Management and hygiene measures during an outbreak of herpes, influenza, strangles or infections with multidrug resistant bacteria

The aim of this review is to describe general guidelines of hygiene measures in the horse stable as well as to provide current recommendations for an outbreak of a common infectious disease. General cleanliness, hand hygiene, avoidance of stress, regular deworming, and vaccinations belong to the basic hygiene measures in a horse herd. All new or returning equids should be submitted to a quarantine period as an important prevention measure. Repeated washing and disinfection of hands may prevent spreading of infectious agents to people and horses. The conception of a hygiene plan, including general biosecurity procedures and standard operating procedures in a case of an outbreak of an infectious disease, zoonosis, or colonization with multi-resistant bacteria is strongly recommended. As soon as the disease is suspected, extended hygiene measures including protective clothing, cleaning, disinfection, and isolation of potentially infected animals should be implemented. Prompt confirmation of the causative agent by examination of appropriate samples is crucial. It is important to adjust all safety measures based on the contagious nature of the respective pathogen and its major transmission routes. Apart from a lock-down of the stable, clinic or show grounds, the segregation of horses plays an important role. Implementation of the traffic light system is recommended. In this, the red group (infected) include animals with clinical signs of the disease or that have been tested positive. All horses with possible pathogen contact should be allocated to a yellow group (suspected) and regularly controlled for the signs of infection and fever. Clinically normal horses without contact to the infected animals belong to the green group (healthy). A change of protective clothing and an extensive disinfection should be performed when moving between the groups. The extended hygiene measures are to be maintained until all animals have been tested negative or fail to exhibit clinical signs of the disease for a certain time period.