EIA Confirmed in Saskatchewan

Two cases of EIA were reported in Saskatchewan about an hour apart.

On April 17, 2019, a positive EIA result was confirmed by the national reference laboratory for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The horse was located on a premises in the rural municipality of Beaver River, Saskatchewan. The horse had been sampled by an accredited veterinarian at the owner’s request after the owner became aware of a potential epidemiological link to other recently identified EIA cases.

No clinical signs of disease were noted at the time of sampling.

A CFIA investigation is underway and as per program policy, a quarantine has been placed on the infected horse and its on-premises contact animals. The quarantine will remain until all disease response activities have been completed, including follow-up testing and ordering the destruction of positive cases. Trace-out activities might require the CFIA to undertake actions at additional premises as outlined in the current policy.

On April 25, 2019, a positive EIA result was confirmed by the CFIA’s national reference laboratory for a horse located on a premises in the rural municipality of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. The horse had been sampled by an accredited veterinarian at the owner’s request to comply with a show pre-entry requirement.

No clinical signs of disease were noted at the time of sampling.

A CFIA investigation is underway and as per program policy, a quarantine has been placed on the infected horse and its on-premises contact animals. The quarantine will remain until all disease response activities have been completed, including follow-up testing and ordering the destruction of positive cases. Trace-out activities may require the CFIA to undertake actions at additional premises as outlined in the current policy.

Information for this report was provided by the Equine Disease Communication Center.