Equine Influenza
Equine influenza (flu) is caused by a virus similar to that which causes influenza in people. Equine influenza virus is highly contagious with an almost 100% infection rate in unvaccinated horses/ponies exposed to the virus.
What are the clinical signs of equine flu?
Unfortunatley the clinical signs of equine influenza infection are very similar to most other equine upper respiratory viral infections making diagnosis tricky. Generally clinical signs include fever, nasal discharge, coughing and lethargy. Clinicial signs are worse in unvaccinated horses with high fever and dry hacking cough with copious nasal discharge common. Affected animals may also go off their feed for several days. In uncomplicated cases, the horse will usually fully recover within 2-3 weeks, but more complicated cases can lead to permanent lung damage.
How is infection spread?
Equine influenza has a very short incubation period of 1-5 days, this means that horses start to show clinical signs 1-5 days after exposure to the virus. The virus is spread via respiratory secretions meaning that it can be spread around in the air by droplets formed when your horse coughs or via mucus from a runny nose or via any equipment/tack/clothing which is contaminated by respiratory secretions from an infected horse. The highly contagious nature of the disease means that usually more than one horse is affected.
How is infection diagnosed?
Infection is suspect when a group of horses suddenly exhibit signs of lethargy, coughing and fever. Flu is confirmed by taking nasopharyngeal swabs and sending them for laboratory testing (results available as quickly as 2 working days) or by testing for antibodies in blood samples taken 2 weeks apart.
How can I stop my horse getting Influenza?
The only way you can stop your horse getting Influenza if it is exposed to an infected horse is to ensure that it is vaccinated. As with human influenza vaccination there are still some vaccinated horses that might get a mild infection if exposed.
