Another horse has been euthanized in the wave of EHV-1 cases that has cancelled shows and led to requirements for handling horses to avoid contagion. He was the third to be put down in connection with the outbreak.
The horse was a 20-year-old warmblood gelding in Los Angeles County, where he had attended a show last week He displayed neurological signs Feb. 22 was confirmed positive for Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) secondary to equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1 non-neuropathogenic strain) Feb. 24. The horse was euthanized due to severity of clinical signs, according to the Equine Disease Communicatoin Center.
Three horses that had attended an event in Riverside County, Calif., and then returned home ran a fever with no neurologic signs but were confirmed positive for EHV-1. The horses in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Mateo counties have been isolated and will be quarantined at home, along with any exposed companions. Three additional horses on the index event premise, outside of the index quarantine barn, displaying fever only with no neurologic signs were confirmed positive for EHV-1
Meanwhile on the east coast, Equestrian Sport Productions that runs the Adequan Global Dressage Festival and Winter Equestrian Festival on Feb. 23 instituted strict new protocols for anyone shipping horses into the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and any new back numbers processed will be required to sign a declaration stating that the horses entering the facility are healthy and have not been in a California competition after Jan. 28.
There are also new testing and isolation criteria for horses coming from California, where a new show planned for this month at LAEC was cancelled because of the EHV-1 situation. Due to the EHV-1 situation at Desert International Horse Park and West Palms Events’ commitment to equine health, it was decided to conclude the LA February show and not add an extra show to the calendar.
The Desert Horse Park sent 11 tests to the California Department of Food and Agriculture lab earlier this week. Three additional horses tested positive for EHV-1 yesterday. One of the three was being tested for the first time after a recently detected fever. The other two positive EHV-1 cases were for horses that had previously tested negative.
Two horses tested negative as a follow up to their initial negative test. These horses will be carefully watched but no further testing is planned. Six previously reported positive cases were re-tested. One of these tested negative and will be scheduled for a follow up test in seven days. All three of the first cases on the property have now tested negative. The park has sought five additional tests for horses with initial fevers.
Three horses attending the LAEC show had been at Desert International Horse Park, returned to their home barn, and then came to LAEC after five days of isolation instead of seven. A statement from West Palms Event noted they also were made aware of a fourth horse who attended its Los Angeles show that had been at Desert International Horse Park inside the 7-day minimum quarantine.
Desert International Horse Park had cancelled its show scheduled for this week and closed access to new arrivals for at least the next week. Instead of running the show under a reduced format as planned, there is now a schedule for each barn/trainer group to school horses in dedicated rings to avoid any exposure to horses outside of their barn/trainer group.The park also has developed rules for the next few days and an updated set of protocols.
An outbreak of EHV-1 in Europe last year led to a massive cancellation of shows.