Three more cases of Equine Infectious Anaemia in France

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Three more cases of EIA have been confirmed in France:

http://www.nicematin.com/ra/derniere-min...eaux-cas-varois

In case people are not aware, EIA is a virus disease of horses causing intermittent fever, anaemia, emaciation and death. It can be transmitted by mechanical transfer of blood by biting insects. It is a notifiable disease. There is currently no cure available. Symptomatic and supportive treatment for the fever, anaemia and weight loss may be given on welfare grounds, at least until a positive diagnosis is
confirmed by laboratory tests and the decision for statutory slaughter of an
infected animal is carried out.

This outbreak is France is particularly worrying as there is no legal requirement for horses imported from France to the UK to have a health certificate. You may have seen the H&H article in January where leading figures in the veterinary world were calling for a review of the tripartite agreement between Ireland, the UK and France, which allows this to happen:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/274585.html

In the light of these new cases in France, I would urge you to write to your local MP and MEP and ask them to support an urgent review of this agreement.
 
Link did not work for me so c&p....

anémie infectieuse
chevaux ranch martine vétérinaires 4 mai 2009 16:33 VAR

Aujourd'hui,3 nouveaux chevaux du Var ont été déclarés positifs à l'anémie infectieuse après les tests effectués par les services vétérinaires. Ils avaient fréquenté le ranch Martine à Carcès où onze bêtes malades ont été abattues. (à lire dans l'édition Var-matin de ce mardi) Lire aussi sur varmati...
 
QR, also replied in NL.

This is very frightening, especially as the biting insects are now out in force in France.

The Tripartite Agreement needs to be altered so that the wording only allows free movement for those horses it was originally intended to assist; racehorses, bloodstock and competition horses.
Everything else should be subject to various heath tests.

The Coggins Test, for EIA, and the test for West Nile Fever should be compulsory for animals being imported for any other reason.
Italy is currently battling both these diseases.

I believe there is a real threat to the UK at the moment. Horses are being imported via France to stop the need for these tests. If a horse is destined for slaughter, there is no requirement for testing. That is a very big loophole allowing the unscrupulous to profit.

'Rescue' Forums, and dealers in the South of England, have a rare trade going in horses bought cheaply from the French abattoir queues. They are across the Channel weekly with lorryloads.

All it needs is one infected horse to arrive on a busy yard, especially if they are carrying biting insects (as they often do when imported on the cheap from bin-end dealers), and the threat is immediate.
Imagine the scenario of totally innocent people from that yard go to ride outs, or shows, and the insects that go wherever horses go will do the rest. It would be so quick to spread in the UK due to the intensity of the horse population in areas.

The disease is horrendous, and involves exclusion zones in a similar way to Foot and Mouth.

Please write to your MP and MEP.
 
I'm more worried about EIA right now than the swine flu that's going about
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I also thought I read somewhere that if a horse over here does catch EIA, it is compulsory to have it slaughtered and the compensation is £1
crazy.gif
 
You are correct. There is no choice over this, once the disease is confirmed your horse WILL be slaughtered. The comparison to foot and mouth is no over reaction - this disease really is that serious.

Please speak to your MPs and representatives about this, the sooner the tripartite is reviewed and ammended the safer our UK horses will be.

All it takes is for one low end dealer or 'horse rescuer' to bring over a french horse with the infection. Its not just the occasional french horse that crosses to our shores, they come in week in and week out with no tests and no paperwork at all.
 
Someone on the other thread asked for a suggestion for a draft letter to MPs/MEPs, so I will put it on here as well:

I am very concerned to hear that there is currently an outbreak of the notifiable disease, Equine Infectious Anaemia, in France, with four cases now being confirmed. EIA is an incurable and fatal disease of horses, spread by biting insects and confirmed cases face statutory slaughter.

It would be horrific if this disease reached the UK, but at present there is no legal requirement for French horses imported to the UK to have any health checks before travelling here. This is due to a tripartite agreement between Ireland, France and the UK, designed to aid the movement of racehorses. Many leading figures in the veterinary world are now calling for the tripartite agreement to be reviewed, and the threat of EIA across the Channel now adds urgency to this campaign.

I am writing to ask you if you would be prepared to support this campaign and to contact the relevant departments and officials to support the call for an urgent review of the tripartite agreement.

Would be good to add a copy of the H&H article.
 
[ QUOTE ]
QR, also replied in NL.

