[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17179214

Nine more farms in the south of England have reported cases of a disease which causes birth defects and miscarriages in livestock, the government says.

It means a total of 83 cases of the Schmallenberg virus have been reported in the UK.

Earlier, the National Farmer's Union warmed British cases of the disease may be "under-reported".

Humans are thought to be unaffected by the virus, which is understood to be spread by midges, mosquitoes and ticks.

In England, it has now been identified on the Isle of Wight and in Wiltshire, West Berkshire and Gloucestershire.

This is in addition to farms in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, East and West Sussex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Hampshire and Cornwall, which have previously identified cases.

Infection is apparently symptomless in adult sheep. However, the virus can damage the foetus when pregnant females are infected, leading to a range of deformities at birth.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it suspected livestock may have got the virus from infected midges blown across the Channel from affected areas in Europe

Who'd be a farmer ?

If it ain't one thing, it's another