Farm & Ranch
Veterinarian recommends measures to keep horses safe after recent EHM outbreak
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MONTANA — On Jan. 31 of this year, the Montana Department of Livestock recommended all equine events and rodeos be cancelled in Flathead County due to an outbreak of a severe equine illness.
Equine herpesvirus, myeloencephalopathy (EHM), is the neurological form of the equine herpesvirus disease that attacks the spinal cord and brain of a horse. While there are possible treatments and supportive care for horses inflicted with EHM, they are usually cost prohibitive, or do not overcome a horse’s poor prognosis.
Though the outbreak that caused the cancellation recommendation reportedly passed in mid-February, it still brought the health and safety of horses to the forefront of the minds of many owners. Fortunately, according to AHD Veterinarian Tahnee Szymanski of the Department of Livestock, there are many everyday biosecurity measures people can put in place to help keep their horses from falling ill.
First and foremost, a horse having equine herpesvirus does not in itself mean that the horse will develop neurological symptoms. According to the Department of Livestock, EHM is born of a specific variation of the virus that is less common than other forms of the disease. Dr. Szymanski explained that equine herpesvirus primarily causes respiratory illnesses instead, typically with cough, discharge, and fever, and is extremely common throughout horse populations with most horses exposed by two years of age. No new cases of EHM from the Flathead outbreak have been discovered.
“When you get (the EHM) variant, you’re more likely to see cases where it effects the central nervous system and you’re seeing neurologic signs in those animals, and that was the case up in the Flathead,” Dr. Szymanski said. “Any time that you bring horses together from multiple different sources there’s going to be a risk of spreading disease. The best thing that people can do is just be aware that they are accepting that risk when they go out into the world with their horse, and just being mindful of things that they can do to help reduce that risk, not just for EHM but also for other disease agents as well.”
Measures that horse owners can take include:
— Avoiding common water sources where possible
— Avoiding tying horses up in an area where stranger horses have been tied
— Keeping home horses that have been sick or have a fever
— Isolate ill horses away from horses that will be travelling to avoid carrying contagions
— Keep some level of isolation between traveling horses and those that stay home due to age or health risks
Additionally, Szymanski commented that there’s some speculation at the department that the regular vaccination of horses with a equine rhinopneumonitis vaccine may provide some level of protection against equine herpesvirus, though they don’t yet know to what degree.
Any instances of serious livestock health outbreaks are always reported on the Montana Department of Livestock’s website: liv.mt.gov. Information about smaller cases in an area may be obtained from local veterinarians, as they will be apprised of any situations in an area.
“With no new cases (of EHM), it’s somewhat time to get back to normal movements and activities,” Dr. Szymanski commented. “Hopefully people can just take away from this the importance of some basic, preventive biosecurity measures that they can put in place every day, regardless of if there’s cases of EHM out on the landscape or not.”
