FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 9000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Home / Equine Research Bank / PLoS One / Transmission and control of African horse sickness in The Ne...
PloS one2011; 6(8); e23066; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023066

Transmission and control of African horse sickness in The Netherlands: a model analysis.

Abstract: African horse sickness (AHS) is an equine viral disease that is spread by Culicoides spp. Since the closely related disease bluetongue established itself in The Netherlands in 2006, AHS is considered a potential threat for the Dutch horse population. A vector-host model that incorporates the current knowledge of the infection biology is used to explore the effect of different parameters on whether and how the disease will spread, and to assess the effect of control measures. The time of introduction is an important determinant whether and how the disease will spread, depending on temperature and vector season. Given an introduction in the most favourable and constant circumstances, our results identify the vector-to-host ratio as the most important factor, because of its high variability over the country. Furthermore, a higher temperature accelerates the epidemic, while a higher horse density increases the extent of the epidemic. Due to the short infectious period in horses, the obvious clinical signs and the presence of non-susceptible hosts, AHS is expected to invade and spread less easily than bluetongue. Moreover, detection is presumed to be earlier, which allows control measures to be targeted towards elimination of infection sources. We argue that recommended control measures are euthanasia of infected horses with severe clinical signs and vector control in infected herds, protecting horses from midge bites in neighbouring herds, and (prioritized) vaccination of herds farther away, provided that transport regulations are strictly applied. The largest lack of knowledge is the competence and host preference of the different Culicoides species present in temperate regions.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2011-08-05 PubMed ID: 21850252PubMed Central: PMC3151287DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023066Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Journal Article
  • Research Support
  • Non-U.S. Gov't

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research article is about the transmission and control of African horse sickness in The Netherlands, with a focus on the various factors affecting the spread of disease and the proposed measures for effective control.

Study approach

  • The researchers used a vector-host model to study the transmission and control of African Horse Sickness (AHS), a viral disease that affects horses, in the Netherlands. This disease is transmitted via a type of fly called Culicoides spp.
  • Given that Bluetongue, a disease similar to AHS, established itself in The Netherlands in 2006, the research aims to understand if and how AHS might pose a potential threat to the Dutch horse population.

Key findings related to disease transmission

  • The study discovered that the time of introduction of the disease is a crucial determinant of whether and how it will spread—bases on the temperature and vector (Culicoides spp.) season.
  • In constant circumstances, the ratio of the vector to the host was identified as the most critical factor because of its high variability across the country.
  • Other factors include temperature and horse density – a higher temperature speeds up the spread while a higher horse density increases the epidemic’s reach.

Comparisons with bluetongue

  • The research found that due to the short infectious period in horses, obvious clinical signs, and the presence of non-susceptible hosts, AHS is expected to spread less easily than bluetongue.
  • Moreover, AHS detection is presumed to happen earlier, enabling control measures to be implemented toward eradicating sources of infection.

Recommended control measures

  • The study recommended control measures like euthanizing infected horses showcasing severe clinical symptoms, controlling vectors in infected herds, and protecting horses from midge bites in neighboring herds.
  • Furthermore, it suggests prioritized vaccination of herds at a distance but under strict transportation regulations.

Knowledge gaps

  • The study identifies a significant knowledge gap related to understanding the competence and host preference of different Culicoides species present in temperate regions. This information can be valuable in devising more effective strategies to control the spread of disease.

Cite This Article

APA
Backer JA, Nodelijk G. (2011). Transmission and control of African horse sickness in The Netherlands: a model analysis. PLoS One, 6(8), e23066. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023066

Publication

PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
NlmUniqueID: 101285081
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 6
Issue: 8
Pages: e23066

Researcher Affiliations

Backer, Jantien A
  • Department of Epidemiology, Crisis Organisation and Diagnostics, Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen UR, Lelystad, The Netherlands. jantien.backer@wur.nl
Nodelijk, Gonnie

    MeSH Terms

    • African Horse Sickness / epidemiology
    • African Horse Sickness / prevention & control
    • African Horse Sickness / transmission
    • Animals
    • Horse Diseases / epidemiology
    • Horse Diseases / prevention & control
    • Horse Diseases / transmission
    • Horses
    • Models, Theoretical
    • Netherlands / epidemiology

