Veterinarian Andrea Carluccio said that it is important to know that mosquitoes are the only way of contagion for both other horses and humans.
At the end of November, the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) issued a statement reporting that after the cases of equine encephalomyelitis in Argentina, animals that could have been infected in Uruguay had been detected. Days later, the presence of the disease was confirmed in a horse located on the coast. Since then the disease has advanced, even registering one case in humans.
The morning He consulted Andrea Carluccio, a free-practice veterinarian, specialized in horses, resident in the department of San José, where the largest outbreaks of the disease occurred. The professional explained that it is a viral disease that is transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes that act as vectors of the virus. Transmission can occur at any time of the year, but the chances of occurrence increase during warm, humid seasons.
“There are three strains of the disease: the one from the east, the west and the one from Venezuela. The one that has manifested itself in Uruguay is the one from the west, which is a zoonosis, but it is the least aggressive of the three existing types.” The virus produces “nervous symptoms, from mild drowsiness to seizures and death,” he added.
Mosquitoes “have a good development on the coasts of streams, rivers, wetlands, areas with many bushes and areas with shallows, which led to the first horses that got sick being from areas with these characteristics on the western coast and San José. , which in a strip of seventy to eighty kilometers burned with cases. At one point, in the first days of December, we had eight to ten cases per day, but then the disease began to be controlled by those who managed to obtain the vaccines.”
The problem is that equine encephalomyelitis “was not a circulating disease in Uruguay,” which is why “vaccination is not customary and the doses available on the market are scarce.”
The mosquito is the only way of contagion
The only way of contagion is through infected mosquitoes through migratory birds that arrived in this area due to climate change. “By biting an infected bird, the mosquito becomes infected and that same mosquito can bite both a human and a horse” transmitting the disease. “Horses get sicker than people, they are sentinels of this disease for us.”
However, “a horse cannot infect another horse and a horse cannot infect a human. The only way is through mosquito bites.” Therefore, the recommendation is to “take care of the horses with a medication that is a cypermethrin (insecticide). for we repeat every fifteen days, or with the vaccine.”
Dr. Carluccio said that “prevention measures” for the disease are “removing horses from fields where there are more coasts, where there are lowlands or wetlands, trying to remove them from areas where there are usually many mosquitoes; apply the repellent and fumigate in the areas of the houses and in the areas where the horses are, such as the stables, to reduce the mosquito population in those places.”
“The majority of those that are dying are field horses, those that have good body condition,” and at the level of sport horses “there was only one case in Maroñas, a mare that died despite being vaccinated.”
The problem that field horses have is that “they are not seen every day, so when their owner detects the disease the animals are already on the ground and convulsing, in the last stages. At that point they can no longer be recovered.”
But if the disease can be detected early, “the chances of saving the animal are much greater,” he said.
The professional said that “the clinical picture lasts about a week.” When they begin to show symptoms, the first thing you see is that “they are as if asleep, standing, with their heads towards the ground” in such a way that if you see them from a distance “it seems that they are eating, but when we get closer we find that They are standing without moving. If you want to move them, the animals remain still, they do not move, they have difficulty walking, they are drowsy, they have ataxia and bruxism. “Those are the first and most general symptoms.”
The human contagion
At the end of January, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed the first positive result for the disease in a person residing in the department of San José, and noted that the MGAP had warned that, given the contagion of several animals from different departments, the occurrence was expected. of some human case, as has occurred in other countries.
Carluccio recalled that the disease had already occurred before in our country, “many years ago”; and that in 2010 a fourteen-year-old teenager died. What is new is that “there has never been an epidemic like the one we see now, and if a horse died in the past from this cause we did not even find out.”
Regarding the case of the patient from San José, he is a person who progressed well, but “he was hospitalized for a month and was very serious for several weeks.”
Regarding the way it is transmitted to people, “the only way to contract the disease is through the bite of an infected mosquito. Contact with a sick person or horse does not pose a risk. This is also the case in case the horse is injured and contact is made with the bleeding given that the virus load in the blood is very low, then the probabilities are almost zero.”
Another “important” thing is that “not only people who have horses or who are close to them get sick, because the mosquito flies and in its ability to fly it has no limits or regards who it bites.” In other words, “the mosquito can bite anyone and the disease can become serious.”
Importance of early warning
The western strain, which is affecting the region, “is only spread to horses and humans, it does not accept other species; and of the horses that get sick, one in three dies, the fatality rate is between thirty and forty percent.”
The horse’s condition lasts a week. “When the animal starts with the disease, it must be treated for at least that time and on the fourth or fifth day we see if it will recover or not. Hence the importance of people notifying early. If they tell us when they see the horse strange, like sleeping or slow, then we have a better chance of being able to save it, but if they call us when the horse is on the ground it is because several days have passed and the possibilities are reduced.”
In San José, after the registered infections, the horses began to be vaccinated and the effect has been positive, but the very young foals – one month old – that were not vaccinated, began to be affected. The answer was to also vaccinate young animals.”
The dynamics of immunization are as follows: “The horse is vaccinated, revaccinated after twenty-five days and from then on it is immunized against this disease. The recommendation is to vaccinate once a year, but in areas where there were higher cases every six months. It is best to vaccinate in August or September, which is the time before the heat returns and the mosquito season begins, so the animals are prepared.”
Expedite the arrival of vaccines
Andrea Carluccio, a free-practice veterinarian, specializing in horses, said that in the case of equine encephalomyelitis, Uruguay “is doing well with respect to the disease and the measures that are being taken, but we lack vaccines. We veterinarians are waiting to see if the authorities can expedite their arrival so that they are more accessible. In addition, it would be very important to cover all low-income people.”
The professional reiterated that it is a disease that must be reported: “The owners and veterinarians must inform the Ministry of Livestock in order to keep track of the epidemiology of the disease, it is not to interdict the property, just so that we have knowledge of the cases.” that there is in the country.”
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2024-02-07 05:33:52
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