Proposed African Horse Sickness Regulations - Vaccination

[gnubee]

Does anyone know why the DEFRA AHS response document proposes to make it illegal to vaccinate against AHS?

In the absence of any information to the contrary, it seems to me that allowing/expecting everyone to vaccinate their horses the first time it is seen in the UK would be a much better plan than the cull/transportation ban/wait and see/maybe use mandatory vaccination within the control zone plan that they are proposing at the moment.
Having seen friends with pet goats go through this at the foot and mouth outbreak, I can only begin to imagine the chaos, panic and heartbreak this response would cause in the equine community should we see an AHS outbreak in the UK, when it seems that there is an effective vaccination available but outlawed

 

[hadfos]

I have no idea,but if they have a vaccine then it should be made available??If they have and are refusing to administer should it be needed then we ALL need to find out why they would be making it illegal to vaccinate against such a severe illness??

 

[Aru]

The vaccines are illegal for a reason.

Vaccine's for AHS are not an option in Britain or Ireland at the minute as the type that is currently availiable has the potential to rever to true form.THey are modified live vaccines.
So they could potentially spread a new version of the disease...

They also at the monent are a type that cause the animal to test positive for AHS...so it is impossible to distinguish between a vaccinated horse and one with AHS if there are no very obvious symptoms...making it harder to control the disease.

There is research going into types of vaccines called DIVA vaccines which allow them to distinguish between vaccinated and positive for the disease but its still ongoing research and isnt ready for use yet.

The current vaccines are only used at the moment in places like South Africa where the disease is endemic already.Once its endemic its not as big of an issue if the vaccine reverts.

The vaccine at that is availaible in the minute cannot be used in the Eu because its unlicenced bar in an outbreak situation.

Defra are trying basicly to stop desperate people from buying a vaccine and ijecting their Horses if AHS hits

If Defra control the vaccines released they will know which animals have been vaccinated and will be able to record it.The records will go to the EU and the imformation will be important as to when the country will be declared free of AHS.

However as there is no way of telling clinically a non defra vaccinated horse from a one who may be carrying the disease the option left is to treat them as positive and cull

By making the vaccine illegal less people will be tempted to try and save their Horses by ordering a vaccine off the internet.

Also at one stage during the bluetongue outbreak a different serovar(strain or type) of the virus suddenly appeared in the Netherlands that had never been seen in europe before.

It was blamed on a internet bought vaccine that was imported illegal and given to stock by someone trying to protect their herd....the strain was availiable as a vaccine in south africa.

It then reverted to form and became live and added another strain to the mix of Bluetongue to deal with...
Second story on here
http://www.yhraf.org.uk/fm-bluetongue.shtm

 

[sywell]

The likelyhood of AHS coming to the UK is remote but as the scouts motto is "Be prepared" the new regulation proposal is an improvement on the old one. One area that needs discussion is when a horse is put down by DEFRA and then it is discovered not to have AHS. There should be different levels of compensation for ponies,hacks and competition horses. To produce a sports horse foal in the UK from top quality bloodlines can cost around £3000 depending on the cost of the semen which can range for £300 to £2000. The cap of £2500 is out of the question as it will cause some people to conceal an out break or move horses out of the area. It would be beyond the ability of the police or DEFRA in the early stages of an outbreak to stop movement of horses.

 

[Weezy]

When we had AHS we were not allowed to cull, we had to watch our horses die a slow and painful death. The thing that DEFRA and other agencies seem to be keeping under wraps is how many horses do NOT succumb - just because a horse on your yard has AHS it does not mean the others will get it, and culling them really does nothing to help. We had circa 150 horses on our yard in Spain, not all of them died, it was approaching 100, but not all of them. The area was contained, those that survived were jabbed and branded on their shoulder for immediate recognition that they had had the jab and that was that. The disease did NOT spread like wildfire through Southern Spain, and it wouldn't in the UK either.