Equine industry blamed for shortage of African Horse Sickness vaccines

Durban - The equine industry, already reeling from the deadly effects of African horse sickness (AHS) and the overseas sanctions that come with it, has been blamed for the ongoing shortage of vaccine to combat the disease.

This week Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), the parastatal which manufactures the vaccine, refused to take responsibility for the shortage and said the industry was probably responsible for the ongoing crisis.

“We suspect there is panic buying which causes backorders. OBP will supply quantities needed by the equine industry before the end of October 2023,” said the organisation’s Zipho Linda.

In a response to questions by the Independent on Saturday, Linda said there was only one vaccine for the disease and that horses should be vaccinated annually.

“We had a shortage last year due to equipment breakdown which affected production output. We have now managed to repair some of the equipment which contributed to this challenge,” said Linda.

In the meantime the horse racing industry, which creates thousands of jobs and injects hundreds of millions of rand into the economy through tourism and events like the Hollywoodbets Durban July, remains vulnerable.

Horse owner Linda Rossouw said this was the second year she was aware of the vaccine constraints and it was extremely stressful for everyone in the industry.

“Last year I couldn’t get the vaccine at all but I’ve managed to get it this year, I got on the bandwagon early. The vets order it, you can’t get it without going through the vet,” she said. Rossouw said once a horse contracted AHS, what followed was usually a painful death within hours.

The disease is not spread between horses but by the Culicoides midge which thrives in warm, rainy conditions and become infected when it feeds on horses which have the disease, and it spreads from there.

Dr Emma Schonken, a vet based at the Summerveld Equine Hospital, said horses had their primary course of vaccines against AHS when they were foals and as adults they were given annual boosters.

“It’s two vaccines they have to get. The first one has certain strains and the second ones certain strains, and they have to be given at least three weeks apart, you can go a bit longer but never shorter,” she said.

She said AHS occurred at the same time each year and apart from an increase in temperature and blood tests, which were definitive, infected horses also developed little red spots under the tongue and on their third eyelid, as well as swollen supraorbital fossas (the dent between the eye and the ear which moves while chewing).

This week the Independent on Saturday canvassed the opinions of several people from various organisations throughout the industry. Many were afraid to speak out, saying they feared government retribution. However, they believed that while millions had been set aside to procure a machine needed for the production of the vaccine, the money had been misappropriated.

Adrian Todd, MD of the South African Equine Health and Protocols (SAEHP) non-profit company and vice-chairperson of the National Animal Health Forum, said over the past few years OBP had struggled to produce sufficient vaccines, mainly because of ageing vaccine manufacturing machinery.

“I am however aware that in recent months new machinery has been ordered and the current machinery has been repaired by the original European manufacturers of the machinery. Additionally, OBP are currently recruiting international experts to further assist in implementing best practices procedures. OBP do have current backlogs and we have been informed that they are working to clear these backlogs,” said Todd.

He said the country was divided into zones to control the spread of AHS; the infected zone, the protection zone, the surveillance zone, and the free zone. Depending on the AHS risk assessment at the time, said Todd, there were various procedures which must be complied with to obtain a permit to move a horse from a zone of lesser control (eg Durban is in the endemic/infected zone and Kenilworth Racecourse is in the free zone) to a zone of higher control.

“If a horse has not been able to be vaccinated, it would be required to serve out a quarantine period before entering the control zones (basically the Cape). While this undoubtedly adds to the cost for the owners, the majority of horses moving are registered race horses or performance horses which have been vaccinated. Some owners would have experienced additional costs with quarantine if they had been unable to keep their horses vaccination status current,” he said.

Since the racing season in Durban had finished, many horses would move to the Cape for its racing season so this was not a back and forth movement, said Todd.

However, as a result of AHS, since 2011 horses from South Africa had not been allowed to move directly to any country off the continent, apart from Mauritius and the USA. Todd said the direct movement of horses was not frequently used because of logistical issues. He said as a result, most horses destined for the overseas market or to compete abroad were quarantined in the free zone before departing to Mauritius where they were quarantined for 90 days before continuing their journey to Europe.

“This is far from ideal and SAEHP has been working since its inception in 2018 to re-open direct exports to the EU,” he said. “An audit by the EU was conducted in October 2022 and the final steps in this audit are under way, the vision being to successfully re-open direct export,” said Todd.

The Independent on Saturday