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B IOSECUR I TY
Biosecurity:
Simple steps for horse
owners and competitors to reduce
the spread of contagious disease
Dr Richard Newton BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM,
DipECVPH, FRCVS,
Head of Epidemiology and
Disease Surveillance, Animal Health Trust
This is because this common virus has the
ability to remain in a hidden form within
horses and re-emerge without warning to
cause clinical problems. This is a similar
phenomenon seen with herpes simplex virus
in humans which periodically re-emerge to
cause 'cold sores' in some people. As with
herpes simplex virus, the re-emergence of
EHV-1 is seemingly variable between
individuals and may occur in a variety of
stressful situations, including travelling and
mixing of horses.
The following general advice is designed
to help horse owners and competitors reduce
the risk (both to their own horses and to other
horses) of acquiring and spreading infections
through attending equine events. It should
be noted that this advice applies not only
to EHV-1 but also to other infections that
might be encountered through attending
any equine event and should be applied
irrespective of whether there is heightened
risk of EHV-1 infection in the country at the
present time.
Although the UK has seemingly
seen more problems with Equine
Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection
in recent years, EHV-1 is, and
always has been, an ever present
threat among horses attending
and mixing at equine events.
Actions to take at home before
attending an event
l
It is good practice to routinely take
the rectal temperature of all horses
twice daily and record these in a
diary. It should then be obvious when
an animal 'spikes' an abnormally
increased temperature (usually >38.5
degrees Celsius). A horse with a
temperature should be promptly
isolated away from other animals
and a veterinary examination
requested.
l
Veterinary surgeons may not know the
precise cause of the fever when they
examine the horse but can take samples
at that time. These samples can be
tested in a laboratory to pinpoint the
infectious agent that is responsible.
l
It is an important responsibility not to
move horses off premises where
infectious disease has been recently
diagnosed as it is possible that
seemingly healthy animals may be
incubating the disease. If these horses
are taken to events, they could spread
infection to other horses.
Actions to be taken whilst
attending an event
l
Infections such as EHV-1 spread most
easily through direct contact between
horses, or through indirect contact
arising from sharing of feed/water
buckets and tack such as bits/bridles
or humans going between horses
without applying appropriate hand
hygiene measures.
l
Unlike human influenza, EHV-1 does
not spread readily through the air
between horses that are physically
separated by more than 5 - 10 metres.
l
With these two considerations in mind,
the risk of transmission of EHV-1 whilst
at an event can be greatly reduced by
horse owners and competitors avoiding
direct and indirect contact with others.
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EQUINE MATTERS