The impact of biting midges on horses: sweet itch and AHSV

lharrup

lharrup

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Hi, my name is Lara Harrup and I am a postdoctoral research scientist at The Pirbright Institute (www.pirbright.ac.uk). I am currently working on a project funded by the Horse Race Betting Levy Board investigating the links between horses and Culicoides biting midges. Allergic reactions to the bites of biting midges are the primary cause of sweet itch in horses. Biting midges are also capable of transmitting several pathogens to horses including African horse sickness virus (AHSV), although this virus is currently exotic to the UK if an outbreak were to occur it could cause up to 90% mortality in affected horse populations.

We are currently trying to gather information on the incidence of sweet itch (insect bite hypersensitivity / summer seasonal recurrent dermatitis) in the UK together with information on husbandry practices which may affect the amount of contact horses have with biting midges. If you own or keep a horse at a stable yard in the UK it would be most appreciated if you could spare 5 minutes to complete the questionnaire available at the link below:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1367616/equines-and-their-links-to-culicoides-biting-midges

Please share this link with anyone you think may be interested in this topic. Thank you in advance for your participation and if you have any further questions or queries please either leave a post on this forum thread or email me directly at lara.harrup@pirbright.ac.uk

Many thanks
Dr Lara Harrup
 
I'll fill it in now. My boy had chronic but well managed sweet itch. I bought him, changed his diet and moved him and he has no sweet itch symptoms now. He has had a recent stay at horsepital for an unrelated issue, and ironcally the horsepital is at his old yard. He was sent home early after 48 hours as he was rubbing hismelf raw after 24 hours. 72 hours after he came home and went back on his supplements hes sweet itch free again :)
 
Actually, I stopped filling it in. I just dont know the exact details of the other horses, and I definitely dont know about their care so I couldnt complete it :(
 
Hi FrankieCob

Many thanks for your response, it is no problem if you don't know all the details about the other horses on the yard if you just fill in as much information as you can about your horse that would be great. You can pop a note in the comments box if you want to say the information is for only one of the horses on the yard. We can sort out multiple responses from one yard during the analysis based on the yards address details.
 
I started filling it in and then it threw me out - too busy to go through it all again, sorry. My itcher seems to be grass related than any insect bite - he doesn't start until June and it is worse if he has access to plenty of grass. Might be a complex synergistic relationship but I don't know.
 
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Hi,
Not keen on all the personal details - never needed those before for a survey, and my 'yard' doesn't have a postal address anyway!

If it helps, my sweet-itch pony has been affected differently at different yards within a 5-10 mile radius, over the past ten years. She actively seeks out shelter at dawn and dusk, and will go right under the trees into the denser wooded bits to get away from the midges. All yards were surrounded by trees, none were near water. The best was on a windy hill - she never needed her rug there. 2 miles down the road, she needs her rug but is otherwise fine. Worst yard was in a valley - horrendous, had to move. She lives out 24/7.
 
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