|
|
|
Horse Trust convenes working group
on African Horse Sickness
The Horse Trust has brought together leading scientists and the Department for the Environment Food and
Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in a working group to review the likely impact of African Horse Sickness (AHS) and
raise awareness of the risks it poses to the British Equine Industry, estimated to be worth more than £4
billion per year.
"This disease is such a grave threat to our industry that we felt that it was incumbent on The Horse Trust
to bring together all the interested parties to ensure that the industry is prepared to face the risks of
AHS and that a proper action plan is in place to deal with it," said the chairman Paul Jepson."
Recent experience of the spread of a very similar disease in cattle has demonstrated that this usually fatal
disease of equids is likely to spread to Northern Europe as a consequence of climate change and that The Horse
Trust's initiative to form the working group is very timely.
The group's inaugural meeting agreed that accurate prediction of impending infection and early diagnosis are
paramount. This could be achieved by using techniques based on molecular epidemiology and a wide-reaching
educational programme to ensure that an outbreak of the disease was recognised before it gained a foothold
and spread.
A potential problem was recognised in identifying infection in the significant number of horses whose
itinerant owners tend to be poorly informed and have little contact with the rest of the equestrian world.
The Horse Trust's working group’s next steps will be to seek involvement from the wider European equestrian
sector; to review international experience and to analyse the impact of existing control measures with a view
to proposing a response that is proportionate to the threat and to consider technological advances in the
probable availability of a safe and effective vaccine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