    Conflict of Interest Statement

    Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

    References

    This article includes 31 references
    1. Mellor PS, Hamblin C. African horse sickness. Vet Res 2004;35:445–466.
      pubmed: 15236676
    2. Rodriguez M, Hooghuis H, Castaño M. African horse sickness in Spain. Vet Microbiol 1992;33:129–142.
      pubmed: 1481352
    3. Mehlhorn H, Walldorf V, Klimpel S, Jahn B, Jaeger F. First occurrence of Culicoides obsoletus-transmitted Bluetongue virus epidemic in Central Europe. Parasitol Res 2007;101:219–228.
      pubmed: 17385085
    4. Elbers ARW, Backx A, Meroc E, Gerbier G, Staubach C. Field observations during the bluetongue serotype 8 epidemic in 2006 I. Detection of first outbreaks and clinical signs in sheep and cattle in Belgium, France and The Netherlands. Prev Vet Med 2008;87:21–30.
      pubmed: 18620767
    5. Mellor PS, Boned J, Hamblin C, Graham S. Isolations of African horse sickness virus from vector insects made during the 1988 epizootic in Spain. Epidemiol Infect 1990;105:447–454.
      pmc: PMC2271884pubmed: 2209746
    6. Rijksen C, Visser-Riedstra EK. Inventarisatie paardenhouderij (in Dutch). 2005. Technical report, Animal Sciences Group, Wageningen UR.
    7. Lord CC, Woolhouse MEJ, Heesterbeek JAP, Mellor PS. Vector-borne diseases and the basic reproduction number: a case study of African horse sickness. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 1996;10:19–28.
      pubmed: 8834738
    8. Lord CC, Woolhouse MEJ, Rawlings P, Mellor PS. Simulation studies of African horse sickness and Culicoides imicola (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). J Med Entomol 1996;33:328–338.
      pubmed: 8667377
    9. Lord CC, Woolhouse MEJ, Mellor PS. Simulation studies of vaccination strategies in African horse sickness. Vaccine 1997;15:519–524.
      pubmed: 9160519
    10. Baylis M, O'Connell L, Mellor PS. Rates of bluetongue virus transmission between Culicoides sonorensis and sheep. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 2009;22:228–237.
      pubmed: 18816271
    11. Meiswinkel R, Goffredo M, Leijs P, Conte A. The Culicoides snapshot: A novel approach used to assess vector densities widely and rapidly during the 2006 outbreak of bluetongue (BT) in The Netherlands. Prev Vet Med 2008;87:98–118.
      pubmed: 18657871
    12. Szmaragd C, Wilson AJ, Carpenter S, Wood JLN, Mellor PS. A modeling framework to describe the transmission of bluetongue virus within and between farms in Great Britain. PLoS ONE 2009;4:e7741.
      pmc: PMC2767512pubmed: 19890400
    13. Szmaragd C, Gunn GJ, Gubbins S. Assessing the consequences of an incursion of a vectorborne disease. II. Spread of bluetongue in Scotland and impact of vaccination. Epidemics 2010;2:139147.
      pubmed: 21352784
    14. Gubbins S, Szmaragd C, Burgin L, Wilson A, Volkova V. Assessing the consequences of an incursion of a vector-borne disease I. Identifying feasible incursion scenarios for bluetongue in Scotland. Epidemics 2010;2:148154.
