SCHMALLENBERG virus (SBV) was discovered in November 2011 in Germany and named after the village where the first definitive sample was derived from dairy cattle (Hoffmann and others 2012). Clinical disease associated with SBV infection was first reported from the Netherlands: retrospectively, the infection was proven to be related to severe diarrhoea and milk drop in dairy cattle observed in August 2011 (Muskens and others 2012), and, a few weeks later, SBV infection was shown to be associated with malformations in lambs born in December 2011 (Van den Brom and others 2012). The spread of the virus in 2012 resulted in malformed newborn lambs and calves on thousands of farms in Europe. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses revealed a close relationship with the Simbu serogroup viruses of the species Orthobunyavirus . Soon after the discovery of this new virus veterinary institutes in the countries most affected put significant effort into …