EHV Closes Connecticut Equine Hospital

Fairfield Equine Associates in Newtown, Connecticut closed this week after a horse stabled there tested positive for Equine Herpes Virus.

Fairfield Equine is a lameness-specialist facility offering high-end diagnostic and surgical services, with a client list of many of the top sport horse farms and trainers in New England and New York. Staff veterinarians from Fairfield also offer satellite practice services in the Palm Beach, Florida area and other major shows during the winter.

While Fairfield is continuing to offer ambulatory services with barn visits by vets, the clinic is under quarantine.

Here is the statement from FEA on the quarantine:(begin quote)

We recently identified a strain of Herpes virus in a horse hospitalized at our facility. This horse was admitted to our facility from his stable in Vermont on December 13 for a lameness examination. He had arthrosocopic surgery at our facility on December 19 and developed a fever on December 24. No neurologic signs have been exhibited thus far but the virus that was identified from a nasal swab was the neuropathogenic form of Herpes virus. This horse was immediately isolated in a separate building from our main facility when he first exhibited a fever and routine procedures were followed to limit the spread from this horse to other horses on our premises. We are intensively tracing any connection that the affected horse might have had with other horses at our facility. We are reassured that this current infection involves only one horse and his signs are limited to a fever with no neurologic signs.

At the current time, we are not admitting horses to our facility as out-patients or in-patients. We have made alternative arrangements with a local hospital for emergency hospital or surgical care that might become necessary.

We are currently in touch with Federal and State officials as well as experts in the field of equine infectious diseases. We are currently recommending that any horse that has had any possible connection with the affected horse in our hospital, whether by human contact or horse contact, have its temperature taken twice daily for at least 2 weeks. If any unusual rise in temperature is noted, you should contact your veterinarian for further advice.

We will continue to update this information as frequently as possible. You should be assured that our doctors that are seeing horses at surrounding stables have had no exposure to the infected horse in our hospital.

(end quote)

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