Resumen en inglès, ver archivo PDF ; Since August 2006, the Netherlands has been facing outbreaks of bluetongue (BT) caused by serotype 8 (BTV-8). In this first BT-season about 470 affected holdings were reported in the southern part of the country. It was believed that restrictions to animal movements slowed down the northwards spread of BTV. After a relatively mild winter, BT simultaneously resurfaced in July 2007 at many locations indicating that BTV-8 had survived well. Thousands of affected holdings across the country were reported during that year. After another mild winter, a vaccina­tion campaign for serotype 8 was launched in May 2008, with massive vaccination of sheep, goats and cattle. In 2008, less than 150 outbreaks were reported. The reported BTV-8 cases were in the north-eastern part of the country where the level of natural immunity and the willingness to vaccinate were rela­tively low. This third year with outbreaks was followed by a cold winter. In 2009, no BTV-positive animals were reported from mid-March on. Based on a questionnaire, the willingness of farmers to (re)vaccinate animals tended to decline in 2009, but for cattle farmers this was still at an acceptable level. It is questionable whether farmers will (re)vaccinate again in 2010. Optimism is growing with respect to control, and possibly eradi­cation of BTV-8, but re-emergence after a silent year is a serious possibility. One additional year of vaccination is thus probably required for eradication. In September 2008, because of the enhanced risk of BTV-1 intro­duction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive results were confirmed for BTV-8 et2006 by sequencing the amplicons of the serogroup-specific PCR test and by serotype-specific PCR testing. BTV-6 was found in infected animals in three different herds, irrespective of vaccination. The sequence of genome seg­ment 10 of this virus is genetically close to BTV-2, whereas other segments are all close to those of the modified-live vaccine for serotype 6. This suggests that ...