By Dianne Hawker
Western Cape horse breeders are anxiously waiting for the results of clinical tests to see if a horse died of African horse sickness.
The horse died on a farm on the border of the Worcester and Robertson districts late last month and there were suspicions that it succumbed to the disease.
The death came just days after the end of a two-year European Union ban on the export of local horses.
| The virus would begin to grow on the tissue |
Breeders are tentatively awaiting the outcome of the tests as a confirmation could mean an extension of the ban.
Cape Breeders Club chairperson Veronica Folkes said: "We are very concerned. We have just come to the end of a two-year export ban to the EU and now this happens."
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Horse owners had been advised to keep horses in stables from early evening until early morning in order to keep them away from midges.
They cannot be transported from the Worcester and Robertson districts and the affected farm is under quarantine. Owners have been advised to vaccinate horses.
The Western Cape department of agriculture has said it will not have a definitive answer on the cause of the death for another two weeks.
The department's acting chief director of veterinary laboratory services, James Kitching, said on Monday was the earliest that signs of the disease would have become evident.
Tests were being conducted on tissue samples taken from the dead horse's lungs and spleen. If present, the virus would begin to grow on the tissue, but this had not occurred by late on Monday.
Kitching said they "would not call it a negative unless there has been no growth for the next two weeks". If there was a growth in this time, the alarm would be raised.
dianneh@incape.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on April 11, 2006
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