The bluetongue virus has hit the first flocks of sheep in Britain after spreading to a total of 36 farms.
Sheep are more susceptible to the bluetongue virus
The virus had previously only been circulating among cattle, but it has now been found in two flocks of sheep on farms in Suffolk.
Official figures handed to the World Animal Health Organisation reveal that about 60 infected animals have now been found.
Sheep are more susceptible to the virus and up to 70 per cent of flocks can be wiped out, although no sheep are believed to have died from the virus yet.
The news comes as the Government is preparing to ease the restrictions on moving livestock around the country.
Farmers, however, claim that the measures have come too late as they already face a backlog of hundreds of thousands of animals waiting to go to slaughter. Disease experts have also given warning that insects carrying the bluetongue virus may be able to survive the winter inside farm sheds and barns