IT’S not here yet so don’t panic, but if ever African Horse Sickness (AHS) does arrive in the UK it will cause major problems for our equine industry.

In an effort to understand and explain this killer disease, the Union of Country Sports Workers is organising a seminar at the Three Counties Hotel, Hereford on Tuesday, September 9.

Running from 7 to 9pm, it will first be addressed by Dr Richard Newton, head of equine epidemiology and disease surveillance at the Animal Health Trust. The second half will cover the contingency planning and methods of control for AHS should it ever reach these shores.

Dr Newton, who will also conduct a questions and answers session, will talk about the clinical signs of AHS and its effect on horses and ponies. One of the country’s leading experts on respiratory diseases in equines, he is also a specialist on strangles, influenza, grass sickness and international endemic and exotic equine diseases, so questions could come from all directions.

Global warming and warmer, windier weather moving north from the tropics is one of the reasons blamed for the spread of AHS, which is carried by midges. It’s a viral infection which proves fatal in 90 per cent of cases. Symptoms include fever, sweating, lack of energy and excessive salivation. The incubation period is usually seven to 14 days but an infected horse can go from appearing healthy to dead within four hours.

In the 1950s an epidemic of AHS in India led to the death of about 800,000 horses and ponies and there have been outbreaks in Spain in the mid-1960s, 1988-90 and 1989.

Professor Philip Mellor from the Institute of Animal Health, said: “The warmer it gets the easier it is for midges to transfer the virus and although their flight range is very short, they can be transported on the wind for up to 100km.

“Vigorous slaughter policies and vaccines would be the only way to control AHS in the UK.

“ A protected zone of at least 100km would be necessary around the infected area together with a surveillance zone of a further 50km.

“Both would need to be put in place for at least 12 months due to the windborne nature of the virus.”

The Horse Trust says movement restrictions to and from the UK would have to remain in place for two years.

The good news is that the British Equestrian Veterinary Association, the Institute of Animal Health Pirbright Laboratory and Cambridge University are working together to research the disease and assess the likely impact of an AHS outbreak on the UK equine industry.