Imagine that overnight a new state law goes into effect declaring that from now on you do not own your animals but rather you are their “guardian.” Does this sound farfetched? Some local communities have already made this change The first legal step on this road has been the addition of “owner-guardian” language to local ordinances, then changing the wording to “guardian” only. One state now

The International Collating Centre, Newmarket, England, and other sources reported the following disease outbreaks.

Contagious equine metritis (CEM) was recorded in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom (UK). One case of Taylorella equigenitalis infection was confirmed in France. The number of CEM-carrier animals detected in the USA since the disease was

Infectious diseases are a constant risk to the health and welfare of horses. Along with vaccination, preventive management techniques are critical to disease prevention.

Horse owners should:

• Develop a comprehensive biosecurity plan with a veterinarian and communicate it to all employees. This plan should include disinfection of stalls, barn equipment, and hors

Following is a report by the animal health surveillance network (RAIZO) of the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec.

Only two cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) had been reported in Québec in the past 35 years until the fall of 2008, when the province experienced an outbreak of the disease. The first case was reported by Sonia Chénier,

Chromosomes are large segments of DNA wound around special proteins within each cell’s nucleus. They contain nearly all of the body’s genetic material. Horses have 64 chromosomes (or 32 pairs) including the two sex chromosomes (XY in males and XX in females). The sire and dam each contribute 32 chromosomes to their offspring. Modern cytogenetic methods enable the identification of all 32 pair

African horse sickness virus (AHSV) and bluetongue virus (BTV) are both members of the genus Orbivirus of the family Reoviridae. Both cause serious, noncontagious but infectious, arthropod-borne diseases in equids and ruminants, respectively. AHSV infects all equids, causing asymptomatic infection in zebra and African donkeys, but it is the most lethal infectious disease of horses

A winter weather warning for Kentucky had been issued, and all the horses were in the barn for the night as a precaution. After all, how often have the weather forecasters been overenthusiastic about “catastrophic” storms?

Overnight the electricity went out; both landline and cell phones were dead. Trees, limbs and telephone poles were down, blocking roads and causing major damage to

“Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specific populations and the application of this study to control health problems.”
– J.M. Last: A Dictionary of Epidemiology, ed 2. New York, Oxford University Press, 1988.

While a definition is a good place to start when thinking about the role of epidemiology in equine health,

Influenza is one of the most contagious diseases of horses and therefore requires a timely and accurate diagnosis to help prevent a major outbreak. This diagnosis can be achieved only by testing clinical specimens from nasal swabs.

Rapid diagnosis facilitates rapid intervention, including quarantine and vaccination–historically the most successful means to prevent the spread of

The International Collating Centre, Newmarket, England, and other sources reported the following disease outbreaks:

Two cases of contagious equine metritis (CEM) were confirmed in non-Thoroughbred horses in France. As of Feb. 23 the USDA reported 11 non-Thoroughbred stallions positive for (CEM) during the recent outbreak–four in Kentucky, three in Indiana, three in Wisconsin, and one in