{"id":509195,"date":"2026-04-02T16:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/509195\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:08:07","slug":"first-cases-of-usutu-virus-found-in-blackbirds-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/509195\/","title":{"rendered":"First cases of Usutu virus found in blackbirds in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">USUV has been found across Europe.. Wild birds are the main carrier of the virus, and the blackbird <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rspb.org.uk\/birds-and-wildlife\/blackbird\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is one of the most common UK birds, external<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Andra-Maria Ionescu, of APHA, said: &#8220;The detection of Usutu virus in blackbirds in Scotland shows that countries further north are now facing an increased risk of mosquito-borne viruses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;These findings highlight importance and need for improved, nationwide wild bird and mosquito surveillance to better assess the risks posed to animal and human health.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Islanders on Arran spotted a cluster of blackbirds displaying unusual neurological behaviour, and found dead birds, during the summer last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Prof Heather Ferguson, Mosquito Scotland project lead at the University of Glasgow, said: &#8220;Mosquito-borne diseases are increasingly likely to get a foothold in the UK, including in Scotland, as our environment continues to change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She added: &#8220;When news of suspicious blackbird deaths consistent with Usutu came through, we were able to almost immediately deploy a team of experts to Arran for rapid follow up and investigation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This allowed us to confirm the presence of several different mosquito species near the locations where infected birds were found, including several known to be capable of spreading Usutu.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USUV has been found across Europe.. Wild birds are the main carrier of the virus, and the blackbird&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-509195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}