BABX for the blue tongue: After over 2.5 million affected animals in 2014, the disease is here again

While the country is still struggling with the complicated situation due to the foot-and-mouth disease, at the end of July 2025, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) identified for the first time in our country an outbreak of bluetongue disease, serotype 8. The first outbreak was registered on July 31, 2025, in an unregistered livestock facility in the territory of the village of Novo Selo, Kyustendil region, near the border with Serbia and North Macedonia. The results were confirmed by the National Reference Laboratory at the BFSA. By August 14, there were already four outbreaks – in Kyustendil, Gabrovo, Smolyan, and Blagoevgrad. Upon request from Agri.BG, the agency provided official data on the spread of the disease in the country. Serotype 4 of bluetongue was first detected in Bulgaria on July 4, 2014, in the village of Mandrica, Haskovo region. In just a few months – by the end of November of the same year – the disease had spread to all 28 regions of the country. ...