African Horse Sickness outbreak confirmed in Thailand

https://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php/Reviewreport/Review?page_refer=MapFullEventReport&reportid=33768

AHS is a highly infectious and almost invariably fatal equine disease transmitted by insect vector (biting midges) between ALL Equidae, e.g. horses, donkeys, mules, zebras. The ongoing AHS outbreak in Thailand is believed to be the first such in South East Asia. It is at this time unclear how the disease has been transferred from one continent to another. There are indications that [possibly illegal] traffic of zebras or donkeys/mules (or possibly of donkey skins) might be the cause of this disease transfer.

We urge all ITBF member countries to disseminate this information about AHS and its spread, to your own membership and to representatives of other equine breeds in your countries.

With the Coronavirus pandemic ongoing, we are all more aware than ever of the need to be alert to disease threats on a global scale. Now is the time for all of our member countries to become educated in the AHS virus and below is a link to the OIE’s official information on the disease –

https://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Animal_Health_in_the_World/docs/pdf/Disease_cards/AFRICAN_HORSE_SICKNESS.pdf