Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA)
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Defra has published an updated Preliminary Outbreak Assessment (POA) in response to the ongoing Dourine situation in Italy.
Due to the current Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) situation, the UK currently has in place extra checks on horses originating in Italy. All horses which have spent time in Italy and are entering the UK for reasons other than temporary movements are restricted and sampled for EIA. As of today, this will be expanded to include testing for Dourine for the foreseeable future, and back tracing to cover the last few weeks in Italy.
Defra still considers the risk of introduction of Dourine into the UK in horses originating in Italy is higher than negligible and may be considered “very low” (very rare but cannot be excluded occur) or “low” (rare but does occur).
We recommend that horse owners and keepers of horses consigned for breeding purposes are advised of the current situation in Italy, are familiar with the clinical signs for dourine, as well as other diseases of equidae and of the requirement to notify authorities about suspect disease.
Further information http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/dourine/index.htm