The Tripartite Agreement needs to be altered so that the wording only allows free movement for those horses it was originally intended to assist; racehorses, bloodstock and competition horses.
Everything else should be subject to various heath tests.
.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why should competition horses etc not be subject to tests? They are as likely to carry the disease.. or did I miss something? I am assuming there is no vaccination hence the fear that it holds?
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
QR, also replied in NL.

The Tripartite Agreement needs to be altered so that the wording only allows free movement for those horses it was originally intended to assist; racehorses, bloodstock and competition horses.
Everything else should be subject to various heath tests.
.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why should competition horses etc not be subject to tests? They are as likely to carry the disease.. or did I miss something? I am assuming there is no vaccination hence the fear that it holds?

[/ QUOTE ]

Horses travelling abroad to compete or race will likely be in good health, otherwise they wouldn't be taken.

They are also only going to the area of competition, or race meeting and will have no contact with horses other than their competitors.

The biting insects that are carried on the horses are lice and mouche plats (crab flies) and I'd say it would be highly unlikely horses that are in training or eventing internationally will host either of these.

The alternative is of course, to scrap the Tripartite Agreement, but I don't think that would ever be agreed upon, and in all honesty, I don't think it should.
 
JESUS!! We have a few mares and their foals in France and a few are pencilled in to travel back here next week. That said we DO actually insist on negative blood results BEFORE the horse leaves and again after 2 weeks of quarantine here. The Tripartite Agreement is a good thing, but IMO it should be tweaked considerably!
 
Ah okay, thanks for the extra info.

I have sent off letters to MEP's and MP for my area and have forwarded this info to as many horsey people as I know. I have also printed off the information for the yard I am on and they can distribute them at their shows.

Are the carriers purely limited to lice and crab flies or is there a chnce of mosquito's carrying it too?
 
No there is no legal requirment for horses imported from France to UK to have heath certificates.

I recently wrote to DEFRA when I discovered that the biggest Horse Abbatoir in France was collecting horses from Spain each week many of whom had no paperwork and then selling them on as 'Rescue Horses'.

One of my mares contracted EVA last year when at stud ( we think from a mare imported from Romania). Normandy had a major outbreak of EVA last year and French Studs offering natural covering do not always ask for blood tests - only CEM. EVA can be passed by respiratory route and EIA by vectors such as biting insects.

DEFRA responded that they had no plans to end tri-partate agreement and the British Equines were not at risk. In fact this person denied that British Vets were asking for an end to the tri-partate agreement - as reported in H&H.

How complacent can they be - an accident (sorry epidemic) waiting to happen.
 
I should add that horses being sold in France without passports are issued with French passports - and there seems to be a fast track system available for this. These horses with 'new' French passports could have come from anywhere.
 
[ QUOTE ]

Are the carriers purely limited to lice and crab flies or is there a chnce of mosquito's carrying it too?

[/ QUOTE ]

Mosquitos are accepted as the main culprits for transmitting it.
However, I mentioned crab flies because, like ticks, they remain on the horse in transit (unless treated to remove prior to transport, which obviously doesn't happen with those dealing and rescuing) unlike the mosquito.

The crab flies (Hippoboscid) is known to vector a variety of pathogens, and as such is a threat. WNV in birds was originally thought to be solely transmitted by mosquitos until reseach proved otherwise, and the crab flies were found to be a vector.
 
I would like to point out that HEALTHY CARRIERS of EIA exist and show no symptoms whatsoever. Here in Italy the slaughter of EIA positive horses is not legally enforcable (for the moment) and any positive animal must be isolated from any other equine. If I remember correctly, 'isolated' means kept at a distance of 500 metres from nearest equine.
crazy.gif
. As for WND, that need birds and mozzies plus some poor horse (or person) and you have a recipe for disaster
shocked.gif
. All of my equines have to have a Coggins test once a year and their passports stamped 'negative' by the local health authority vet (he also collects the bloodsample from each horse and sends it an authorised lab for testing). It cost me 14 euro as a yard and 7 euro per horse. I cannot travel a horse without his 'neg' stamped passport and I cannot enter any other yard or showground without it.If I accept an unpassported horse or one with its Coggins test not registered, I can be fined thousands and have my yard closed down (no movement in or out) till there has been 2 or 3 neg Goggins tests from each horse on my yard. I sincerely hope it doesnt arrive in GB.
 
