Reports of Equine Herpes Virus in different states continue to be posted by state veterinarians. Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are three states with active case reports at present. On April 2, officials at the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) published the announcement below on the agency’s Facebook page.

Background: 

On March 19, MDARD was notified of a Livingston County horse testing positive for Equine Herpes Virus type 1 (EHV-1). Unfortunately, this horse had to be humanely euthanized.

New Cases:

As of April 2, 2015, two additional Michigan horses have tested positive for EHV-1. Both horses developed fevers and are under veterinary care. One of these additional positive horses is from the same Livingston County stable in which the index horse resided.

The second additional positive horse is at a separate stable in Saginaw County in which horses attended a March 7, 2015 event in Barry County also attended by the initial positive EHV horse.

There are currently four facilities under quarantine, including the two facilities to which the EHV positive horses reside, that are monitoring horses for signs and symptoms of illness as they have had exposure to the index horse and a fever >101.5 Fahrenheit.

MDARD continues to trace all contacts of infected horses to ensure no further disease transmission has occurred. Horse owners are encouraged to vaccinate their horses and to contact their veterinarian if a horse has a fever greater than 101.5.

Post script:

In comments following this announcement, MDARD stated “All the cases have been the respiratory form with 2 of the 3 cases displaying neurological signs…We were waiting for confirmatory testing before posting an update. We have been diligent in posting verified information as soon as we get it.”

Racehorse training photo from Ocala by Jacqui Janetzko courtesy of Visit Florida.