A Coggins test screens horses' blood for antibodies that are indicative of the presence of EIA. | Photo: Alexandra Beckstett/The Horse

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture has confirmed the first EIA positive horse for 2018 in Oklahoma, the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) reported July 5.

“The 16-year-old Quarter Horse mare located in Kay County was euthanized,” the EDCC said. “The horse was recently purchased from an Alabama sale barn without a current Coggins test and then sold to a rescue facility in Oklahoma. There is a quarantine in place at the Oklahoma facility.”

Equine infectious anemia is a viral disease that attacks horses’ immune systems. The virus is transmitted through the exchange of body fluids from an infected to a noninfected animal, often by blood-feeding insects such as horseflies, and more rarely through the use of blood-contaminated instruments or needles