Equine Infectious Anemia In Britain
Equine infectious anemia (EIA) virus, a chronic and potentially devastating bloodborne virus, was identified in two horses in Britain. The two affected horses were from a group of horses imported from Romania via Belgium. They were tested as part of standard import testing regulations designed to do exactly what happened here - diagnose this important infectious disease at the time of importation so that the infected horses cannot spread the disease in the country. The two positive horses will be euthanized, the unfortunate but standard response to this virus, because infected horses can pose a risk of infection to other horses for their entire lives. Other horses on the premises are under quarantine and are likely being tested further. The risk of transmission to other horses during the presumably short period of time they've been on the farm is probably low because, as an insect borne disease, biting fly activity has probably been pretty low during the cold British winter weather. (Transmission by sharing needles or other human-associated ways of cross-contamination of blood is also a concern, and has been a problem in other outbreaks.)
Chief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens stated that these are the first imported cases of EIA identified since 1976. This is a good example of why we need to continue routine infection control measures such as import testing, even when nothing is found for years. Some people try to argue that since certain problems don't seem to be present, or at least are not identified, that infection control testing or activities should be decreased. This situation illustrates why that's bad thinking. Despite only picking up one incident in the past 34 years, this is a very important finding - failure to detect the positive horses could have lead to widespread infection in the country, which would ultimately make it very difficult and expensive to try to control. You never know when the next outbreak is lurking around the corner, and complacency is a big enemy of infection control.
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