In 2006 a total of 456 Bluetongue cases were confirmed. Cases moved from the south to the middle of the country. Only a few cases were reported in the north.
As of 08-01-2008 the pattern of the BTV-8 outbreak was as in the image below. Infections are still concentrated around the south of the country with a few infections in the North.
Image from the official website of the Dutch Food Quality Authorities (Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit).
www.vwa.nl
As of January 2008 the implementation of a voluntary vaccination programme in The Netherlands is being discussed.
The first suspicion occurred on 14 August in hobby sheep flock. As of September 4th, 34 holdings have been declared infected, all located within the southern part of the province Limburg, in the South of the country. Most (24) of them are local farms, while 10 only raise cattle. On 28 August, the EC Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue (Pirbright, UK) confirmed the serotype 8.