Summer outbreaks of vesicular stomatitis (VS)--a painful blistering disease that affects livestock, including horses-resulted in quarantines at multiple locations in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, according to a recent update issued by the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC). The viral infection, thought to be spread by flies, can cause horses, cattle and other livestock to develop blister-like lesions that can take several weeks to heal. The Commission's recommendation for preventing VS transmission is "CONTROL BITING FLIES."

Flies: underestimated disease carriers

While the challenge of managing flies is not new to stable and farm owners, there is new awareness and concern about the diseases they spread. "Flies have been underestimated as vectors of disease," said Dennis D. French, DVM, professor, Veterinary Clinical Sciences at Louisiana State University and a specialist in equine parasite research. "There is good evidence that flies can spread disease, and many of these pathogens can also infect humans."

Suburban development and growing horse populations increase need to control flies

As suburban developments creep far outside the nation's cities, more and more homeowners find that their neighbors are horses, and flies are attracted to and breed in organic matter in stables and pastures. Both suburbs and horse populations are growing at a healthy rate. The recently released 2002 USDA Census reports that there are more than a half million farms with horses and the number of farms with horses increased by 50,000 from the 1997 census. According to The American Horse Council, there are nearly seven million horses in the U.S. used for pleasure, sport and agriculture.

New product provides exceptional fly control

Fortunately, there have been significant advances in fly control and the newest approach targets flies at their source-at the immature stage-preventing developing flies from emerging into adults. Earlier this year Serene(TM) Feed-Though Fly Control was made available to horse owners through equine veterinarians. It controls house flies and biting stable flies and helps reduce the need for pesticide sprays both on and around horses. And Serene contains no organophosphates-ingredients used in some fly control products that have caused concern among horse owners.

"Flies like to feed on organic matter and are attracted to the mucous membranes of horses, including eyes, mouth and wounds, so it's not difficult to see how transmission of disease takes place," noted Dr. French. "I've used Serene and have achieved better fly control with this product than anything else I've tried. Once we achieve exceptional fly control around our horses, I think we'll see disease transmission markedly reduced."

For more information

To learn more about Serene Feed-Through Fly Control visit http://www.sereneflycontrol.com/ or call 800-208-2270.