Two barns are under quarantine at Beulah Park, located near Columbus, Ohio, as state veterinary officials continue to investigate a possible equine herpesvirus (EHV) outbreak.

Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) executive director Tom Fries Jr. said the state Department of Agriculture got a "presumptive positive" on Dec. 31 from a horse stabled in Barn 24, one of the two barns under quarantine. Barn 25 was later quarantined as a precaution after a horse was purchased and moved into the barn from Barn 24.

The horse from Barn 24 showed clinical signs of the neurologic strain of equine herpesvirus, and the prognosis isn't good, Fries said. EHV is a highly contagious virus that can cause a variety of ailments in horses including rhinopneumonitis (a respiratory disease mostly of young horses), abortion in broodmares, and myeloencephalopathy (the neurologic form, which can lead to death).

Fries said Barn 25 "could be low-risk," and the quarantine could be lifted as soon as Jan. 7 or 8. Still, no horses are permitted to leave Beulah Park while the quarantine is in place, and the OSRC prefers that no horses be brought onto the track grounds