Infectious equine anaemia:
- Affects horses
- Also known as swamp fever, mountain fever, slow fever, equine malarial fever
- Clinical signs include fever, anemia, edema in some animals.
a) Etiology:
- Equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV), family retroviridae
b) Transmission:
- Mechanically by biting insects
- By blood transfusion, contaminated needles, surgical instruments, etc.
- Transplacental, milk and semen
c) Incubation period:
- Week to > 45 days
d) Symptoms:
- Fever, loss of appetite
- Jaundice
- Anaemia in chronic infected animals
- Horse may die during acute stage
- Spleen, liver and abdominal lymph nodes may be enlarged
e) Diagnosis:
- Weight loss , edema, fever
f) Differential diagnosis:
- Febrile illness, leptospirosis
- ELISA test
- Autoimmune hemolytic anaemia and other disease
- PCR test
g) Control:
- No vaccine available
- Permanent isolation of animals
- Quarantine
- Control insect vectors
- Disinfectants