Swamp Fever again! This time in Devon.

i am in devon and it's very worrying, especially as they are not realeasing where abouts in devon !! also from the reports the horse was imported 2 years ago, so they dont know were they it caught it from!
 
I was just talking about this on H&Hs fb page.
It concerns me that the UK does not seem to have the same regulations in place that require an annual coggins test like we do here. You can hardly take a horse anywhere in the US without documentation of a negative coggins. Most stables, horse sales, and shows will refuse your horse without one.

I am not an expert as it seems to be kept control around here and I have never seen a horse with this virus but my advice is to get your stables coggins tested if you are in the effected area and for sure protect your horses from biting flies that can spread this if they are near an infected horses. It sounds like a very nsaty thing to deal with that can get out of control quickly if the horse is not quarrantined and then destroyed
 
Seeing as there have been less than 10 cases since the 1970s, enforcing an obligatory and expensive blood test for every horse every 6-12 months seems impossible here.

Our of interest, how much does the test cost in the USA?
 
MissTyc said:
Seeing as there have been less than 10 cases since the 1970s, enforcing an obligatory and expensive blood test for every horse every 6-12 months seems impossible here.

Our of interest, how much does the test cost in the USA?
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$30 so less than 20 GBP . Not sure what a vet local to you would charge though especially seeing as it is not commonly done test.

If you have it there now it is an investment I would be willing to make. I thought it was a worldwide thing so I'd also be looking into the test especially for imports
 
JadeWisc said:
$30 so less than 20 GBP . Not sure what a vet local to you would charge though especially seeing as it is not commonly done test.

If you have it there now it is an investment I would be willing to make. I thought it was a worldwide thing so I'd also be looking into the test especially for imports
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Personally, I could just about afford it for my horses that travel, though probably wouldn't test the broodmare and youngstock on site. I pay £80 for liver profile on zone visit day (no callout fee) and £55 for tapeworm, so would assume it would be similar? For people who don't have zone visit days, you'd have to add £30 or more for the callout. At £20 a pop, I'd be more than happy to have it done regularly!

Horses from infected countries are supposed to have a negative test, but the problem is that some horses will always get in on fake papers. So if they can get into the shengen zone, the sky becomes the limit.
 
What I think we should do is enforce testing before import - i.e. no test in chosen timescale, horse goes into quarantine - like we have for dogs. No exceptions, enforcement at port of entry, with microchip number to be included with test paperwork - there'd be no problem for the competition horses that travel - they're microchipped and properly ID'd and the owners would be used to the cost.

It's somewhat harder to smuggle in a horse than a dog...
 
A huge worry as am only about an hour away from Torrington where the case is, have tried to look it up but only get up american sites which arent so easy to understand in a panic.
Can anyone tell me about swamp fever in a simplistic term's?
Scary times....
 
DollyCoblet said:
A huge worry as am only about an hour away from Torrington where the case is, have tried to look it up but only get up american sites which arent so easy to understand in a panic.
Can anyone tell me about swamp fever in a simplistic term's?
Scary times....
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From what I gather its a form of equine HIV (well in simplistic terms). It lowers horses immuine systems. Highly contagious but thats all I have managed to find out about it too. It can lay dormant in a "carrier" horse for yrs so it could be that a carrier has passed the disease onto the one that has had to be PTS.
 
Hmm bit worried now about going to exeter sales tomorrow (not buying anything) but I assume they would of already foundout which horses the infected one has been in contact with and isolated them and any in certain radius. is this correct?
 
Thank you, call me paranoid but have decided to qaurentine all my horses and only school until all facts are released, have certainly cancelled all competitions for the up coming weekend, not worth the risk.
Thin DEFRA are very out of order with holding details imagine if this was there loved ones, dont know where the horse has been, had to trawl forums to find the location. Awful in my opinion.
Really feel for the person who has lost there dear horse, but hopefully now it has been contained.
Hopefully the sales will cancel the sales coming from that area, doubt it though!
 
