A sharp rise in reported exceptional bluetongue events and broader geographic change are strengthening the case for surveillance, diagnostics and proportionate trade measures.

Vector-borne animal disease is becoming a more durable investment issue for livestock systems, not simply a sequence of seasonal alerts. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has called for stronger surveillance, early warning and preparedness after its analysis of official World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) reports showed an increase in the frequency of some vector-borne disease events and in the number of countries reporting them.

The clearest quantified change is bluetongue. WOAH reports an average of 38 exceptional epidemiological events a year in 2023-2025, compared with an average of 9.1 annually from 2015 to 2022, driven mainly by the arrival of bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) in north-western Europe from autumn 2023. West Nile fever events rose from an annual average of 8.0 to 55. Lumpy skin disease has generally remained near its historical event baseline, but its geographic range has expanded from Africa into the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

WOAH cautions that reported-event trends are not a direct measure of disease incidence. Shifts in surveillance intensity, diagnostic capacity and notification practices can affect the data alongside real changes in occurrence and distribution. That qualification is critical for business decisions: the figures should not be treated as a forecast of losses, but they are a persuasive indicator that disease intelligence and laboratory capability are becoming more valuable assets.

The organisation links the pattern to changes in vector ecology associated with temperature, rainfall and land use, as well as animal and human mobility and wider ecological change. It calls for integrated surveillance that combines vector, disease and environmental data; sustained laboratory and entomological capacity; risk-based vaccination, vector control and movement management; and proportionate import-risk measures consistent with its standards.

For producers, veterinary services and animal-health suppliers, the commercial lesson is about planning horizons. A response model that starts only after clinical disease is confirmed risks higher disruption to livestock movement, production and trade. WOAH's data do not establish the exact return on any individual investment, but they strengthen the rationale for funding monitoring systems and diagnostics before a regional signal becomes a supply-chain constraint.