Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA)

Update – 24 October 2006:

The Department has now confirmed twenty-five cases of Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA), the most recent on 29 September. 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.

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 on over 30 premises, including a number of which are contiguous to premises on which cases of EIA were confirmed. In excess of 1100 horses have been subjected to movement restriction, the majority of them on their home premises where they are isolated from contact with other horses on the 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 also been lifted, on a risk-assessment basis. While the ninety-day period will continue to be the standard period for which restrictions will remain in place, the Department is, in a small number of high-risk cases, extending that period and continuing the surveillance programme before the restrictions are being lifted.

Given that more and more ninety-day restrictions periods are coming to their end, the rate of at which restrictions will be lifted is accelerating and it’s anticipated that this process will continue over the coming weeks.

The Department is continuing to schedule tests for those horses still under restriction, the frequency of which is determined by reference to a risk-assessment in each case. In respect of these tests, the Department is making a financial contribution to the costs of the veterinary practitioner taking the blood sample(s) and the Department is also meeting the cost of the analysis of the sample(s) by the Irish Equine Centre.

In addition, the Department has initiated a targeted surveillance programme of more than 3000 horses, principally in the Co Meath area. This programme began on 16 October and is expected to continue for a further three weeks. The owners of the horses included in the programme are being contacted and tests scheduled. The full testing and analysis costs associated with the programme are being met by the Department and the samples taken are being analysed in the Department’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory.

A specific team of veterinary inspectors from the Department has being assembled and, with the assistance of a number of veterinary practitioners in the area, is being tasked to sample the horses included in the programme. The Department is currently considering the extension of this targeted surveillance approach to other areas, in particular Co Kildare, and it’s expected that the next phase will commence in mid-November.

Any horse owner in these areas (or elsewhere) 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.

Of the twenty-five cases confirmed to date, twenty can be associated to the initial outbreaks and consequent events. The Department is now satisfied, based on the significant epidemiological data gathered to date, that there are veterinary treatment linkages in the remaining five cases.

In view of this apparent veterinary association in five of the cases, the Department is reiterating the advice, consistently given over the past four 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 making arrangements to meet the profession to re-emphasise this advice.
The Irish Equine Centre (IEC) has, since mid-June, analysed in excess of 17,000 samples, many of which were required for entry to the major horse sales, and to date only the twenty-five confirmed cases have been positive. The Department wishes to express its ongoing gratitude for the expeditious and professional manner in which the IEC has dealt with this significantly increased workload. The Department’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory is also undertaking serological testing, and is playing a central role in the targeted surveillance programme currently underway in the Co Meath area.

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.

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 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.

Ends.

Weekly Table of Confirmed EIA Cases:

 

Sequence of Confirmed Cases of EIA: