Be sure to have dedicated grooming equipment for each horse to minimize chances of spreading infection (this applies even in times when all the horses seem healthy). This includes the rag in your back pocket you just used to wipe a horse’s nose, or any sponges. | Photo: iStock

I started writing about EHV-1 outbreaks back in 2003, when there was an incident that killed 12 horses and sickened many others. It touched at least three facilities, devastating horse owners, handlers, and veterinarians alike. Scientists first called the pathogen an “atypical viral strain.” They later developed a test that allowed them to determine that strain differs from the one that usually causes respiratory disease in young horses. Since then, there has been ongoing work to further characterize viruses causing the most severe kind of EHV-1 infection, the neurologic form.

In the 14 years since, our industry has seen its share of EHV-1 incidents, each resulting in a flurry of industry response, quarantines, and eventually resolution. With each new incident comes further planning on how best to control the neurologic form of infection.

Sometimes in my media role I feel like a broken record with charges to adopt biosecurity practices and efforts to explain concepts such as how either variant, wild or neurologic, can cause neurologic signs and, thus, warrant precautionary actions