Authorities enacted the quarantine on July 15 when a 2-year-old grade gelding tested positive for EIA. Although that horse was euthanized, two other horses were exposed. Those horses tested negative on a 60-day retest, resulting in the quarantine lift.

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 an uninfected animal, often by blood-feeding insects such as horseflies. It can also be transmitted through the use of blood-contaminated instruments or needles.

A Coggins test screens horses’ blood for antibodies that are indicative of the presence of the EIA virus. Most U.S. states require horses to have proof of a negative Coggins test in to travel across state lines.

Once an animal is infected with EIA, it is infected for life and can be a reservoir for the spread of disease