ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1619614
Effect of Bluetongue serotype 3 vaccines on probability of viremia and NSAID usage in Dutch dairy cattle herds
Provisionally accepted
Reinard Roelfienus Everts1,2,3,4*
Margit Groenevelt1,3,4Kees-Jan Oosterhuis4,5Elske Kelderman4,6
Gerrit Koop3- 1Diergeneeskundig Centrum Zuid-Oost Drenthe, Coevorden, Netherlands
- 2Dutch Sheep and Goat breeders Association (NSFO), Zaltbommel, Netherlands
- 3Sustainable Ruminant Health, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- 4Vereniging Kernpraktijken Rundvee, Harmelen, Netherlands
- 5Dierenkliniek Stad en Westerkwartier, Zuidhorn, Netherlands
- 6Dierenartsen Dokkum, Dokkum, Netherlands
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After the outbreak of bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV3) in The Netherlands in September 2023, three pharmaceutical companies developed inactivated vaccines against this newly emerged serotype in a short period of time, making it possible to start a vaccination campaign just before the start of the new outbreak in 2024. This study describes effectiveness of these vaccines under field conditions in Dutch dairy cattle herds. Data from 1,114 dairy cattle herds was collected, of which 518 (46.5%) completed the double vaccination scheme and 29 (2,6%) vaccinated once. Results from PCR blood samples that were taken as part of the early warning system were used as a proxy for viremia. As a proxy for morbidity in dairy cattle herds, NSAID usage was used. Herds that fully vaccinated with Bultavo, were less frequently tested for BTV3 and we observed a significant reduction in the probability of detecting bluetongue virus RNA compared to non-vaccinated herds. A significant increase in NSAID usage in the months July, August, September compared to the same period the year before was seen in non-vaccinated herds. Such increase was also seen in vaccinating herds, but a significantly smaller increase was seen for Bultavo vaccinating herds. Altogether, we found large differences between the three vaccines in field effectiveness in dairy cattle in 2024 and conclude that Bultavo is the preferable option to prevent clinical signs and disease transmission under these circumstances.
Keywords: Bluetongue (BT) disease, BTV3, Vaccination, Viremia, NSAID
Received: 28 Apr 2025; Accepted: 16 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Everts, Groenevelt, Oosterhuis, Kelderman and Koop. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Reinard Roelfienus Everts, Diergeneeskundig Centrum Zuid-Oost Drenthe, Coevorden, Netherlands
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