Disease Alerts

On Monday February 26, 2018, the Kentucky Office of the State Veterinarian received notification confirming the diagnosis of Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) in a Warmblood mare that had imported through the USDA’s New York Animal Import Center and consigned to a private quarantine facility in KY to complete CEM quarantine.  The mare arrived at the KY facility on February 18. 2018 and first developed acute neurologic signs during the evening on Sunday, February 25. The mare was referred and transported to a local equine hospital the following morning where she was diagnosed positive for EHV-1 neuropathogenic strain.  This mare had no direct exposure to resident horses while in quarantine and no other horses in the facility are exhibiting clinical signs of EHM. The population of horses will continue to be monitored and horses identified or considered to have had indirect exposure will test NEG prior to being released from quarantine. Transport cohorts have been identified and notices given to appropriate personnel. USDA officials and transport staff have been notified of the diagnosis.