Minnesota Department of Agriculture Confirms EIA and EEE Cases
EIA, a viral disease that attacks horses’ immune systems, is transmitted through the exchange of blood from an infected to an uninfected animal, often by blood-feeding insects such as horseflies. | Photo: Alexandra Beckstett/The Horse

Two Minnesota horses tested positive for reportable equine diseases on Aug. 8.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health confirmed on Aug. 21 that a 10-year-old Quarter Horse gelding in Pine County (east-central Minnesota) tested positive for equine infectious anemia (EIA), and a 14-year-old Belgian mare in Otter Tail County (west-central Minnesota) tested positive for Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE).

The Quarter Horse gelding had no clinical signs of EIA but was isolated until tested (positive) by his new owner upon purchase. To prevent the spread of EIA, the new owner, a veterinarian, euthanized the horse on Aug. 8. Horses on the premises where the horse was last known to be kept were quarantined, and all horses still at that premises tested negative. However, the Board of Animal Health continues its investigation, looking for other horses that might have been exposed and to identify an as-yet-unknown intermediate premises

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