Equine Herpesvirus Reported at KY Training Track
Description:
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture has placed a barn at the HighPointe Training Center under quarantine after horses there have tested positive for a mild strain of equine herpesvirus (EHV-I) in recent days.
The Equine Disease Communication Center reported Jan. 7 that tests on a horse at a private farm near the training center had tested positive for the more serious neuropathogenic strain of EHV-I. The horse with the more serious strain spiked a fever the first week of January that led to testing of horses at HighPointe.
Tests at HighPointe have only found the milder, "wild" strain. One test initially showed the wild strain and then the Kentucky State Veterinarian's Office reported Jan. 11 that five more had tested positive for the wild strain at HighPointe. On Jan. 13, those five horses joined the initial HighPointe horse with the milder strain in isolation.
Rusty Ford, equine programs manager for the Kentucky State Veterinarian's Office, said the barn at HighPointe where the six horses who have tested positive resided remains under quarantine. Officials from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture continue to monitor the LaGrange, Ky. training center. Ford said Jan. 14 that no additional horses have tested positive.
"While we're watching the entire population there, the evidence today suggests that we have the one barn affected by the virus," Ford said Jan. 13 of the barn with about 30 horses. "We're taking the precautions needed to mitigate that risk."
Turfway Park will not accept horses from the training center until the disease clears.
"We just want to exercise an abundance of caution," said Turfway general manager Chip Bach. "Right now we're not allowing any horse in from HighPointe. Once we get a better picture of what's going on there—everyone's currently confident it's been contained to one space—we'll re-evaluate that."
The Northern Kentucky track also is requiring all horses who arrive on the property to initially stay in the receiving barn.
"On our side, any horses shipping in for races, we're directing them all to the receiving barn," Bach said. "We're just trying to stay ahead of it. We're cleaning down the receiving barn really well; we're using our bio-security measures at the gate with the horse I.D. people.
"We've experienced (EHV-I) before and know how devastating it can be when it gets on the grounds so we're going to do our best to work in a preventative manner."
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story reported an incorrect number of horses affected and did not accurately identify the location of the horse with the neuropathogenic strain. BloodHorse regrets the mistake.