Yes, the title’s a bit misleading. Equine herpesvirus (EHV) is everywhere, since the virus circulates widely in the horse population internationally and lies dormant in the bodies of a large percentage of healthy horses. However, cases of EHV-1 neurological disease get attention because of the severity of disease and the potential for outbreaks (for reasons we really don’t fully understand). Seeing a report of a new case isn’t surprising, since they are always occurring somewhere, but it’s worthy of note for horse owners in the area or those who might have visited the area recently.

The latest incident, reported by TheHorse.com, involves a Standardbred horse that raced at Sports Creek Raceway, a small track in Michigan. The animal raced on December 22nd and started showing signs of neurological disease on December 23rd. It presumably didn’t pick up the virus at the track, because 24 hours is on the very low end of the potential incubation period, so the main concern is that the horse might have been shedding the virus while at the track. It’s possible that EHV could have been transmitted to other horses via aerosols (virus on small particles released when the horse was breathing, shorting or coughing), contaminated items that were used for multiple horses (e.g. buckets), or on the hands or clothes of people. That’s why good general infection control practices are needed at tracks and other horse competitions at all times – to reduce the risk of transmission when an infectious but currently healthy animal is present (and there’s room for a lot of improvement).

Typically, the incubation period of EHV-1 in a neurological disease outbreak isn’t very long: about 4-6 days or so. If anyone had a horse at the track on the 22nd and it’s still healthy today (January 4th), odds are it won’t be affected. However, there are some instances when the incubation period can be longer, particularly with abortions in pregnant mares. Also, horses could have been infected and not gotten sick, but still be able to spread the virus to other horses with which they subsequently have contact. For this reason, several racetracks have imposed temporary entry restrictions on horses that were at Sports Creek in December. It’s probably a low risk situation, but you can never put an outbreak "back in the bottle," and a little short term inconvenience is much better than the major hassles (and deaths) that can come with an outbreak.

The affected horse was in pretty rough shape neurologically but ultimately recovered, as can occur with EHV-1 neurological disease. If your horse has to have a neurological disease, this is probably one you want since full recovery is possible. EHV-1 will probably live within this horse’s body for a while, if not lifelong, but that’s true of a large percentage of other horses as well, so after a few weeks (when the likelihood of him shedding the virus decreases), he probably poses no more risk than any other horse.