Worst horse sickness in 30yrs
2003-04-01 22:14
Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal - Horse owners in the southern Drakensberg are experiencing what is being described as the worst outbreak of African horse sickness in at least three decades.
"It is the worst I have ever seen in the thirty years I have been working here," Tod Collins, a veterinarian in Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal, said on Tuesday.
Small flies, called midges, transmit the disease from one animal to the other. The current season's good late summer rains and high temperatures caused the midges' current population explosion in the Drakensberg.
"The midge plague is not a boom, it is not an explosion, it is like a nuclear reaction. Even immunised horses cannot withstand the levels of the (horse sickness) virus they are exposed to," Collins said.
His colleague Gavin King said more than 300 horses had already been lost to the disease over the past two months.
"We are used to having a few cases every year, but this season's mortality rate is definitely exceptional," King said.
Citronella oil
"Most of the horses killed are not vaccinated and from townships. People unable to afford the R30 vaccination are now turning to traditional remedies like citronella oil and dagga to repel the midges and calm the animals."
Many polo ponies had also died, including 20 belonging to Springbok polo captain Russell Watson in the nearby Himeville district.
The outbreak was currently situated around Underberg, Loteni and Himeville, but appeared to be moving south towards Kilmun and Swartberg, King said.
He and fellow veterinarians have called for a voluntary ban on equine events and horse transportation in south-western KwaZulu-Natal to prevent the disease from spreading further.
The Natal Midlands Polocrosse Championships, to be held at the end of April, may be affected. The Southern Drakensberg horse trials, which were scheduled for mid-April, have already been postponed indefinitely.
- SAPA