), which are likely to have been most active in causing the infection in the Northern Hemisphere summer and autumn of 2011, with animals subsequently giving birth from late 2011.

[4] After Germany, it has also been detected in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom,[5] Switzerland,[6] Ireland,[7] Finland,[8] Denmark,[9] Sweden,[10] Austria,[11] Norway,[11] Poland[11] and Estonia.

It is possible that the seasonality of the infection cycle would not entail a second epidemic circulation next year, due to the shortness of the viraemic period (about 4 to 6 days post exposure, longer in affected foetuses).

[21] The disease was confirmed as present in the UK on 22 January 2012, on being formally identified in four sheep farms in Norfolk, Suffolk and East Sussex.

[5] By 27 February 2012, the disease was reported in other counties in the south of England including the Isle of Wight, Wiltshire, West Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Cornwall.

[5] Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Mexico have all suspended imports of live cattle and sheep, along with embryos and semen from affected countries.