Equine disease outbreaks can cause huge disruption to stables, sporting events and breeding programmes – and ultimately have a damaging impact on your overall yard investment.
Horse flu, Strangles and Ringworm are all particularly harmful, which makes good laundry protocols as vital as your biosecurity and vaccination measures.
At JLA, we’ve been setting the standards in human infection control for the past two decades with a range of ozone disinfection solutions – which means we can offer unrivalled expertise and technology when it comes to equine health too. Here, our in-house chemists offer an overview of how ozone washing can level-up overall protection against some of the biggest threats to equine health.
Vaccination, strict hygiene measures and effective laundering of equine blankets, numnahs and other garments are critical to controlling and managing potential equine disease outbreaks.
Equine Influenza
What’s the threat?
Equine influenza, caused by the orthomyxovirus equine influenza A type 2 H3N8 subtype, is oneof the most common infectious diseases of the respiratory tract of horses (1). Influenza is an airborne virus
and can spread quickly and easily through a yard – under favourable weather conditions it can spread up to 5km. It can be transmitted by direct horse-to-horse contact and also via people, tack, feed and equipment (2).
How can ozone laundry disinfection help?
In tests carried out with JLA’s OTEX ozone laundry disinfection system four different virus phages were exposed to the ozone process. These viruses comprised of both single strand RNA/DNA and were non-pathogenic.
The results demonstrated that no viral particles of any generic RNA/DNA type were recoverable. This was considered an extremely successful outcome.
Strangles
What’s the threat?
Strangles is one of the most common diseases diagnosed in horses worldwide. It is a highly contagious and debilitating disease that can affect any horse, on any yard, at any time. Strangles is a disease caused by a bacteria called Streptococcus equi (S. equi)(3). The bacteria often infect the lymph nodes around the jaw, causing them to become swollen.
In severe cases they can become so swollen that horses struggle to breathe properly, hence the name ‘Strangles’ (4). It can be easily spread directly through horse to horse contact and indirectly through contaminated equipment, handler clothing and boots etc.
Whilst Strangles is not spread through the air (airborne), the bacteria can spread when a horse with Strangles coughs or snorts (5).
How can ozone laundry disinfection help?
JLA’s OTEX system was subjected to a laboratory test based on an EN suspension test methodology with a range of micro-organisms including Streptococcus faecalis which is part of the same family of bacterial infection. Samples were taken at specific intervals and analysed to determine any residual organism. With Streptococcus faecalis there were no survivors after 3 minutes exposure to ozone dissolved in cold water at a concentration of 0.5ppm and in the absence of any other chemicals.
This work in addition to the above virus test was part of a submission to the Department of Health’s Rapid Review Panel in 2009 in which the OTEX system was awarded a recommendation 1.
JLA’s OTEX laundry system is proven to remove 99.999% of harmful bacteria and while specific tests have not been conducted in relation to Strangles, the above evidence highlights the benefits of using an ozone laundry disinfection system for minimising the risk of this damaging disease.
Ringworm
What’s the threat?
Ringworm, otherwise known as dermatophytosis, is a fungal skin infection caused by a dermatophyte fungus. The fungus infects dead tissue in the superficial layers of the skin, spreading quickly.
The spores of the fungus eat away at the hair, causing the slowly widening bald patches that are typical of the skin disease (6). In horses, Trichophyton equinum (T. equinum) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (T. mentagrophytes), are the primary causes of ringworm, although other fungi have also been found in ringworm infections.
These fungi live in the soil and cause disease in animals that are exposed while digging, rolling, and lying down. They can also spread by contact with infected individuals and contaminated objects such as stalls or grooming tools. Broken hairs with associated spores are important sources for spread of the disease (7).
How can ozone laundry disinfection help?
T. equinum and T. mentagrophytes have a similar morphology (8). Whilst there is no direct research on killing strains of T. equinum, there has been research carried out on the effect of ozone gas on T. mentagrophytes.
It was found in a study conducted in 2012, looking at strains of T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum, that ozone, created by a commercial ozone gas generation device, was effective in killing >99% of viable fungi present in various experimental systems (9). This study, and the fact that the morphological qualities of T. mentagrophytes and T. equinum are so similar, indicate that it could be possible to successfully kill strains of T. equinum with ozone.
The effective disinfection performance of OTEX has obvious benefits in reassuring stables users that all laundry is being conducted to the highest standards of hygiene.
A further key factor in supporting a stables’ disinfection practices is the ability of ozone to perform at low temperatures. Manufacturers’ wash instructions for fabrics such as horse rugs commonly state that items should be laundered at 40 degrees or lower. As this is not sufficient to provide any form of thermal disinfection, owners and riders are often caught in a catch 22 situation whereby they sacrifice either hygiene or wash quality and performance.
By adding OTEX to a wash cycle, stable owners can be confident laundry is being disinfected appropriately at the optimum temperatures for the fabrics whilst maintaining their condition.
Sources
1. https://aaep.org/guidelines/vaccination-guidelines/risk-based-vaccination-guidelines/equine-influenza
2. https://www.msd-animal-health-hub.co.uk/Healthy-Horses/Health/EquineInfluenza
3. https://aaep.org/sites/default/files/Guidelines/Streptococcus%20equi%20var.pdf
4. https://www.msd-animal-health-hub.co.uk/Healthy-Horses/Health/AboutStrangles
5. https://www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-information/horse-health-and-sickness/strangles
6. https://towcester-vets.co.uk/2017/02/all-you-need-to-know-about-ringworm/
7. https://www.msdvetmanual.com/horse-owners/skin-disorders-of-horses/ringworm-dermatophytosis-in-horses
8. https://mycology.adelaide.edu.au/descriptions/dermatophytes/trichophyton/
9. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/09546634.2012.714456
Note the RRP reports can be accessed via the following link www.jla.com/pasa
For more expert insights, visit the JLA Knowledge Hub.
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