Encephalitis kills horses in Pune

MUMBAI: There could be a trouble brewing at the Pune stables of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC). According to sources few horses have died recently due to a suspect case of Encephalitis. It spreads mostly through mosquito bite and causes swelling of the brain in horses and may lead to their death.
With the Pune racing season set to begin within a month-and-a-half, sources caution it may lead to an epidemic.RWITC, however, downplayed the gravity. "Three two-year-old horses have died so far. One in April and two in the last month," informed Dr. S K Kulkarni, the chief vet at RWITC.
"All of them are from Sohna stud based in Gurgaon. Two of them belong to trainer Mansoor Shah and one to trainer Cooji Katrak," added Kulkarni.
Kulkarni further said that he is not certain that it is due to Encephalitis. "Initial assessments show that deaths are caused by Encephalitis but we are doing further investigations to ascertain the reasons."
When asked about the gravity of the situation as Encephalitis can spread through mosquito bites, Kulkarni said there is no need to worry. "We are taking all the necessary precautions," he said.
In 2008, cases of Equine influenza had surfaced at Pune racecourse.
Initially RWITC had declined it but later it had turned out to be a major scare and racing was suspended not only at RWITC but across many centres in the country. One hopes that this time RWITC takes sufficient steps to avoid the situation going out of hand.