During the 2007 calendar year, 128,912 serum samples were tested for equine infectious anemia (EIA) in Kentucky. Private testing accounted for 111,607 samples. These samples were collected and tested to comply with state regulations governing the sale and exhibition of equine in Kentucky or to meet interstate transportation requirements. Another 17,305 samples were collected through the Kentucky Market Surveillance and Disease Investigation Program. Each testing program detected one EIA-infected equid.

An EIA-positive 23-year-old mare mule, privately tested for change of ownership, had resided in Christian County, Ky., for more than 15 years. Twelve other equine (nine mules and three horses) that had been companions of this mule were tested on multiple occasions and were determined free of the disease.

The other positive case, an Appaloosa gelding, was purchased at auction in Alabama on a Saturday night. The gelding was transported over the weekend to Kentucky and offered for sale the following Monday at a Kentucky approved auction market where blood was drawn and tested positive for EIA under the Market Surveillance and Disease Investigation Program.

As can be seen in the chart below, the number of samples tested has consistently increased during the past 20 years. The evidence continues to suggest a decreased prevalence of this virus within our equine populations, demonstrating the efficacy of consistent and accurate disease surveillance within identifiable populations.

Contact: E.S. Rusty Ford; Equine Programs Manager; Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

For more information on these, or any of Kentucky’s other equine programs, visit KyAgr.com/statevet/equine/.  

EIA testing in Kentucky, 1990 through 2006.

This is an excerpt from Equine Disease Quarterly, funded by underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, brokers, and their Kentucky agents.

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