SAEVA / NHA / TBA ANNEXTURE
RT-PCR : The minutes of the February 2016 OIE Biological Standards Commission meeting have been published , confirming the Aguero and Guthrie RT- PCR have been accepted scientifically and will go for country comment aiming at adoption at the May 2017 General Assembly . ( See point 2.8 , Annex 1 ) The Spanish EU reference laboratory has agreed to include SA laboratories in the EU proficiency testing for 2016 . This is being coordinated by Dr Romito at OVI .
Outbreak of AHS in the AHS Surveillance zone : The final Sitrep is attached . ( Annex 2 ) The sequencing of the serotype 1 virus involved is being analysed .
SASVEPM 24-26 August 2016
The SASVEPM conference is being held at Lagoon Beach in Milnerton on 24-26 August 2016 . Dr John Grewar ( Risk Assessment ) and Dr Camilla Weyer ( AHS Outbreaks in the AHS Controlled Area ) are both presenting papers- see the final programme . ( Annex 3 ) Dr Jonathon Rushton is also presenting papers at the start each morning . In addition , he and Dr Liz Redmond are meeting with various groups during that week as they are both involved in the OIE AHS Research Tenders . See the description of the OIE tender documents . ( Annex 4 ) Dr Roland Devoltz ( France Gallop and IFHA and IMHC ) and Dr Kenneth Lam ( HK ) will also be at the SASVEPM conference and they are meeting with the EHF and WCape teams next Monday and Tuesday to critically look at the roadmap for exporting horses from SA . ( RT PCR Scientific validation is now in place ; Risk Assessment is published ; Outbreak Paper has been accepted for publication in December , is already available on line . What remains is to build a lock down facility – either on risk or in partnership with a willing importer .)
Pirbright AHS vaccine : One of the OIE tenders is to look at the available vaccine constructs and assess which show the most promise in terms of research , time and process to develop to commercial market . The team is being led by Dr Javier Castillo-Olivares . He recently published a call for funding for further development of the AHS vaccine construct developed at Pirbright . ( See Annexure 5 )
CEM Working Group : The CEM Working Group met on Tuesday 16 August with representatives from NHA , DAFF , EHF , Studbook , SAEVA and the Warmblood Society . Great progress has been made by Dr John Grewar in closing the outbreaks and correlating the existing data which forms the basis of a report for declaration of country freedom . Based on the data available , a science based random surveillance strategy for continued surveillance is being developed . This is far reduced from the census based strategy used previously . Details will be released by DAFF shortly . Based on the representation in the working group , we are confident we will have buy in and cooperation from all the major horse sectors in South Africa . ( Please keep this in committee : The expected timelines for self declaration of country freedom are following three years of the new surveillance strategy followed by a submission of a dossier to the OIE .)
Disease Reporting
The EHF have advertised for a data coordinator . One of the duties will be to run with the SAEVA Disease Reporting and interaction with Regional Representatives . There will also be improved ICC reporting .
AHS Vaccinations : There is apparently some confusion regarding the wording for foals . ( See highlighted sections in Annex 7 Beverley Parker – 18 August 2016
18 • Equine Health Update •