Kentucky EHV-1 Update for Woodford County

Following is an April 3 update from the Kentucky State Veterinarian's office about the EHV-1 incident at Blackwood Training Center in Woodford County, Kentucky.

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Following is an April 3 update from the Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office about the  EHV-1 incident at Blackwood Training Center in Woodford County, Kentucky.

The Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office is also taking this opportunity to share their understanding of the latest developments at Laurel and Pimlico racetracks in Maryland.

Blackwood Training Center
Woodford County Kentucky

Results of testing on the samples (nasal swabs and whole blood—EDTA) collected from each horse stabled in Barn B at Blackwood Training Center in Woodford County, Kentucky, on Wednesday, March 31, have been reported negative for detection of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) DNA by PCR testing. In addition to the testing that has been completed, the horses have been monitored daily and our findings support that it has been greater than 14 days since any horse in Barn B was last potentially exposed to a clinical case. 

Meeting the criteria above provided us the confidence needed to release the group of horses in Barn B from restriction and allow them to resume their normal training and racing activities beginning on Friday, April 2.

Daily monitoring of the horses stabled in Barn A at Blackwood Training Center continues. There have been no additional fevers or other clinical signs in the group of horses, and we have tentatively scheduled the horses in Barn A to be sampled (nasal swabs and whole blood) and tested by PCR later the week of April 5.

The Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office staff will be providing and distributing a general summary update late the week of April 5 when results from the planned testing at Blackwood become available.

Maryland: Laurel and Pimlico

Published reports and conversations with animal health officials in Maryland suggest that the situation at Laurel continues to evolve as additional positive samples have been collected from non-clinical horses as well as a few horses exhibiting clinical signs. 

The Maryland State Veterinarian and the Stronach Group have decided the plan moving forward is to only sample and test symptomatic horses in the affected barns. Currently, their criteria for quarantine release will be 21 days of no clinical signs reported. 

This plan relies strictly on grooms/trainers/vets to report fever or other evidence of illness, which in our opinion might result in lack of detection of circulating virus. This protocol is in direct contrast to the testing protocols we have developed in consultation with infectious disease experts and which I feel has aided our ability to maintain racing schedules/calendars with minimal disruption and inconvenience to the majority of horsemen.

In light of the current information available to us, we are in the process of developing strategies to mitigate what would be considered an elevated risk to our populations here in Kentucky should Maryland release the imposed restrictions without diagnostically demonstrating the horses and environment are free of evidence of virus circulating.

The probability is that for horses that have recently been (date to be determined by Kentucky officials) at Laurel or Pimlico will require Kentucky’s Office of State Veterinarian approval prior to entering Kentucky. 

These horses will likely be restricted and require veterinary examination and testing before being allowed to enter a Kentucky racetrack or sanctioned facility. 

This protocol has worked well in the past when we’ve had to address disease events in other states where horses were released from restrictions without testing.

Information for this report from the Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office was provided by Rusty Ford, Equine Operations Consultant.

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