International Breeders' Meeting

INTERNATIONAL COLLATING CENTRE

Animal Health Trust
Information Exchange on Infectious Equine Disease
Lanwades Park, Kentford, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 7UU, England
Telephone: + 44 (0) 1638 555399
Fax: + 44 (0) 1638 555659
Website: http://www.aht.org.uk/icc/linksicc.html

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PLEASE CONTACT RICHARD NEWTON OR MAIRE O’BRIEN ON THE ABOVE NUMBER, OR E-MAIL
maire.obrien@aht.org.uk TO SUBMIT REPORTING INFORMATION

Interim Report – June 2011 #7 (17.06.11)

ITALY

Dourine (Trypanosoma equiperdum)
On 14th June 2011 the Department for Veterinary Public Health, Nutrition and Food Safety, Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy, reported to the OIE a further outbreak of Dourine in the area Frattamaggiore, Napoli, Italy. As of today the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), United Kingdom, has published an updated Preliminary Outbreak Assessment (POA) in response to the ongoing Dourine situation in Italy.

Updated Situation Assessment provided by DEFRA
The disease is considered to be slow moving as it is only transmitted by sexual contact, not vector borne unlike other Trypanosome infections.
The EU electronic trade notification system (TRACES) holds certificates for horses consigned for breeding purposes, or registered horses moving to the UK for longer than a temporary movement. The system reports that 8 such horses (including a foal) have been consigned to the UK since May 1st (see map below). Due to the EIA situation, the UK currently has in place extra checks on horses originating in Italy. All horses which have spent time in Italy and are entering the UK for reasons other than temporary movements are restricted and sampled for EIA. This will be expanded to include testing for Dourine for the foreseeable future, and back tracing to cover the last few weeks in Italy.

outbreak map
Map courtesy of Defra International Animal Disease Monitoring

Conclusions

According to DEFRA the Dourine outbreaks in Italy continue to be an emerging situation until more information about the source of infection is known. There are no legislative requirements for horses destined for EU trade to be pre-export tested for Dourine, but EU legislation (90/425/EEC) allows post import checks for compliance purposes, which may include testing samples.
On this basis and taking into account the current low level of trade from Italy, the Defra still considers the risk of introduction of Dourine into the UK in horses originating in Italy “very low” (very rare but cannot be excluded occur) or “low” (rare but does occur). The level of checks on consignments of horses for breeding and reproduction originating in Italy will remain in place to ensure compliance with EU trade, and additional tests will be carried out due to the presence of clinical and subclinical disease in Italy. The situation will be continuously monitored and the risk level might be revised in the future.

Regards
International Collating Centre