2 horses die of Glanders disease, admin on toes

The state animal husbandry department has put districts on alert following the death of two horses due to glanders disease, said

Glanders is an infectious disease that occurs primarily in horses, mules and donkeys, caused by Burkholderia mallei, a bacterial infection.

Routine survey for glanders disease was being carried out across the state since March 1, said state animal husbandry minister Prabhu Lal Saini.

The department has sent 240 serum samples, including 235 samples of horses and five blood samples of caretakers of horses, to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research-National Research Centre on Equines in Hissar for testing, he told Hindustan Times.

“Samples of two horses were found to be glanders positive – one in Udaipur’s Khara Kuan and the other in Rajsamand’s Kankroli.”

The infected horse at Kankroli died and its body has been buried scientifically, while the infected horse in Udaipur has been kept in isolation and culled, he said.

The breeder, who lost the horse, will be given a compensation of ₹ 25,000 from the assistance to state to control of animal diseases fund, Saini said.

The Kankroli horse breeder purchased the animal --that tested positive for glanders disease-from a stud farm in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur.

District animal husbandry department officials in the districts and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, have been directed to keep a watch on the movement of animals belonging to the equine family-- horses, asses, donkeys and zebras-- to prevent and control glanders disease.

Udaipur and Rajsamand districts have been declared as “controlled area” under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009.

Officials of the department have been directed to identify horse breeding and rearing centres and collect serum samples and send it to for testing along with samples any animal infected with glanders disease and have been asked to submit a report within 15 days.

If traces of the disease are found then clinical inspections of equine animals will carried out within a radius of 5km from where the infection is detected.