The Netherlands found much higher rates of spread of the virus during periods of winter housing (when there was little social distancing) than between sheep kept at grass.

"The striking result from our research is that MV is a disease of housing,” said Dr NickS avil land Prof Andrew Illius, who jointly led the research at Edinburgh.

And while even brief periods of housing allowed it to spread, transmission of the virus was ne gligible between sheep kept at grass.

As transmission of the virus was too slow between grazing sheep to sustain the disease, the researchers said that“social distancing” could be exploited to help flock owners eradicate the disease.