Stopping the spread

Taking a horse’s temperature may feel like just one of the less glamorous aspects of horse care, but routine monitoring has a vital role to play in curbing disease, as Briony Reed finds

- Briony Reed

THE need for stringent biosecurity will not have escaped anyone globally thanks to Covid-19, particularly in recent weeks. But it was of course also thrown into sharp relief in the equestrian world by the outbreak of equine herpes virus (EHV-1) that originated in the Iberian peninsula in early spring and spread to several other European countries.

Although those outbreaks have thankfully now ended and quarantine requirements have been lifted, it is vital that both competition and leisure horses are monitored to help prevent further such outbreaks and any resultant loss of life.

A retrospective clinical study led by vet Anne Couroucé at the University of Normandy on 60 of the 157 horses put into isolation as a result of the outbreak in the Iberian peninsula showed that the vast majority of them (50) developed a fever, although less than half of those individuals became ill.

Although fever did not necessarily indicate sickness, all those who were ill did develop a fever. Therefore, a raised temperature is a valuable early marker of illness, and, in turn, temperature monitoring is crucial to helping stop the spread of contagious disease.