At present there are no official restrictions imposed by DEFRA as a result of the reported cases of EHV paralytic disease and there are no restrictions on the movement of horses.

The BEF's Director of Sports Science and Medicine, John McEwen, advises individuals, yards and show organisers to continue their normal activities but to take sensible precautions regarding infected yards or yards in close proximity to an outbreak.

Isolation of infected yards is essential but fortunately the virus does not travel long distances through the air and infection is mainly by contact with infected horses.

It is wise to be vigilant in monitoring horse health to detect early cases of disease.

If we are advised of any developments by the Animal Health Trust (AHT) or DEFRA these will be posted on the BEF web site (www.bef.co.uk).

Information on the regions where infected cases have been identified can be found on the AHT web site (www.aht.org.uk) which is regularly updated.

www.bef.co.uk

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