After an outbreak of African horse sickness in KwaZulu-Natal, horses may not be moved into or out of the province, the provincial agriculture department announced on Thursday.
”The outbreak is concentrated in the Midlands right up to northern KwaZulu-Natal,” said the department’s spokesperson Vusi Zuma.
Since February, at least 48 deaths have been reported to the department, ”but we know that many more are unaccounted for”, he said.
Zuma said the department has set aside money to buy vaccines that will be distributed mainly in communal areas. He said African horse sickness is a viral disease that damages the walls of blood vessels, which means ”a horse will lose water into its lungs and will drown in its own fluids”.
Some of the symptoms of the disease include fever, no appetite and swelling, particularly in the depressions around the eyes.
Zuma said African horse fever is endemic to Africa, hence its name, but this is the first time an outbreak of such huge proportions is recorded in KwaZulu-Natal.
He said it is usually spread by small insects, which could have multiplied because of the heavy rainfall in the region over the past few months. — Sapa