In this excerpt from Equine Disease Quarterly, a researcher from Dubai discusses the steps being taken to contain and control the spread of glanders, a dangerous bacterial infection in horses.

Glanders, caused by Burkholderia mallei, is a highly contagious bacterial disease in equids and is widely regarded as a very important zoonosis (a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans). It is notifiable to the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE, in Paris, France). The disease is still endemic in various parts of the world, including but not exclusive to, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. The occurrence and distribution of glanders in Africa is unknown. Glanders has reemerged in Brazil, Pakistan, India, and Turkey, and outbreaks have been reported in Iraq, Iran, Mongolia, and China. In more recent years, glanders has been recorded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Bahrain, but it has never been reported in the United States.

Glanders was detected for the first time in the UAE in 2004, occurring in an official UAE quarantine facility in Dubai. The OIE was notified immediately, and veterinarians were able to control and eliminate the infection by euthanizing 75 affected horses. A total of 10 glanders-positive horses were identified in a shipment that originated in Syria. This finding resulted in a total embargo on the movement of horses from Syria into Dubai. Research that followed the glanders outbreak in Dubai resulted in the adoption of serological tests in addition to the complement-fixation test (CFT) recommended by the OIE. The OIE then designated the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in Dubai as an OIE reference laboratory for glanders.

Despite the export of glanders-positive horses to Dubai, horses continue to be exported from Syria to other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Some years ago, ministers of the countries involved agreed to prevent horses with notifiable diseases from entering any other GCC States. The CVRL would conduct all glanders testing