Tackling Equine Flu With Tell Tail Links - A New Initiative From Merial Animal Health

Equine veterinary surgeons are praising a new initiative from Merial Animal Health aimed at alerting horse owners to equine influenza cases in their locality. An outbreak of equine flu in South Wales on 2nd June prompted B&W Equine Clinic to pilot Tell Tail Links^TM, a text alert service that could help tackle the spread of this disease. Within 24 hours of the outbreak, 784 local horse owners (297 owners of unvaccinated horses and 487 owners of vaccinated horses) received text messages alerting them that equine flu was in the area.   With less than 38% of UK horses vaccinated, the aim of Tell Tail Links^TM, is to keep equine flu front of mind for horse owners to ensure they do not become complacent about vaccination against this infectious disease. The feedback from horse owners has been overwhelmingly positive and more importantly, in the two weeks since the message was sent, 47 horses have started their primary course for flu vaccination. Duncan Ballard, partner at B&W Equine said “We think it’s a great idea and clients are really pleased with the initiative – it highlights Equine ‘flu is a condition that is still out there and reinforces the need for vaccination in local areas.” Please contact the Merial Equine team for more information on 0870 600 0123.

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