Three cases of horse virus confirmed

THREE further cases of ‘swamp fever’, a potentially fatal virus in horses, have been confirmed in Ireland.

The Department of Agriculture and Food said yesterday the outbreaks of equine infectious anaemia (EIA) were in two mares and a foal.

Test results are awaited in a small number of other suspect cases.

As the country’s multi-billion euro bloodstock industry remained on high alert for the virus, the locations of the latest outbreaks were not disclosed.

The department said the cases involved animals it had already identified as part of a high-risk group that had been in close contact with an earlier confirmed case.

A spokesman said the cases fell within the incubation timeframe for this disease and accordingly were not unexpected.

The first outbreaks of EIA in Ireland were confirmed in two horses in the Meath-Kildare region last June. The dam of one of those animals also tested positive at a later date.

Stud farm owners and managers, trainers and owners were urged to have their horses tested by vets as a precaution.

Experts regard EIA as exclusively an animal health issue with no implications for public health. It is not easily transmitted from animal to animal. The virus is primarily spread by blood biting insects and also by blood contaminated instruments or needles.

Equine serum inadvertently or accidentally contaminated with the virus is believed to have been source of the original infection in Ireland.

The department said yesterday it was continuing to undertake the tracing and ongoing surveillance of all potential in-contact cases.

An intensive testing regime is in place and to date 2,150 tests have given negative results.

The department reiterated its advice to people whose horses may have moved from farm to farm in recent months and who have not yet had their horses tested for EIA to do so now.

The two premises associated with the earlier outbreaks remain restricted.

Restrictions have been placed on additional premises associated with the new cases. Movement restrictions are already in place on known in-contact animals.

Bloodstock interests said they are satisfied the outbreaks are being closely monitored, are confined to a few locations and that the yards and horses involved are separated from the main horse population.