This week an article on TheHorse.com discussed the current situation in the western provinces of Canada with regard to equine infectious anemia (EIA). The prairies are seeing the highest number of EIA cases in years, with more than 70 horses affected on 22 different properties.
Also commonly called "swamp fever," EIA is caused by
Equine Guelph has announced a series of equine biosecurity workshops across Ontario which will take place during the month of March 2012. The sessions are free to attend and will focus on how to apply basic and practical concepts of infection control to reduce the risk of disease exposure and outbreaks in horses of all
Bob Katter, an Australian Member of Parliament and leader of the Australian Party, has proposed culling flying foxes (fruit bats) as a way to control Hendra virus, which is spread by these large Australian bats. He’s not the first person to make such a proposal, but it’s a knee-jerk reaction that in reality doesn’t
Unfortunately, because of funding challenges (translation… there was no more money), we were no longer able to maintain our equine infectious disease blog (equIDblog) as a separate site. However, based on the positive feedback we had and the amount of traffic on the original site, we still think it serves a role and are dedicated
Equine Guelph has received funding for Beat the Bugs, a new equine biosecurity venture. The program has been funded by the Agricultural Biosecurity Program, a Canadian federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
From ongoing cases of strangles to large outbreaks of EHV, it’s abundantly clear that infection control is a critical area for the equine industry
Despite relatively intensive efforts, no cause has been identified for the deaths of 22 horses ona Kooralbyn farm in Queensland, Australia. Readily identifiable causes have been ruled out, leaving two main theories:
As mentioned in an earlier post, one possibility is botulism It can be very hard to diagnose botulism in horses, and the
A two-part study (Maddox et al. 2011) was recently published online in the Equine Veterinary Journal looking at antimicrobial resistant "superbugs" in horses in the UK. The first part of the study had the simple objective of estimating the prevalence of both MRSA nasal colonization and fecal shedding of antimicrobial resistant E. coli in the
A couple of days ago, I reported about a deadly outbreak on a Queensland farm that had killed a significant number of horses. A definitive diagnosis has still not been made, but it is starting to look like botulism might be the cause. In my previous assessment, I said botulism was a potential cause of an
There’s still no confirmed cause of death for 19 horses that died within a short period of time on a Kooralbyn, Queensland (Australia) farm. Sudden death and Queensland invariably conjures up thoughts of Hendra virus, considering the large number of Hendra cases that have occurred in the area this year, but that particular disease has
Quarantine is an important, effective and underused practice on horse farms. Quarantine can reduce the risk of introducing new infectious agents to animals on the farm or limit the spread of something that’s already starting to circulate through the herd.
A recent article from TheHorse.com gives a good overview of why and how to implement
