Iowa Horse Confirmed With Neurologic EHV-1

The Linn County premises where the 14-year-old resides has been quarantined.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Iowa Horse Confirmed With Neurologic EHV-1
The Linn County premises where the 14-year-old resides has been quarantined. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) officials have confirmed a 14-year-old Paint mare in Linn County with the neurologic form of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1). Seventeen additional horses were exposed. The affected horse is reported as alive, and the premises has been quarantined.

EHV 101

Herpesvirus is highly contagious among horses and can cause a variety of ailments in equids, including rhinopneumonitis (a respiratory disease usually found in young horses), abortion in broodmares, and equine herpesvirus myeloencephalitis (EHM, the neurologic form).

equine herpesvirus
RELATED CONTENT: Health Alert: Equine Herpesvirus (Video)

In many horses, the first or only sign of EHV-1 infection is fever, which can go undetected. In addition to fever, other common signs of EHV-1 infection in young horses include cough, decreased appetite, depression, and a nasal discharge. Pregnant mares typically show no signs of infection before they abort, and abortions usually occur late in gestation (around eight months) but can be earlier. Abortions can occur anywhere from two weeks to several months following infection with EHV-1.

Horses with EHM usually have a fever at the onset of the disease and might show signs of a respiratory infection. A few days later, neurologic signs such as ataxia (incoordination), weakness or paralysis of the fore- and hind limbs, urine retention and dribbling, loss of tail tone, and recumbency (inability to rise) develop

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
437 votes · 437 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!