National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH)

Topics in Animal Health Research 2010

31. Risk of equine infectious disease transmission by non-race horse movements in Japan

Japanese

 Risk of equine infectious disease transmission in non-race horses was qualitatively evaluated focusing on horse movement patterns. Conducting a survey of 1,705 non-race horse holdings in 29 prefectures, the non-race horse population was classified into the following 5 sectors based on their purposes: the equestrian sector, private owner sector, exhibition sector, fattening sector, and others. Analyzing horse movement patterns, the equestrian sector was found to have the most frequent horse movements. Horses in this sector moved permanently to other holdings for keeping and raising, or moved temporarily for equestrian competitions or other events. Therefore, the equestrian sector is considered to have a high risk of infectious disease introduction through the permanent movements and spread of the disease within the sector through temporary movements. The private owner sector had the second highest proportion of horses moving permanently or temporarily. Particularly, this sector supplied many horses to the fattening and equestrian sectors permanently. This indicates that if an infectious disease occurred in this sector, the risk of disease spread to other sectors would be high. In the exhibition and fattening sectors, movement of horses was scarce. Thus, the risk of diseases spread within and between these sectors is considered low. This qualitative risk evaluation could provide a basis for establishing efficient and effective preventive measures for equine infectious diseases.
(Epidemiological Research Team)

References:

Hayama Y. et al. (2010) J. Vet. Med. Sci. 72 (7): 839-844

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