Western Canada would become a special zone for tests and surveillance of equine infectious anemia under a proposal being considered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The CFIA said in a recent report that about 70 percent of the testing for EIA, also known as swamp fever, is done on horses in Eastern Canada, but most of the country’s horses live in the West.
From 2001-2013, more than 98 percent of reported EIA cases were in Western Canadian horses.
The CFIA report, Proposed Risk Management Strategy for EIA Control in Canada, outlines the challenges facing the monitoring program.
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EIA persists primarily because of untested horses, it said. These untested animals include owned, semi-feral and feral animals.
The CFIA proposes to make Western Canada a primary zone for EIA and require a Coggins test for horses that move east. It also plans to launch an identification and traceability program.
EIA is a potentially fatal viral disease that affects horses, ponies, donkeys, mules and zebras.
While EIA poses no threat to people, it can be catastrophic for equines. There is no vaccine, treatment or cure, and animals remain carriers of the virus for life.
Management is limited to euthanasia or lifelong isolation.
“Coggins tests in Canada are considered current for six months,” said Bill desBarres, chair of the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada.
