Coughlan confirms four new cases of swamp fever detected in horses

FOUR more cases of swamp fever have been detected in horses this week, Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan confirmed yesterday.

The rise brings to 21 the number of cases of the virus that have been discovered since last June. A case has also been found in the North.

Ms Coughlan stressed she was taking the potential threat to the country’s horse industry very seriously.

Equine infectious anaemia (EIA) is a potentially fatal viral infection in horses, but has no human health implications.

Three of the four latest cases have been linked to the outbreak in June. The other case has not been traced to earlier outbreaks.

The department confirmed it is investigating the circumstances of the more recent case, which was in a horse on previously unrestricted premises that had not been part of its extensive surveillance and control programmes. It said these premises have since been restricted.

Twenty-three cases are now restricted. It has also completed a process of tracing any other horses that may have been in contact with this most recently confirmed case.

The other three cases confirmed in the past week were in horses which had been identified as being high-risk equines.

EIA surveillance and the control programme are continuing. Horse owners and those involved in the industry have again been reminded by the department that they should continue to be vigilant and maintain high standards of biosecurity.

“Any horse presenting any of the clinical symptoms suggestive of EIA should immediately be blood sampled and tested for the disease,” the department said.

The department thanked horse owners and others in the industry for their efforts to contain and eradicate the disease. It is continuing to investigate the source of a serum suspected of being responsible for the country’s first outbreak of the disease.

Ms Coughlan told reporters at the Agricultural Science Association annual conference in Sligo yesterday that this investigation is ongoing and has not been brought to a conclusion.

She said she was taking the whole issue very seriously and was adopting a hands-on approach.

The EIA virus is a slow-acting virus of the lenti-retrovirus group. Retroviruses cause leukemia in cats, mice and cattle, arthritis, pneumonia and neurologic diseases in small ruminants, such as sheep and goats.

These viruses localise and multiply in macrophages of many organs, especially in the spleen, liver, kidney, and lymph nodes, where they take over the cell and sit and wait to become activated.

Upon activation, the cell reproduces more virus, which bursts free from the cell to infect other cells. This causes recurring cycles, in which the horse seems normal and then ill.