Latest news on the „contagious cough“

Eiðfaxi has received news on the latest research findings regarding the infection in horses…

which started in this county last spring. We contacted Eggert Gunnarsson vet at the Research Institute at Keldur:

”We have received conformation to the effect that the type of bacterial infection which has infested itself in our horses is new in this country, but is known abroad and corresponds completely to an infection which was found in horses in Sweden in 2008. It was found in all the samples which have we have taken from sick horses as well as in autopsies done on horses. On the other hand, this type of bacteria has not been found in older samples which we have compared them to. This explains why it became such a huge epidemic here, as the horses in this country had never been exposed to this type of bacteria before and therefore our horses are extremely vulnerable. This knowledge tells us that this infection came here from Europe, but we have no way of tracing exactly how. Possibly it came with some travelers, possibly with migratory birds, it is hard to tell.”

Will this become an ongoing problem here?
“We can expect that foals will in the future be infected by this bacteria, but the good news is on the other hand, that we do see a possibility of making a vaccine, which we will be able to use as a preventive measure for the disease” Eggert finally said.