Veterinary experts have issued a timely reminder to horse owners to ensure their animals are vaccinated against equine flu after a raft of new outbreaks have been recorded in the UK over the last three months.
“Since mid-August there have been 28 reported outbreaks of equine flu throughout the UK,” says Nicola Snowden BVM&S MRCVS, equine veterinary advisor for the Keeping Britain’s Horses Healthy campaign.
Equine flu is a highly contagious disease, yet adopting preventative healthcare practices such as vaccination can reduce the impact on both individual horses and the wider equine industry.
What are the symptoms? Equine flu is a highly contagious infectious viral disease that can cause acute respiratory disease in naïve horses with symptoms including high fever, coughing and nasal discharge. Depression, reduced or absent appetite, and weakness are also frequently observed.
Most adult horses recover from the initial episode within a few weeks, however the time taken to regain full health and to resume normal activities may be many months and performance may be impaired. In foals and immunocompromised horses the outcome can be fatal.
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