In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), EVA is notifiable by law under the Equine Viral Arteritis Order 1995. Under the Order, anyone who owns, manages, inspects or examines a horse must notify the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) when:
• they suspect the disease in a stallion, either on the basis of clinical signs or following blood or semen testing;
• they suspect disease, either on the basis of clinical signs or following blood testing, in a mare that has been mated or artificially inseminated within the past 14 days.
Please see Appendix 1 for APHA Offices’ contact details.
Under the Order, there are powers to:
• serve notices prohibiting the use for breeding of the suspect stallion and the collection of semen obtained from the stallion unless permitted under licence by the APHA ;
• take samples or obtain information in order to establish whether disease is present and, if so, the extent to which it has spread.
Upon confirmation of disease, Ministers may publish this fact and the name and location of the stallion concerned, followed by similar publicity if Ministers consider that the disease or virus no longer exists in that stallion.
When statutory powers under the Order are invoked, laboratories will be nominated by the authorities to undertake the testing of all the samples required for the subsequent investigation.
It is advisable for owners, or persons authorised to act on their behalf, to inform the national breeders’ association if EAV is isolated.