The 1st link doesn't work for me, but I think this is the outbreak from Mid-April which then lead to more testing and more positive animals being PTS.

http://www.corsematin.com/ra/corse/18496...ies-a-carnoules

Translation -
[ QUOTE ]
Thursday morning, the veterinary services of Var came to the ranch of Martine Carcès to euthanize horses eleven victims of infectious anemia (Var-morning of April 21). But before the nervousness of the animals, they preferred to delay intervention.

Therefore, in the afternoon of Thursday in the middle of rendering Carnoules that animals were finally killed by injection. It "has caused a general anesthetic. The procedure was explained to the owner at length and with its agreement that the euthanasia of animals was carried out, "said the prefecture of the Var.


[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
In Europe, the disease is present in Italy, Ireland and Germany last September. Now, France is part of the list of countries where infectious anemia threat.

[/ QUOTE ]
 
This is a document with more info about EIA.

The paragraph on transmission is copied below.


The virus that causes equine infectious anemia is transmitted by biting insects such as horse flies, mosquitoes and biting lice. Contaminated hypodermic needles and surgical instruments can also spread the disease. Prolonged contact of a healthy horse with an infected animal usually results in infection of the exposed animal.
 
Thanks for the idea, I added bits and sent it off to my MP and got a reply at the beginning of the week, he has passed it over for comment to the relevant department, very quick reply!

Anyone else had (albeit minor) success?

Can we get H&H on the bandwagon for this and get them to run an article and stir more people into action?
 
I have had a response from one of the many mails I sent out and it appears that they have been monitoring it for a while. It is sa very long rsponse but I shall post it for you all to see. I didn't realise that they had had cases in Ireland either; don't think it is recently though from the way it reads.. This response was from my MEP but he told me to contact my local MP about it too, which I have but have had no response.. He is one of the named and shamed over these expenses claims though so i should imagine his e-mail inbox is rather full right now!!

I am yet to fully digest what was written but thought i would share it with you all

E-mail I received below:

Thank you for your email outlining your concerns about Equine InfectiousAnaemia in France. Defra, provides a useful website and outlines the restrictions in placeto prevent infected horses entering the UK from the EU(http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/eia/q&a.htm).

Iquote the following from the website: "What are the EIA health requirements for moving horses between MemberStates of the European Union? In order to move between EU Member States, horses must originate frompremises which are not subject to prohibition for animal health reasonsmust not have had contact with equidae from premises subject toprohibition.
In the case of Equine Infectious Anaemia the prohibitionperiod lasts until the date on which, after slaughter of the infectedanimals the remaining animals at the same premises have had two negativetests for Equine Infectious Anaemia carried out three months apart.

What is Government doing to reduce the risk of EIA entering the UK?
(i) the animal health conditions governing the intra-Community trade andimport from third countries of equidae are harmonised through the wholeof the EU by the implementation of Directive 90/426/EEC. There islimited scope for the UK Government to adopt unilateral measures inrelation to EIA;
(ii) On 3 May 2007, Council Decision 2007/269/EC on protective measurewith regard to equine infectious anaemia in Romania came into force. Itrequires equidae, or ova and embryos of equidae originating from Romaniato be subject to a Coggins test prior to export. On 14 September 2006,Defra published a qualitative risk assessment on equine infectiousanaemia in Europe, "Equine Infectious Anaemia - Potential risk factorsfor the introduction of the virus to Great Britain from EU Member Statesand countries neighbouring the EU", which is available for download andhas also been copied to the EU Commission for consideration;
(iii) under the scope of the Tripartite Agreement Defra keeps regularcommunications with the Irish Agricultural Department to monitor closelythe EIA situation in Ireland. Following the recent EIA outbreak inIreland, any horse moved from Ireland into the UK, which may present ahigh risk, has been traced back to the premises of destination and putunder restriction until negative tests have eliminated the risk." I hope that this reassures you that there are safeguards in place toprevent EIA entering the UK.
Any review of the Tripartite Agreement inrelation to France would be carried out by Defra at national level. Iwould therefore encourage you to contact your local MP Ben Chapman
 
I have just had another response; their ears must have been burning!

Further to your email of 06 May raising your concerns over the outbreak of Equine Infectious Anaemia in France.

I have today wrote to Commissioner Fischer Boel raising your concerns and request for an urgent review of the tripartite agreement between Ireland, France and the UK designed to aid the movement of racehorses.

As soon as I have a response from the Commissioner, I will ensure a copy is passed for your attention.
 
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