Bluetongue blew into UK on midges

The latest disease to hit British farming blew into East Anglia in early August, Government vets said on Tuesday.

Bluetongue was carried into the UK by infected midges blown from continental Europe, said a report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The first signs of the disease were spotted on a cow at a rare breeds farm near Ipswich, Suffolk, in late September.