On Thursday January 18, the State Veterinarian’s Office of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) confirmed that a horse that had been exposed to another horse with equine eerpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) tested positive for equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1). The infected horse is on a small, private sport horse farm in Albemarle County.
The horse had been a patient at New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where it was exposed to a horse that was subsequently diagnosed with equine herpes myeloencephalopathy.
The Virginia horse had a fever, but is not showing any other clinical signs. The farm in Albemarle County is under quarantine and all exposed horses are being monitored twice daily for fever (temperature over 101.5 F) and other clinical signs. No horses have been off the farm since this horse returned from New Bolton Center. No other horses have been exposed to this horse.
The Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) works to protect horses and the horse industry from the threat of infectious diseases in North America. The communication system is designed to seek and report real time information about disease outbreaks similar to how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerts the human population about diseases in people.
