Switzerland's Internet-based voluntary system is a way for veterinarians to report equine infections, such as influenza and herpesvirus, even if they aren’t required to by law. | Photo: iStock

That’s why Switzerland is joining the ranks of a few select other countries offering an internet-based voluntary reporting system. It’s a way for veterinarians to report infections, such as influenza and herpesvirus, even if they aren’t required to by law. The reporting makes the information public for the entire country to see and react accordingly.

“Most of the diseases we see are the non-notifiable ones, so there’s a real need to have a look at these endemic diseases in our horse population in order to keep them under control,” said Franziska Remy-Wohlfender, DrMetVet, Dipl. ECVPH, a specialist in equine practice at the University of Bern Vetsuisse Faculty’s Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, in Switzerland.

Notifiable diseases are those practitioners are required by law to report to authorities if they diagnose them. In Switzerland as well as most developed countries, these include such diseases as equine infectious anemia (EIA), equine viral arteritis (EVA), West Nile virus, African horse sickness (AHS), various forms of encephalitis (Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan), and contagious equine metritis (CEM)