      pubmed: 21352785
    15. . Article 8, Council Directive 2001/82/EC. Commission of the European Communities, Official Journal of the European Union 2001;L311:1–66.
    16. Keeling MJ, Rohani P. Modeling infectious diseases in humans and animals. Princeton University Press 2008.
    17. Mullens BA, Holbrook FR. Temperature effects on the gonotrophic cycle of Culicoides variipennis. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Agency 1991;7:588–591.
      pubmed: 1787404
    18. Wittmann EJ, Mellor PS, Baylis M. Effect of temperature on the transmission of orbiviruses by the biting midge, Culicoides sonorensis. Vaccine 2002;20:1079–1088.
      pubmed: 12109708
    19. Diekmann O, Heesterbeek JAP. Mathematical epidemiology of infectious diseases. John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2000.
    20. Heesterbeek JAP, Roberts MG. Threshold quantities of infectious diseases in periodic environments. J Biol Syst 1995;3:779–787.
    21. Scotter DR, Lamb KP, Hassan E. An insect dispersal parameter. Ecology 1971;52:174–177.
    22. Lillie TH, Marquardt WC, Jones RH. The flight range of Culicoides variipennis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). The Canadian Entomologist 1981;113:419–426.
    23. McKay MD, Beckman RJ, Conover WJ. A comparison of three methods for selecting values of input variables in the analysis of output from a computer code. Technometrics 1979;21:239–245.
    24. Schwarz G. Estimating the dimension of a model. The Annals of Statistics 1978;6:461–464.
    25. Kendall M. A new measure of rank correlation. Biometrika 1938;30:81–89.
    26. House JA, Thomas M, Dubourget P, House C, Mebus CA. Further studies on the efficacy of an inactivated African horse sickness serotype 4 vaccine. Vaccine 1994;12:142–144.
      pubmed: 8147096
    27. Roy P, Bishop DHL, Howard S, Aitchison H, Erasmus B. Recombinant baculovirussynthesized African horsesickness virus (AHSV) outer-capsid protein VP2 provides protection against virulent AHSV challenge. J of Gen Vir 1996;77:2053–2057.
      pubmed: 8811002
    28. Scanlen M, Paweska JT, Verschoor JA, Van Dijk AA. The protective efficacy of a recombinant VP2-based African horsesickness subunit vaccine candidate is determined by adjuvant. Vaccine 2002;20:1079–1088.
      pubmed: 11803068
    29. Sloet van Oldruitenborgh MM. Inventarisation of the presence of Culicoides species (midges) at horses in The Netherlands (in Dutch). 2009. Technical report, Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University.
    30. Gubbins S, Carpenter S, Baylis M, Wood JLN, Mellor PS. Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number. J R Soc Interface 2008;5:363–371.
      pmc: PMC2497440pubmed: 17638649
    31. Hartemink NA, Purse BV, Meiswinkel R, Brown HE, de Koeijer A. Mapping the basic reproduction number (R 0) for vector-borne diseases: A case study on bluetongue virus. Epidemics 2009;1:153–161.
      pubmed: 21352762

