Thirteen horses in the Western Cape, South Africa, are believed to have succumbed to an outbreak of African horse sickness (AHS) by March 22, according to several news reports. The affected horses were from the Stellenbosch magesterial district and surrounding areas, reported www.sabcnews.com.

The first cases occurred at the Elsenburg Agricultural College the week of Feb. 23. AHS was confirmed by samples taken from several of the affected horses and sent to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and Equine Research Centre in Pretoria.

African horse sickness is a rapidly spreading, lethal virus spread by the Culicoides bolitinos midge, a species of small fly. Midges need an infected horse as a viral source for the disease to spread.

Officials were monitoring the situation, and disease control measures included vaccination of more than 1,000 horses in the area

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.