The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has confirmed a case of equine strangles at a private facility in Indian River County. One other horse at the facility is suspected of having equine strangles, and eight others were exposed.
The confirmed horse had onset of clinical signs on February 4 that includes bilateral nasal discharge. It was confirmed with equine strangles on February 8. The horse was affected and alive at the time of this report.
This is the 10th confirmed case of equine strangles for Florida in 2022 and the fourth directly linked to a Louisiana kill pen and Facebook marketing campaign.
Buyers of kill pen horses from Facebook and other online selling sights are encouraged to conduct due diligence as the quarantine area described does not meet standard biosecurity recommendations for prevention of disease spread. Ensure your veterinarian helps you with biosecurity for any horses brought to your home premises, especially if they are from kill pens.
Learn more about this disease by reading this Equine Strangles Fact Sheet.
Information for this report was provided by the Equine Disease Communication Center.