    Citations

    This article has been cited 19 times.
    1. Humphreys JM, Pelzel-McCluskey AM, Shults PT, Velazquez-Salinas L, Bertram MR, McGregor BL, Cohnstaedt LW, Swanson DA, Scroggs SLP, Fautt C, Mooney A, Peters DPC, Rodriguez LL. Modeling the 2014-2015 Vesicular Stomatitis Outbreak in the United States Using an SEIR-SEI Approach. Viruses 2024 Aug 18;16(8).
      doi: 10.3390/v16081315pubmed: 39205289google scholar: lookup
    2. Fairbanks EL, Daly JM, Tildesley MJ. Modelling the Influence of Climate and Vector Control Interventions on Arbovirus Transmission. Viruses 2024 Jul 30;16(8).
      doi: 10.3390/v16081221pubmed: 39205195google scholar: lookup
    3. de Klerk JN, Gorsich EE, Grewar JD, Atkins BD, Tennant WSD, Labuschagne K, Tildesley MJ. Modelling African horse sickness emergence and transmission in the South African control area using a deterministic metapopulation approach. PLoS Comput Biol 2023 Sep;19(9):e1011448.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011448pubmed: 37672554google scholar: lookup
    4. Elbers ARW, Gonzales JL. Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) Abundance Is Influenced by Livestock Host Species and Distance to Hosts at the Micro Landscape Scale. Insects 2023 Jul 14;14(7).
      doi: 10.3390/insects14070637pubmed: 37504643google scholar: lookup
    5. Fairbanks EL, Brennan ML, Mertens PPC, Tildesley MJ, Daly JM. Re-parameterization of a mathematical model of African horse sickness virus using data from a systematic literature search. Transbound Emerg Dis 2022 Jul;69(4):e671-e681.
      doi: 10.1111/tbed.14420pubmed: 34921513google scholar: lookup
    6. Grewar JD, Kotze JL, Parker BJ, van Helden LS, Weyer CT. An entry risk assessment of African horse sickness virus into the controlled area of South Africa through the legal movement of equids. PLoS One 2021;16(5):e0252117.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252117pubmed: 34038466google scholar: lookup
    7. . Bluetongue: control, surveillance and safe movement of animals. EFSA J 2017 Mar;15(3):e04698.
      doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4698pubmed: 32625424google scholar: lookup
    8. Porphyre T, Grewar JD. Assessing the potential of plains zebra to maintain African horse sickness in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. PLoS One 2019;14(10):e0222366.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222366pubmed: 31671099google scholar: lookup
    9. Fernández-Carrión E, Ivorra B, Ramos ÁM, Martínez-López B, Aguilar-Vega C, Sánchez-Vizcaíno JM. An advection-deposition-survival model to assess the risk of introduction of vector-borne diseases through the wind: Application to bluetongue outbreaks in Spain. PLoS One 2018;13(3):e0194573.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194573pubmed: 29566088google scholar: lookup
    10. Sumner T, Orton RJ, Green DM, Kao RR, Gubbins S. Quantifying the roles of host movement and vector dispersal in the transmission of vector-borne diseases of livestock. PLoS Comput Biol 2017 Apr;13(4):e1005470.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005470pubmed: 28369082google scholar: lookup
    11. Lachiany M, Louzoun Y. Effects of distribution of infection rate on epidemic models. Phys Rev E 2016 Aug;94(2-1):022409.
      doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.94.022409pubmed: 27627337google scholar: lookup
    12. van Rijn PA, van de Water SG, Feenstra F, van Gennip RG. Requirements and comparative analysis of reverse genetics for bluetongue virus (BTV) and African horse sickness virus (AHSV). Virol J 2016 Jul 2;13:119.
      doi: 10.1186/s12985-016-0574-7pubmed: 27368544google scholar: lookup
    13. Brugger K, Köfer J, Rubel F. Outdoor and indoor monitoring of livestock-associated Culicoides spp. to assess vector-free periods and disease risks. BMC Vet Res 2016 Jun 4;12:88.
      doi: 10.1186/s12917-016-0710-zpubmed: 27259473google scholar: lookup
    14. van de Water SG, van Gennip RG, Potgieter CA, Wright IM, van Rijn PA. VP2 Exchange and NS3/NS3a Deletion in African Horse Sickness Virus (AHSV) in Development of Disabled Infectious Single Animal Vaccine Candidates for AHSV. J Virol 2015 Sep;89(17):8764-72.
      doi: 10.1128/JVI.01052-15pubmed: 26063433google scholar: lookup
    15. Kelso JK, Milne GJ. A spatial simulation model for the dispersal of the bluetongue vector Culicoides brevitarsis in Australia. PLoS One 2014;9(8):e104646.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104646pubmed: 25105418google scholar: lookup
    16. Fischer EA, Boender GJ, Nodelijk G, de Koeijer AA, van Roermund HJ. The transmission potential of Rift Valley fever virus among livestock in the Netherlands: a modelling study. Vet Res 2013 Jul 22;44(1):58.
      doi: 10.1186/1297-9716-44-58pubmed: 23876054google scholar: lookup
    17. Charron MV, Kluiters G, Langlais M, Seegers H, Baylis M, Ezanno P. Seasonal and spatial heterogeneities in host and vector abundances impact the spatiotemporal spread of bluetongue. Vet Res 2013 Jun 19;44(1):44.
      doi: 10.1186/1297-9716-44-44pubmed: 23782421google scholar: lookup
    18. Lo Iacono G, Robin CA, Newton JR, Gubbins S, Wood JL. Where are the horses? With the sheep or cows? Uncertain host location, vector-feeding preferences and the risk of African horse sickness transmission in Great Britain. J R Soc Interface 2013 Jun 6;10(83):20130194.
      doi: 10.1098/rsif.2013.0194pubmed: 23594817google scholar: lookup
    19. Pioz M, Guis H, Crespin L, Gay E, Calavas D, Durand B, Abrial D, Ducrot C. Why did bluetongue spread the way it did? Environmental factors influencing the velocity of bluetongue virus serotype 8 epizootic wave in France. PLoS One 2012;7(8):e43360.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043360pubmed: 22916249google scholar: lookup
    Subscribe to our newsletter
    Join 99,001 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.