- Email: [email protected]
Piroplasmosis
Piroplasmosis According to a ProMed report, a 4-year old retired thoroughbred racehorse had a serum sample collected on February 21, 2000 for piroplasmosis pre-export testing for Australia. The sample was to be "suspicious" by the Complement Fixation Test (CFT) and positive 1+ at a titre of 320 by the Indirect Immunofluorescence Antibody Test (IFAT) to Babesia equi and negative on both tests to Babesia caballi. Six other retired racehorses in the export batch were reported as all negative For further information contact: by CFT at 1/5 for both B.equi and B.caballi. Regrettably, due to an oversight, the K L Watkins, BVSc, MRCVS IFAT positive horse was inadvertently authorized to travel on March 7,2000, and Senior Veterinary Surgeon was euthanized in post-arrival quarantine in Melbourne. All 7 horses were re-tested Head of Department in post-arrival quarantine in Australia for B.equi by IFAT. The seropositive horse The Hong Kong Jockey Club ie-mail: [email protected] remained positive while the 6 in-contact horses were negative. The seropositive horse had been imported into Hong Kong on 27 Jan 1999 directly from the Republic of South Africa under the European Union equine health protocols and with additional certification for Hong Kong which included testing for piroplasmosis. The horse had a negative CFT for both B.equi and B.caballi on a serum sample collected on January 4, 1999, which was tested at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, Ames, Iowa, USA. Neither the seropositive horse, nor any other equine in Hong Kong, has ever shown any clinical signs of piroplasmosis and over 180 export tests over the past 3 years for this disease have been negative except for 3 positive CFT which were negative on IFAT. Nevertheless, effective March 16,2000, all horses either permanently or temporarily imported into Hong Kong must be tested for equine piroplasmosis using the Indirect Immunofluorescence Antibody Test (IFAT) with a NEGATIVE result within 10 days of export.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis After a mild winter, Louisiana already has reported its first case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in a 6-year-old unvaccinated Shetland pony in Vernon Parish, adjacent to Texas' Newton County. "We recommend owners have their equines vaccinated against this mosquito-borne disease, if they live east of Interstate 35, or if they plan to travel to the area with their animals," said Dr. Terry Beals, Texas' state veterinarian and executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state's livestock health regulatory agency. "Veterinarians in Texas should report any cases to the TAHC or to the Texas Department of Health (TDH) so the incidence of the disease can be tracked."
From ProMed. Contact: Carla Everett e-mail: [email protected]
West Nile virus update "This virus is here, and we have to understand that it is not feasible to eliminate it from the Western Hemisphere," said Dr. Stephen Ostroff at a press conference in Atlanta last month. Ostroff is associate director for Epidemiologic Sciences at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "What we have in place is the kind of control measures and monitoring efforts that we hope will go a long way in reducing the threat." Now CDC officials say the viral strain found in America is closely related to a virus "circulating in Israel since 1997. We suspect that someone who traveled to Israel may have brought the virus to this country, but we are not really sure its exact route of entry," Ostroff explained. "There is no ... evidence that the virus has spread," said Dr. Randy Crom, West Nile virus coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Last year we only found one infected bird outside of the 75 square miles of the New York metropolitan area, and that was in Baltimore." Crom says that the migratory patterns of birds make it likely that if the disease does spread, it will be found in states on the Atlantic or Gulf coasts.
Volume 20, Number 5, 2000
ProM ED-mail e-mail: [email protected]
319
Eastern Equine Encephalitis After a mild winter, Louisiana already has reported its first case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in a 6-year-old unvaccinated Shetland pony in Vernon Parish, adjacent to Texas' Newton County. "We recommend owners have their equines vaccinated against this mosquito-borne disease, if they live east of Interstate 35, or if they plan to travel to the area with their animals," said Dr. Terry Beals, Texas' state veterinarian and executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state's livestock health regulatory agency. "Veterinarians in Texas should report any cases to the TAHC or to the Texas Department of Health (TDH) so the incidence of the disease can be tracked."
From ProMed. Contact: Carla Everett e-mail: [email protected]
West Nile virus update "This virus is here, and we have to understand that it is not feasible to eliminate it from the Western Hemisphere," said Dr. Stephen Ostroff at a press conference in Atlanta last month. Ostroff is associate director for Epidemiologic Sciences at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "What we have in place is the kind of control measures and monitoring efforts that we hope will go a long way in reducing the threat." Now CDC officials say the viral strain found in America is closely related to a virus "circulating in Israel since 1997. We suspect that someone who traveled to Israel may have brought the virus to this country, but we are not really sure its exact route of entry," Ostroff explained. "There is no ... evidence that the virus has spread," said Dr. Randy Crom, West Nile virus coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Last year we only found one infected bird outside of the 75 square miles of the New York metropolitan area, and that was in Baltimore." Crom says that the migratory patterns of birds make it likely that if the disease does spread, it will be found in states on the Atlantic or Gulf coasts.
Volume 20, Number 5, 2000
ProM ED-mail e-mail: [email protected]
319