Top Equine Exotic Diseases

Top Equine Exotic Diseases

Alasdair King, Veterinary Manager at Intervet, commented, "Prevenile has been used to great success in the United States. While it is currently not licensed in the UK, veterinary surgeons with clients shipping horses to the United States and who are concerned about the potential threat of disease, are able to apply for a special import licence to vaccinate horses before transit.”

West NileVirus

West Nile Virus causes disease in horses, humans, dogs, cats, bats, squirrels and domestic rabbits. Spread by mosquitoes that have fed on infected birds, the clinical signs in horses include loss of appetite, depression, fever, paralysis of hind limbs and incoordination.  Mortality rates among clinically affected horses have varied from 10 to 60 per cent in different outbreaks.

African Horse Sickness

African Horse Sickness is another potentially fatal viral disease which is spread from horse to horse via midges.  It has a high (90 per cent) mortality rate and the clinical signs include fever, breathing difficulties, frothy discharge and sudden onset of death.

Equine Infectious Anaemia (Swamp Fever)

Equine Infectious Anaemia (Swamp Fever) is spread from horse to horse by infected horse flies.  Its clinical signs include fever, loss of appetite, weight loss and anaemia.  Most horses infected with Equine Infectious Anaemia show no clinical signs at all and develop antibodies to the virus (several weeks after infection).  However, these horses are a risk to others as they remain carriers of the virus for the rest of their lives.

Eastern, Western and Japanese Equine Encephalomyelitis

This disease is transferable to horses, humans, birds and a variety of other mammals. The clinical signs are similar in all three strains of this virus and include fever, sensitivity to sound, drowsiness and incoordination with paralysis following in severe cases. Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis has a higher (up to 90 per cent) mortality rate than the other strains. Wild birds act as a reservoir for the virus with mosquitoes, mites, ticks and lice acting as a vector for this disease.