Equestrian Sport Productions announced today that a horse who spiked a temperature at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival grounds has tested negative for Equine Herpes Virus-1. The horse and its barn mate were isolated.
Anyone shipping horses into the Palm Beach International Equestrian Festival and Global’s Equestrian Village facilities will be required to sign a declaration stating that the horses entering the facility have not competed at Florida venues outside Wellington or been in close contact with horses that competed in other Florida venues outside Wellington within 10 days prior to their arrival.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the EHV-1 front, a three-year-old filly who tested positive was euthanized at a training facility near Versailles, Ky., where 24 horses in the same barn as the affected mare were tested. Five of the nine horses in the isolation barn were positive, with the last fever reported on March 12. Enhanced biosecurity measures have been implemented at other sanctioned training facilities in Kentucky and at Turfway Park.
A 14-day quarantine was initiated at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Teaching Hospital for the main equine barn facility and for horses in the isolation unit. One horse has been confirmed with EH Respiratory. In a Shelby County, Tenn., boarding facility, 100 horses were exposed, but only one horse was confirmed as EHV-4 and it is alive.EHV-4 can occasionally cause abortions in unvaccinated mares.
In Utah, a horse with EHV-1 was euthanized after becoming sick after being at the Weber County Complex, where events have been cancelled for the next two weeks. While two more horses previously at the Weber County Complex have fevers, are being tested for EHV-1 and quarantined, it is estimated that 100 horses were exposed.
Two EHM (myeloencephalopathy) and 2 EHV-1 cases were quarantined and isolated at a stable in Brewster, N.Y., after one of the EHM horses competed in equitation on March 5 at Old Salem Farm in nearby North Salem. It started showing symptoms on March 7.The stable has already implemented strict biosecurity measures, temperature monitoring and has been very cooperative during this investigation and situation. The origin of the disease is unknown and still under investigation. Old Salem Farm has no known cases of EHV-1 or EHM at this time. Show management is cleaning and disinfecting the facility and following appropriate EHV-1 biosecurity protocols.
Earlier this month, EHV-1 struck in California. A 12-year-old warmblood gelding in Los Angeles County displaying neurological signs was confirmed positive last Tuesday. Following an assessment of the facility where the gelding lives, 45 potentially exposed horses have been quarantined with enhanced biosecurity measures and twice-daily temperature monitoring. The owners of all exposed horses have been notified and no additional cases have been identified..
There also are seven horses under special quarantine at a boarding facility for show horses in Chester, Pa. The quarantine was triggered by detection of EHV-1 in multiple febrile horses on the premises. Investigation is ongoing, but due to a possible connection to an EHM case NOT located at this premises, the Department is issuing an official quarantine and is working with the very proactive barn management and private practitioners to monitor the health of the horses on the premises.
Also in the Keystone State, a horse showing neurological signs of EHV-1 was euthanized at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.. The limited number of potentially exposed horses have been identified and are being contacted by New Bolton Center and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.This case has no known association with international travel, transport, or shows.
Three barns at Maryland’s Laurel Park were quarantined because of the Equine Herpes virus. All horses in residence must stay on the grounds until further guidance is offered. One horse tested positive at Laurel. Also in Maryland, there was an unrelated infection of a horse in Cecil County, That animal was euthanized.
At the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, a horse who spiked a fever which led to a quarantine of Barn D turned out to be EHV-1 negative. Based on that, the State of Florida, WEC veterinarians and management lifted the quarantine on the 16 horses housed in Barn D and horse showing will continue as scheduled.
As of today, no horses have tested positive for EHV-1 on WEC property. Moving forward, horses that have traveled to another Florida competition venue and horses who have been exposed to horses that have been at other Florida competition venues in the last 10 days will not be allowed on WEC grounds.
All equines entering the property must present a health certificate or statement of health from a licensed veterinarian within 7 days to the horse show office.
Until further notice, ship-ins (those working from trailers) will be restricted from the property. A dressage show scheduled for this month at WEC already was cancelled, but next month’s dressage show–with several top Olympic contenders scheduled to compete–will be held.
Shows in Florida have issued restrictions and new measures to insure the safety of horses on their grounds after a horse in Ocala came up positive for EHV-1 earlier this month. The horse was not at a show venue when its symptoms appeared, and it was not shipped in from Europe.
It was doing well after being treated at the University of Florida large animal hospital, according to the Chestnut Hill Farm Facebook page. A second horse whose stall was adjacent to the index horse while at the farm has also been confirmed positive.. The second horse is not exhibiting neurologic symptoms, although it has been febrile and is being treated at the separate isolation facility.
The farm’s horses that were at WEC were evacuated as soon as the positive test was revealed. Owners are working with state veterinarians and and inspectors as well as the University of Florida to achieve a tight quarantine.
On March 1, international equestrian competitions in 10 European countries were cancelled by the FEI (international equestrian federation) until March 28 due to the rapid evolution of a very aggressive strain of the neurological form of EHV-1, which originated in Valencia, Spain and already has led to related outbreaks in at least three other countries in Europe.
The FEI cancelled events in all disciplines in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Germany and Slovakia until March 28.The advent of the disease also led to cancellation of the FEI World Cup Finals in jumping and dressage that were set to start March 30 in Sweden. (See the story in the main section of this website.)
“This was not an easy decision to block events in mainland Europe, particularly after the major disruption to the FEI Calendar caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said, “but this EHV-1 outbreak is probably the most serious we have had in Europe for many decades and our decision is based on clearly identified epidemiological risk factors.
“This strain of EHV-1 is particularly aggressive and has already caused equine fatalities and a very large number of severe clinical cases. We need to keep our horses safe. We are also aware that a large number of horses left the venue in Valencia without an official health certificate, meaning they had an unknown health status. Some horses were already sick, and the risk of transmission from these horses is a major concern.
“Cancelling these competitions in mainland Europe…limits the number of horses traveling internationally and therefore reduces the likelihood of this very serious virus being transmitted on an increasingly wider scale. We also strongly recommend that the affected member federations should also cancel their national events.
“We are very conscious of the fact that this is a very stressful and distressing time, and that this is potentially hugely disruptive for those athletes aiming for their Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) or confirmation results for Tokyo, but we are looking at ways to alleviate that in order to assist athlete/horse combinations in getting their MERs or confirmation results once the events in mainland Europe are allowed to resume.”