Why is AHS now seen as a potential threat to the UK?
AHS is an ‘exotic’ disease that is now viewed as a potential threat to the UK’s £4billion equine industry for a variety of reasons, including increased global travel, climate change and the outbreak and spread of Bluetongue in the UK for the first time in 2007. The UK outbreak of Bluetongue caused great concern due to the Bluetongue virus (BTV) and AHSV being closely related and transmitted by the same species of midge. The Bluetongue outbreak serves as a warning, as it was able to survive and spread. Therefore, potentially so could the AHSV should it enter the UK. If an outbreak of AHS occurred in the UK, the results could be devastating, as our horses have no natural immunity to the virus.
