Develop your knowledge and understanding of African horse sickness. This is a one-part course that can also be taken as part of the Viral conditions course bundle.
This module looks at pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and outcomes of African horse sickness, including:
Cause – transmitted by night-flying insect vectors; primarily seen in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease has both seasonal (late summer/autumn) and cyclical incidence (warm-phase events).
Signs – four classical clinical forms: pulmonary, cardiac, mixed and horse sickness fever. Signs include respiratory distress, sweating, extension of head and neck, froth from nostrils, and more.
Diagnosis – virus isolation, serology, RT-PCR, RT-LAMP. AHS can be confused with encephalosis, equine infectious anemia, equine morbilivirus pneumonia, equine viral arteritis, babesiosis and purpura hemorrhagica so laboratory confirmation is essential.
Treatment – no specific therapy. There are attenuated (monovalent and polyvalent) vaccines commercially available.
Prognosis – poor to grave – mortality is related to species of equidae affected and the serotype/strain of virus.
Support and Resources
This online module includes an e-Book with content from Vetstream's Vetlexicon Equis followed by a quiz leading to a personalized certificate. Written by some of the world's leading veterinarians, ensuring accuracy and depth of content.
This course was written and peer reviewed by:
CPD Hours
This module is worth approximately 30 minutes of CPD.