Equine Infectious Anemia otherwise known as swamp fever is still an issue near Prince Albert.
During the month of May two new premises have been detected with EIA in Saskatchewan.
The recent cases were found in the RM of Mervin and the RM Lakeside. That makes a total of 71 cases so far on 22 different farms across the province.
EIA is spread by transfer of contaminated blood from one animal to the next, usually through biting insects like horse flies and deer flies.
Betty Althouse, a veterinary program specialist in disease control with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says the reasoning for the number of cases in Saskatchewan this year is due to a more heightened awareness of the disease.
“There was (until recently) not a lot of surveillance being done by horse owners so there wasn’t a lot of testing happening, so I think that allowed some infections to get going and spread a little more than in the past,” she said.
However Althouse said new confirmed cases do seem to be decreasing. She said they are releasing more animals from quarantine than there are new cases confirmed to be infected.
“So the total number of infected premises is actually falling all the time,” she said.
There is no cure for EIA, which is a viral disease that displays three types of symptoms. Some horses show no signs of the disease and are usually carriers of the virus while some show mild symptom and others show severe symptoms.
Symptoms include weight loss, fever, destroys blood cell, can cause jaundice, hemorrhages in the mouth or eyes and swelling of extremities (swollen belly and legs)
To learn more about Equine Infectious Anemia click here
Anyone that suspects their horse might be infected with EIA should call their local veterinarian.
Past stories:
5 cases of EIA found near Prince Albert
EIA cases in Sask. on decline says CFIA
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