Horse sickness outbreak in ECape
2001-04-20 22:00
Queenstown - The agriculture department on Friday confirmed an outbreak of horse sickness in the Eastern Cape and announced it had scheduled a vaccination campaign.
"This campaign will be accompanied by random sampling of the horses so as to ascertain the extent of the problem," said provincial
agriculture spokesman Mike Ngwane.
"It is estimated that a total of 8100 horses will be vaccinated,
starting in the second week of May".
Border Vet in East London and an Umtata supplier of veterinarian
supplies said on Friday that the demand for the vaccine was so
great that they had run out of stock.
Kelvin Pruissen, of Border Vet, said his cellphone "has just not
stopped ringing".
He contacted the Onderstepoort veterinary centre near Pretoria, the
main supplier of the vaccine, and said his stock was expected to
arrive in East London early next week.
A source at Onderstepoort, who did not want to be named, said
routine vaccinations should have been carried out by horse owners
during spring.
Ngwane said African Horse Sickness was confirmed by post mortem in
Willowvale, Lusikisiki, Mqanduli, Ngqeleni, Elliotdale and Engcobo
and "unconfirmed reports have been received in and around East
London".
There were also reports from the Kei Mouth and Komga areas of the
disease. Between 30 and 40 cases have been reported since last week
and the disease is spreading towards the city. About 20 horses have
died so far.
Veterinarians suspect that it is the virus strain, serotype 2,
which has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent, and which made its
appearance in Butterworth earlier this year.
The disease is transmitted by a biting midge. Symptoms include a
high temperature, listlessness and difficulty in breathing.
The midges were busiest from dusk to dawn and were not found in
high-lying areas, Ngwane said.
"This is a controlled animal disease. Any suspected cases must be
reported to the nearest state veterinarian or police," he said. -Sapa
- SAPA