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Post by Scout on Dec 22, 2011 11:25:30 GMT -6
Equibellum, which was once almost barren of horses and just about everything else, is now infested with Equine Infectious Anemia aka swamp fever. The illness was spread around by those pesky horseflies. One horsefly got infected with it and then transferred it to a horse who then got bitten by another horsefly which got infected and transferred it to another horse and so forth. This epidemic is very deadly and also referred to as equine AIDS because the virus is very similar to the human HIV virus.
EIA comes in three different varieties. The first being the acute version which shows itself in high fever,severe anemia, weakness, swelling of the lower abdomen and legs, weak pulse and irregular heartbeat. The second version is the chronic type in which the horses will having recurring acute bouts along with weight loss, ventral edema (swollen belly and legs) and anemia. Sometimes horses with this version can live for a year or more. The third variety is the least of the three. The horses with this will show no symptoms but, the scary part about that is that they could die randomly without notice. Sometimes, when a horse gets this disease, they do actually get better. But, they could contract the illness again very quickly from something as simple as stress. Even if a horse does get over EIA, they will be carriers for the rest of their lives and could easily infect others.
There are NO vaccines or cures for this illness only medicines to ease the pain and sooth the symptoms.
Loners or rouges are at the most risk of getting the illness but, herd members have greater risk of spreading the disease. There is no way one can prevent EIA from happening because it can exist wherever horseflies are.
((your horse doesn't have to get this disease if you don't want them too. Also, if you decide that you want them to have the sickness and still want to play them then they can be the rare percent that actually survive it but, they still will be carriers for life))
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