Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA)

Update – 20 November 2006:

The Department has now confirmed twenty-seven cases of Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA), the most recent on 15 November. The cases continue to be concentrated, with some exceptions, in the Meath/Kildare/Dublin area. All but three of the cases confirmed to date have been in thoroughbred horses.

The most recent case was confirmed following analysis of a blood sample taken from a horse regarded by the Department as being part of a small group of particularly high-risk horses given her contact with the first horse to have been confirmed with the disease in June. In the intervening period she been subjected to regular testing and, on all previous occasions tested, had given negative results for EIA. Investigations into this particular case are continuing.

Following the confirmation of the first case, a strict control regime was put in place to contain and eradicate the disease, involving restricting the movement of horses, surveillance and testing of horses under restriction.

The Department has, to date, imposed movement restrictions in excess of 30 premises, including a number of which are contiguous to premises on which cases of EIA were confirmed. In excess of 1200 horses have been subjected to movement restriction, the majority of them on their home premises where their owners were advised by the Department to ensure that they are isolated from contact with other horses on the same premises.

Several hundred individual horse restrictions have now been lifted, following the satisfactory completion of the prescribed ninety-day restriction period and having tested negative on any occasion sampled. In addition, a number of premises restrictions have, on a risk-assessment basis, also been lifted.

While the periods of restriction are considered on a case-by-case basis, the ninety-day period will continue to be the standard period for which restrictions will remain in place. However, the Department is, for a small number of high-risk cases, and particularly where there has been contact with a confirmed case, extending their period of restriction and surveillance, not least in light of the latest case, given the period that had elapsed since her likely exposure to the infected horse.

Given that more and more ninety-day restrictions periods are coming to their end, the rate at which restrictions will be lifted is accelerating and that accelerated rate will continue over the coming weeks. Nonetheless, the Department will continue to monitor carefully the basis on which individual horse or premises restrictions are being lifted and, where appropriate, may extend periods of restriction beyond the normal ninety days.

Horses under restriction are continuing to be scheduled for test, the frequency of which is determined by reference to a risk-assessment in each case. The Department is contributing significantly to the cost of testing in these cases by making a financial contribution to the costs of the veterinary practitioner taking the blood sample(s) as well as meeting the cost of the analysis of the sample(s) by the Irish Equine Centre (IEC).

In addition, the Department has initiated a targeted surveillance programme of more than 4000 horses, principally in the Meath/Dublin/Kildare areas. For the most part, blood sampling is being carried out by a specific team of veterinary inspectors from the Department while a number of veterinary practitioners in the area are also involved.

This programme began on 16 October and considerable progress has been made in the past month, with over 3000 blood samples tested at the Department’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL). Sampling of this targeted population, as part of which one case was confirmed, will be completed as quickly as possible. The Department is meeting a significant part of the cost of this phase of the surveillance programme.

The Department is currently finalising arrangements to further extend its surveillance programme on a couple of fronts. In the first instance, the targeted surveillance approach is being extended into Co Kildare next week and the Department has requested the industry and the IEC to ensure that EVA samples sent to the IEC for the 2007 breeding season are routinely tested for EIA in the New Year. In addition, the Department is to explore the possibility having diagnostic samples sent to the IEC routinely screened for EIA. These additional measures will significantly extend the Department’s surveillance net and provide further confidence to the Irish and international equine communities that this outbreak is being contained and good progress being made towards its eradication.

Any horse owner whose horse(s) shows any clinical symptoms suggestive of EIA should immediately contact their private veterinary practitioner and have arrangements made to have the horse sampled and the sample analysed for the disease.

The Department is now satisfied, based on the significant epidemiological data gathered to date, that all cases to date can be associated back to events related directly or indirectly to the initial outbreak and that there are veterinary treatment linkages in a number of the cases.

In view of this apparent veterinary association in a number of cases, the Department is reiterating the advice, consistently given over the past five months, that veterinary practitioners should, at all times, observe the highest standards of hygiene and should ensure that, in all circumstances, contaminated veterinary instruments are either appropriately disposed of or thoroughly sterilised (autoclaved) before reuse. The Department is engaging with the profession to re-emphasise this advice.

The IEC and the CVRL have, between them since mid-June, analysed in excess of 22,000 samples, many of which were required for entry to the major horse sales, and to date only the twenty-seven cases have been confirmed positive. The Department wishes to express its ongoing gratitude to staff in both laboratories and to acknowledge their central role in the surveillance/control programme.

The Department is continuing to progress its investigation into the circumstances in which the disease was first introduced into the country. This investigation is a comprehensive one and the Department will, in the event of sufficient evidence being established, endeavour to pursue a prosecution. Because of the nature of the investigation, the Department is not in a position to comment any further on its progress at this stage.

The Department is, as it has from the outset, treating this outbreak very seriously and is continuing to devote such resources as are considered necessary to contain and eradicate the disease. The Department appreciates the value and prestige of the Irish bloodstock industry and is continuing to work close with the various elements of the industry, including the breeding, racing, sports horse and sales sectors.

The Department is committed to ensuring that it communicates comprehensively and frequently with both the thoroughbred and non-thoroughbred sectors and the wider industry, including the veterinary profession, and appreciates the very high level of co-operation and assistance provided by all those involved in the Irish equine industry. To that end, the Department met with representatives of the thoroughbred and non-thoroughbred sectors and the veterinary profession - most recently on 7 November - and intends to continue that dialogue with a further similar meeting in December, at which the Department will further update the industry on any further developments.

Both the Department and the bloodstock industry are agreed there is no place for complacency in the efforts to contain and eradicate EIA from Ireland and that complete confidence in the Irish industry must be maintained.

It is expected that the updated Common Code of Practice for the control of certain equine diseases in the 2007 breeding season will be published very shortly and the Department considers it essential that all breeders comply strictly with the terms of the Code in all circumstances during the forthcoming breeding season.

Ends.