According to a Feb. 10 proMED report, a virulent anthrax outbreak has caused the deaths of 42 horses from rural communities in the municipalities of Pueblo Nuevo and Condega in Nicaragua. The report was made from a translation of a story in the Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa (https://www.laprensa.com.ni).

Anthrax is characterized by a high fever (up to 107°F) and a quick death. Infected horses frequently have ventral edema, or swelling, and obvious sickness. Anthrax is typically transmitted through the interrupted feeding of horse flies (Tabanidae) or through the horse’s natural grazing activity. Rigor mortis is absent or incomplete in an anthrax carcass, and equine carcasses often have dark blood oozing from the mouth, nostrils, and anus. Laboratory confirmation of infection  is based on finding the bacterium Bacillus anthracis in a blood sample or blood culture. Learn more about anthrax at www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=2859