African horse sickness – are we ready?

African horse sickness (AHS) is an arboviral disease of Equidae that causes devastating outbreaks of high morbidity and mortality (>90%) in susceptible populations. The disease is endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa but has occurred in periodic outbreaks outside this geographical region throughout the last century. The aetiological agent of AHS is African horse sickness virus (AHSV), an orbivirus very closely related to the agent that causes bluetongue in ruminants. Bluetongue, a disease that was in the past restricted to tropical and subtropical regions of the earth, is today endemic in mainland Europe, causing considerable disruption to the farming industry ...