What I'm struggling to understand is why horses are tested after import, and not before. Surely that would be the sensible thing to do. I understand that this disease is endemic in Romania and Italy (because of the trade in horses imported from Eastern Europe for human consumption), so there's obviously a major risk of importing the disease along with any horse coming from either of those countries to either the UK or other Western European countries, and from there to the UK. Why aren't they taking better precautions to protect UK horses from infection? What exactly is the point in finding out after the damage has been done? If it turns out that the horse in Devon has been infected for the two years since import, then it could have been in contact with dozens or hundreds of UK horses since then, and it might not be possible to track them all down.
 
shokkyy said:
What I'm struggling to understand is why horses are tested after import, and not before. Surely that would be the sensible thing to do. I understand that this disease is endemic in Romania and Italy (because of the trade in horses imported from Eastern Europe for human consumption), so there's obviously a major risk of importing the disease along with any horse coming from either of those countries to either the UK or other Western European countries, and from there to the UK. Why aren't they taking better precautions to protect UK horses from infection? What exactly is the point in finding out after the damage has been done? If it turns out that the horse in Devon has been infected for the two years since import, then it could have been in contact with dozens or hundreds of UK horses since then, and it might not be possible to track them all down.
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Erm, I have horses tested before leaving the country of origin and, as far as I know, that's what the regulations say (if not, see my previous post - I am a mug), what should be happening on entering UK is a simple passport check - the coggins test should be noted in there...
The truth is, very rarely anybody bothers to a) do a check on the border/ferry or b) do a follow up visit/check at the destination.
My first experience of DEFRA check was a slightly lost looking bloke wondering into the yard, asking if I have imported some horses, after I said yes, he asked to see them from the distance, so I led him to their paddock - a cursory glance at the horses, then request for passports - as soon as I fished out the passports for him to inspect, he counted them (yes, counted them), never opened any and left...
 
martlin said:
Erm, I have horses tested before leaving the country of origin and, as far as I know, that's what the regulations say (if not, see my previous post - I am a mug), what should be happening on entering UK is a simple passport check - the coggins test should be noted in there...
The truth is, very rarely anybody bothers to a) do a check on the border/ferry or b) do a follow up visit/check at the destination.
My first experience of DEFRA check was a slightly lost looking bloke wondering into the yard, asking if I have imported some horses, after I said yes, he asked to see them from the distance, so I led him to their paddock - a cursory glance at the horses, then request for passports - as soon as I fished out the passports for him to inspect, he counted them (yes, counted them), never opened any and left...
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I'm going to go look at my horses import sheet tonight see if it says anything on there. I believe he was tested after import though (too late by this point) and he was only tested as he got ill. Obviously it wasnt swamp fever though.
 
martlin said:
Erm, I have horses tested before leaving the country of origin and, as far as I know, that's what the regulations say (if not, see my previous post - I am a mug), what should be happening on entering UK is a simple passport check - the coggins test should be noted in there...
The truth is, very rarely anybody bothers to a) do a check on the border/ferry or b) do a follow up visit/check at the destination.
My first experience of DEFRA check was a slightly lost looking bloke wondering into the yard, asking if I have imported some horses, after I said yes, he asked to see them from the distance, so I led him to their paddock - a cursory glance at the horses, then request for passports - as soon as I fished out the passports for him to inspect, he counted them (yes, counted them), never opened any and left...
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Then Defra are being completely negligent. Little point in having regulations if they're not enforced. Needs a horse-friendly MP to get on the case and start pushing some buttons, because this is now three separate incidents very close together, so clearly something is going very wrong.
 
iestynlad said:
I honestly don't understand why some people find it necessary to import horses when there are so many in this country (many needing good homes) already.
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I think in this case because it was imported by a dealer as it was cheap. In my case I imported my horse as I wanted a specific breed and a quality example of one.
 
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