Monday 20 June 2011

Equine Infectious Anaemia outbreak affects UK

From BS

Defra has published an updated Preliminary Outbreak Assessment (POA) in response to the ongoing Dourine situation in Italy.

Due to the current Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) situation, the UK currently has in place extra checks on horses originating in Italy. All horses that have spent time in Italy and are entering the UK for reasons other than temporary movements are restricted and sampled for EIA. As of today (20 June 2011), this will be expanded to include testing for Dourine for the foreseeable future and back tracing to cover the last few weeks in Italy.

Defra still considers the risk of introduction of Dourine into the UK in horses originating in Italy is higher than negligible and may be considered “very low” (very rare but cannot be excluded occur) or “low” (rare but does occur).

We recommend that horse owners and keepers of horses consigned for breeding purposes are advised of the current situation in Italy, are familiar with the clinical signs for Dourine, as well as other diseases of equidae and of the requirement to notify authorities about suspect disease.

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