6-30 IAN Herpes Epidemic

 What is the latest on the equine herpes outbreak we experienced a few weeks ago? It’s still dangerous and people who own horses still have to be concerned. We’ll talk about precautions in a minute.

  As the media has reported and as veterinarians have asserted the equine herpes virus can be very lethal in our horse populations. I got on the phone with Idaho chief veterinarian Dr. Bill Barton and asked if this was going to be an epidemic and what precautions horse owners ought to take. “I wouldn’t say we are on the verge of an epidemic. This  can be a serious disease in horses and we have wanted to inform the horse owning public of steps they can take to prevent their horse from becoming infected. This disease is spread through the airborne route, it can be spread by horse to horse contact, it can also be spread by humans handling their horses and their tack, their equipment and then sharing it with another horse so there are several routes of transmission. We just want folks to be aware that there is a small population of horses out there that may have been infected at this event and take those necessary steps to prevent their horse from becoming infected.