A horse virus outbreak has equine owners in southern states like Texas and Oklahoma very concerned. An EHV outbreak was believed to have started at an event in Texas. Dr. Thorne talked about the disease.

“EHV is a virus, a herpes virus, to be exact, in horses. The good thing, for starters, is that it doesn’t affect humans, but we can carry it, however. So, the herpes virus comes in two very distinct serovars, type one and type four. There are other types, but in our populations, really, it’s just one and four causing problems. And I believe what happened in Waco was going to be an EHV one, and that typically starts out as a predominantly respiratory infection, you know, notable to all of us, as far as a coughing horse or something like that, and that virus was probably shed by a horse that harbored it.”

He said the EHV virus is very contagious.

“Unfortunately, that virus is just not gone altogether. It can recrudesce with a stressful event, so more than likely, a very stressed animal was allowed to recrudesce the virus, and then poof, you have this extremely contagious virus that spreads rapidly. Yes, it’s a herpes virus, so it’s not very strong, necessarily, in the open spaces, but man, it’ll be very, very contagious.”

Thorne talked about the symptoms of infected horses.

The predominant symptoms are respiratory symptoms, and this will come across as a runny nose or snotty nose, but cough, depression, and I mean, hands down, a fever. You walk out there, and that horse is on fire. The main thing you want to watch is that any temperature over 101-and-a-half is deemed a fever in a horse. You know, you could say 101 generally is high for your horse, but high fever, depression, cough, or not, but the other thing that sneaks up on us is the hind limb ataxia, the insensitivities of their tail and their perineum. So, some horses may have a mild fever, not cough or anything, or look depressed, but their symptoms are predominantly towards the hind end of the animal, insensitive tails, insensitive perineum, or maybe they’re just not controlling their urine, so it looks like they peed themselves.”

What should horse owners do if they think the animals are sick?

“So, if you’re thinking your horse is looking like it might be sick or getting suspicious, then get yourself a digital thermometer. Take a temperature at home, because, you know, we want you to stay home. We don’t want you to have to haul anywhere if you can help it. But get a temperature, then double check it, and if it is over 101.5, then get on the horn with your veterinarian and describe what you’re seeing and where you’ve been. What some people seem to forget with the rush of an outbreak is, wait a minute, where have I been? And not necessarily my horse, but where have I been with other horses and came home?”

Many organizations and boarding facilities have canceled major events and advised owners to suspend hauling and implement quarantine measures as a precaution.

Vaccines are a key tool for helping horse owners get out in front of possible EHV infections.