Quarantined Horse Continues To Improve

By Shannon Hicks

The latest word from Fairfield Equine Associates, the equine hospital in Newtown where one patient had developed a potentially life-threatening equine virus, is good. A male horse that had developed equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) on December 24 has not had a fever since December 28, according to the hospital’s website.

Horses usually recover from the disease, which causes respiratory infections in young horses. EHV-1 travels through the air, and produces flulike symptoms such as upper respiratory infections and a high fever. It can be passed through shared tack and barn equipment, even by human hands and clothing.

In severe cases, it can attack a horse’s nervous system and affect coordination and balance and can even lead to death. Six horses in Florida were euthanized in December after having contracted the same virus.

The virus does not pose a health hazard for humans, however.

The horse at Fairfield Equine arrived in Newtown from a small barn in Vermont on December 13, had surgery on December 19, and it was five days later — on December 24 — that his fever started and was quickly identified at EHV-1.

By earlier this week the horse was clearly on the mend.

“A follow-up blood test and nasal swab are negative for EHV-1 so we remain hopeful that he, and the remaining five horses at our facility, will be able to return to their regular stable by the weekend of January 20,” a statement posted on the hospital’s website said on January 9. Fairfield Equine has been offering online updates every days.

There are two tests to identify the virus, a blood test and a nasal swab. The horse at Fairfield Equine Associates tested positive through the nasal swab, but negative following the blood test. As soon as the horse’s fever and assimilated virus was identified, he was moved to a separate building.

Since placing the horse under voluntary quarantine, the hospital has not admitted any horses as out- or in-patients. Staff members have instead been seeing horses at surrounding stables, eliminating any exposure to the infected horse at the hospital. Also, Fairfield Equine made arrangements with a local hospital for surgical and emergency care should that became necessary.

Newtown is not the only location currently dealing with EHV-1 in Connecticut. Earlier this week it was announced that the horses at the University of Connecticut had also been quarantined after EHV-1 had been discovered at the campus. According to the Associated Press, the 72 horses in the university’s herd have been quarantined after it was discovered that three horses have the “fairly common virus.” Seven others were showing symptoms, and the school was waiting for results from their testing.

The UConn quarantine is expected to last until three weeks after nasal swabs indicate the horses are no longer contagious. Veterinarians at the university are hoping the quarantine will be lifted by early March.

The latest reported appearance of the virus has also affected a planned Connecticut Department of Agriculture sale of rescued horses scheduled to take place at the UConn polo arena on January 20. That sale has been postponed until the quarantine has been lifted.

The rescued animals are housed at the department’s Large Animal Rescue Facility, but have had no exposure to the UConn horses, according to a press release issued on January 10 by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.

Recent outbreaks have affected herds in at least ten states, including California, Florida, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.