5:00pm Saturday 31st July 2010
Dr Christianne Glossop, Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, has launched a new equine disease information pack to an audience of representatives from the equine industry, at the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd. The presentation was held in the Mess tent of the King’s Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery on the showground.
The information pack highlights the key symptoms of the more serious notifiable diseases and is aimed at to raising awareness amongst equine owners about the following diseases, which pose a potential threat to the UK equine industry: African Horse Sickness Contagious Equine Metritis Equine Infectious Anaemia Equine Viral Arteritis Equine Viral Encephalomyelitis Glanders Vesicular Stomatisis West Nile Virus Additional factsheets for inclusion in the pack will be made available, as and when appropriate, on the Welsh Assembly Government website, making it updatable for the future.
Dr Glossop said: “I advise all horse owners and enthusiasts to take the time to read the information pack. You know your animal better than anyone and you will be the first to notice if something is wrong.”
“The health and welfare of your animal should be your prime concern and all infectious diseases are a threat to them. Any illness needs to be picked up at the earliest stage to enable prompt treatment by private veterinarians. If any owner, keeper or veterinarian suspects an equine is displaying any clinical signs of a notifiable disease then the local Animal Health Office needs to be informed immediately.”
A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities.
Hard copies of the factsheets will be made available at a number of agricultural / horse shows in Wales this year. The leaflets will be available on the disease surveillance pages of the Welsh Assembly Government website: www.wales.gov.uk/animalhealth
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