Overview

• Highly pathogenic bluetongue serotype 3, first identified in Spain in 2024, has been confirmed in multiple foci in Cantabria and Iparralde and is now approaching Bizkaia’s border.
• The Diputación de Bizkaia and its Department of Natural Environment and Agriculture are financing both serum and its administration while urging farmers to intensify livestock immunization.
• During the 2024–2025 campaign, the department promoted vaccination of over 45,000 sheep and 32,000 cattle using 1.5 million acquired doses targeting serotypes 3, 4 and 8.
• Since 2024 four bluetongue serotypes (1, 3, 4 and 8) have co-circulated in Spain, prompting a shift from mandatory measures to subsidized voluntary vaccination and lifted animal movement restrictions.
• The Ministry of Agriculture warns that milder winters are sustaining Culicoides vectors year-round and that rising vector activity makes vaccination the primary tool to prevent morbidity, mortality and facilitate livestock movement.