No Not EHV-1 Again!
Rodeo and show season is right around the corner and here we go again... our neighbors to the North and South, Canada and California have confirmed cases of equine herpesvirus otherwise known as EHV-1. (11 in Orange County) I’m Susan Allen, stay tuned. Last year much of the rodeo and show season was impacted by the equine herpsevirus better known as EHV-1. It all started when infected horses left a cutting event in Ogden Utah dispersing throughout the West with one confirmed case actually ending up in the facility I rope at. While our barn was one of the few quarantined for several months, the outbreak could have been much worse. The horse industry played offense dispersing information through the USDA Veterinary Services, the American Horse Council and the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Despite online panic and rumors these groups played key roles in communicating accurate information and they havn't stopped . The USDA is currently conducting a study that includes checking the vaccination histories on the horses that were in Ogden to see if there is less viral shedding in horses that have been vaccinated fully because it appears that horses with the best immune responses had been treated with vaccines that only contain the herpesvirus antigen and not combined with other combo vaccines. According to USDA Veterinarians quarantining horses appears to be as important as vaccination to control outbreaks and from all reports both Canada and California are doing a great job.
