Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2008/January 2009 | Page 85

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discharge from the nose,
excessive salivation, swelling of
the eyes and/or head. If any of
these symptoms occur, isolate
the horse and consult your vet
immediately.
Whilst we currently remain
AHS free in the UK and an
outbreak is unlikely to be
just around the corner, it is
imperative that horse owners
are aware of the disease and
preventative measures that
can be put into place so that
if it does appear we can react
quickly and damage to the
health of our horses and the
industry as a whole is limited.

Photograph courtesy of Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright
and screens to repel the
carrier midges are a crucial
element in preventative horse
management.

Controlling the midge
Because midges that bite
horses tend to breed around
stable yards, you can help
reduce the population and the
risk by cleaning up areas of
damp mud around leaky taps,
troughs and dung heaps. You
can also help protect your
horse from the midges by
housing them in closed stables

until the sun is fully up or
during the late afternoon when
midge activity is at its height.
Protection can also be offered
by using sweet itch rugs that
cover the whole body and head
and by screening stables with
pyrethroid protected mesh.

Other infections
Because AHS has never been
seen in Britain it is possible
that in the early stages its more
dramatic signs may mistakenly
be supposed to be caused by
anthrax, infectious anaemia,
equine viral arteritis (swelling
of the walls of an artery),
trypanosomosis (presence of
a microscopic parasite in the
blood), equine encephalosis
(inflammation of the brain),
piroplasmosis (tick-bite fever)
or purpura haemorrhagica
(bleeding under the skin).

What to look for
Should AHS be suspected,
horse owners should look out
for specific signs of illness
in their horses including

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