First African horse sickness case reported in Gauteng

The first African horse sickness (AHS) case for the 2019/2020 season has been confirmed in Gauteng.

The South African Equestrian Federation (SAEF) recently released a notice on social media warning that a case had been confirmed near Nietgedacht.

“[The owners of] all horses [that need] to enter the AHS-controlled area of the Western Cape will need to ascertain whether they need to go into stopover to return to the Western Cape,” SAEF said.

The case was confirmed by the chairperson of the South African Equine Veterinary Association, Dr Terry Casey, who said that while no quarantine measures were in place for the disease, the controls needed would impact the movement of horses.

“Movement is basically closed down out of Gauteng

[to the Western Cape] within a 30km radius of that case in Nietgedacht, and this will be for 40 days subject to there being no other cases,” he said.

SAEF and the International Equestrian Federation national vet, Dr Sheelagh Higgerty, said the control zone would include parts of Kyalami.

She warned that this could negatively impact Western Cape competitors attending two upcoming national horse shows. These were the Adult Eventing Championships of South Africa at Inanda Country Base in Midrand on 23 and 24 November, and the South African National Youth Championships at Kyalami Equestrian Park in Kyalami from 8 to 14 December.

Farmer’s Weekly also spoke to Dr Bev Parker, a vet at SA Equine Health and Protocols, as well as Dr Pieter Vervoort, chairperson of the National Animal Health Forum.

Both raised concerns about indications of a decrease in sales of the registered AHS vaccine produced by Onderstepoort Biological Products.

Parker said a decline in vaccination could result in more horses becoming infected as well as increased levels of viremia, which indicated the presence of the virus.

“It means that the virus [is] circulating in the blood of the horse, and the midge that bites it can take up the virus and spread it,” she said.

Higgerty also stressed that horse owners had a responsibility to ensure their animals were vaccinated annually with a registered vaccine, both to ensure the animals’ welfare and to prevent economic consequences.

She said horses travelling back to the Western Cape from the affected area would be unable to go straight home. “If they are leaving from within the 30km radius they will require a negative [test] done within 72 hours of travel. They then travel to a stopover and after 10 days have another [test] to check that they are still negative.” – Sabrina Dean

controls would impact the movement of horses