Two horses in a suburb of Tampa, Fla., were euthanatized last weekend after showing deteriorating clinical signs of the neurological form of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1). Both horses tested positive for the virus on numerous samples submitted for testing. State officials have placed the barn under official quarantine.

No link has been established to previous outbreaks, according to Mike Short, DVM, equine programs manager for Florida’s Division of Animal Industry.

“We’re certainly looking at all the horses on the premises and seeing where they’ve come from and if they’ve had any history of being around any known outbreaks–so far we’ve come up with none,” Short said. “We’re pretty confident at this point that none of these horses had direct contact with the Wellington area during that outbreak, so we don’t believe it’s directly connected.”

Short said the affected horses had not been in contact with any outside horses for at least three weeks prior to showing clinical signs.

State officials have interviewed the veterinarians and farriers working on the farm to determine if they had been in contact with any suspected neurologic cases. A trainer working at the barn was also interviewed. No links to sick horses were discovered. 

“We haven’t really been able to turn up anything where we thought we could tie it to any other cases or any other farm,” Short said. “What I’m hoping is that it was recrudescence (appearance of clinical signs in a horse that carries the virus latently) from one of the horses there, and it was contained on that farm. I’m hoping there’s not much risk outside of that stable, and that’s what it’s looking like at this point.”

Short asked that veterinarians contact state officials if they suspect a case of EHV-1.

State officials are monitoring the property, and the quarantined horses’ temperatures are being monitored twice daily.

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