EQUINE | ECOD Report
ECOD Report
JUNE - DECEMBER 2018
www.myhorse.org.za/ecod
This report summarizes the equine disease events logged on the ECOD (Equine Cause of Disease) passive
surveillance system developed for the South African Equine Veterinary Association. The previous report included
the 5 month period Jan – May 2018 – this report makes up the remaining months of 2018
Overview
A total of 207 disease events were logged by private equine veterinarians throughout the country. While this is
an increase, the majority of events are being inputted by SAEHP staff who log EHV, piroplasmosis and African
horse sickness cases based on laboratory data. The actual logs by private vets are significantly dominated by one
KZN vet practice and this has been consistent since the inception of ECOD. We hope that the launch of ECOD
version 3, which allows for editing of logged cases and a new reporting interface, will stimulate wider use of the
system. We have also established a collaboration with the Zoonotic Arbo and Respiratory virus program (ZARV),
Centre for Viral Zoonoses, Department Medical Virology (University of Pretoria) where retrospective cases of
arboviruses have been added to the ECOD database. Below is a snapshot from the new ECOD interface of the
2017 cases of West Nile, and this is a good example of the potential of thorough reporting on the system where
the epidemiology of an endemic disease can be established.
Figure 1: Snapshot of the reporting interface for West Nile Fever cases reported in 2017
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• Equine Health Update •