FEI deals with Equine Herpes Virus with races in Europe called off

An aggressive strain of Equine Herpes Virus has lead to the cancellation of international events across Europe and disrupted athletes’ preparation for the Olympic Games.

European equine events will be cancelled from now until March 28 due to the Equine Herpes Virus.

THE FEI has cancelled international events in 10 countries on the European mainland with immediate effect and until March 28, 2021 due to the rapid evolution of a very aggressive strain of the neurological form of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1).

The virus originated in Valencia (ESP) and has already resulted in related outbreaks in at least three other countries in Europe.

Equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) refers to the neurological form of EHV-1.

Horses positive for EHV-1 and show neurological signs such as incoordination and hind-end weakness are considered positive for EHM.

Once a horse is positive for EHM, other horses at the facility are at an increased risk of getting EHM.

EHM is often fatal and those that make a rare recovery will likely face long-term neurological problems.

A number of countries, including France, have already cancelled all their events to minimise transmission of the virus.

The decision, which covers events in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Poland,

Netherlands, Germany and Slovakia, has been made in accordance with FEI General Regulations Article 112.3, which state: The Secretary General shall have the authority to remove any Competition and/or Event from the Calendar if justified circumstances relating to a Competition or the Event are established.

“This was not an easy decision to block events in mainland Europe, particularly after the major disruption to the FEI Calendar caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”, FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said, “but this EHV-1 outbreak is probably the most serious we have had in Europe for many decades and our decision is based on clearly identified epidemiological risk factors.

“This strain of EHV-1 is particularly aggressive and has already caused equine fatalities and a very large number of severe clinical cases. We need to keep our horses safe.

“We are very conscious of the fact that this is a very stressful and distressing time, and that this is potentially hugely disruptive for those athletes aiming for their Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) or confirmation results for Tokyo, but we are looking at ways to alleviate that in order to assist athlete/horse combinations in getting their MERs or confirmation results once the events in mainland Europe are allowed to resume.”