The equine industry and equine veterinary surgeons have been put on alert following confirmation of 136 cases of the fatal disease equine infectious anaemia (EIA) in four EU states.
In the first ever outbreak of EIA in Ireland last year, 28 horses either died of the disease or had to be put down. Ireland regained its disease-free status in March of this year, over three months after the last case was confirmed on December 10th, 2006.
In the latest outbreak, Italy, which is believed to have been the source of last year's initial outbreak in Ireland, has 85 confirmed cases, and Romania, where EIA is endemic, has 49. France and Germany have one case each.
While the Department of Agriculture has been notified of the outbreaks, a spokesman for the department told The Irish Times yesterday that there was currently no threat to Ireland's EIA disease-free status.
"I don't believe there is a risk to Ireland's disease-free status," the department's senior veterinary inspector, Pat Brangan, said yesterday.
"But it is a high-risk disease, and people have to be aware of the risk. It's part of our function to raise people's awareness."
As part of that process, the department has informed the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association and the Irish Horse Board of the latest outbreaks.
EIA is a notifiable disease and the EU Commission requires that its animal disease notification system (ADNS) is alerted within 24 hours of an initial outbreak.
Notification of subsequent outbreaks must be sent to the ADNS on the first working day of each week.
Following the recent accession of Romania into the EU, the commission sought to introduce new regulations governing the export of horses from Romania.