Professional paper
African Horse Sickness: the risk of the disease and possible consequences for horse breeding in Croatia
Vilim Starešina
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Vladimir Stevanović
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ljubo Barbić
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Matko Perharić
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Krešimir Martinković
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Nenad Turk
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
African horse sickness (AHS) is a non-contagious vector-borne disease of horses, caused by a virus of the family Reoviridae, genus Orbivirus. Horses, ponies and donkeys are the most susceptible to the disease, mules less so, while African donkeys and zebras are refractory to the development of a clinically manifested form of the disease. The most important carrier of the AHS virus is the female fly of the genus Culicoides. Climate change and globalization have triggered countless factors that significantly increase the risk of AHS in many parts of the world. There is extensive evidence that many AHS-free areas already have climatic conditions that allow AHS epizootics to occur, and the introduction of infected ungulates or Culicoides spp. mosquitoes could cause extensive and long-lasting epizootics.
Keywords
African horse sickness; Culicoides spp.; risk
Hrčak ID:
295284
URI
Publication date:
15.9.2022.
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