Second Strangles Case Found at Mahoning Valley

A second horse tested positive for the contagious bacterial infection strangles in Barn 4 at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, setting off a 14-day quarantine of the barn.

"As soon as the horse is removed from the property, we will begin our 14-day countdown," said Hugh Drexler, director of racing at Mahoning Valley. "Temperatures are being taken twice daily. As a precaution we are ordering horses with a high temperature or enlarged lymph nodes to be removed ASAP."

The second positive case was discovered during follow-up testing after a horse that had been stabled in Barn 4 and subsequently taken off the grounds last week was diagnosed with strangles, which is a bacterial infection of the equine upper respiratory tract and highly contagious. The disease can be spread by horse-to-horse contact or by humans, tack, buckets, and other environmental factors. Cases occasionally occur at racetracks, farms and training centers. Some other strangles cases occurred this past winter at Mahoning Valley.

Racing and training continue at the Youngstown, Ohio, track with special quarantine and training procedures in place, according to Drexler. These procedures require separate morning training hours for the horses stabled in Barn 4.

Currently, equine health officials in Kentucky have placed no state-imposed restrictions on shipping to or from Mahoning Valley, said Rusty Ford, equine operations consultant for the office of the state veterinarian.

"We're just reminding our horsemen that might be going up that way to be mindful of the disease event," he said. "Use the receiving barn. Hygiene is good. Sharing is bad."