ESMS Management of the EHV-1 Problem

Here at ESMS, we are being as proactive as possible to provide the best preventative measures to protect your horses from potential spread of infection of this viral disease. You will observe similar precautions being taken at many University and private veterinary facilities around the country in the wake of this outbreak. The goal is to be responsible with your horses’ health and to help prevent this from being something on a larger scale that causes further damage to the industry.

The best prevention of spread is to stop horse traffic… knowing that the virus is spread rapidly by aerosol – and can spread rapidly by horses sharing the same air space in a facility. Because of this, we are asking that people consider reducing travel to other facilities, including ESMS for a few days. We are still in the process of gathering specific documented information from the authorities in the different states where exposed animals traveled. If someone was at any of the recent events, there is at least some potential for exposure to the virus and we suggest taking a few days off to monitor those horses for any signs of infection by taking their temperatures twice daily. If an exposed horse develops a fever of 102 or above, please have them evaluated, and potentially submit a nasal swab to determine if they are shedding virus. Given that the virus is spread by aerosol, the safest approach is to have this initial examination and any diagnostics performed at home. If there is concern for early signs of infection, we can then discuss appropriate medical intervention.

As for the day-to-day activities at the clinic, we are altering our usual routine of how we handle horses by reducing the mixing of horses from different sources. We enjoy our friendly atmosphere and hope to keep it that way, but we will try to have only individuals or smaller groups of horses from the same source in the exam rooms at the same time – remembering that the virus is spread in the air. The other possibility is that the virus could be spread by people – hands and clothing – so you will see employees being more attentive to keeping themselves clean when handling horses.

Many of the routine hospital functions remain the same as always. We always are very restrictive of any contact with the foaling mares and sick hospitalized horses. Our facilities are designed for just this process and the hospital care remains the same. We will be cautious when admitting a new horse to determine if they have any risk of exposure to the virus, and will be diligent – as usual – in monitoring our hospitalized patient for a fever. Horses that have a fever are always assessed for possible viral respiratory infection and sequestered in isolation until proven that there is no infection. This will not change.

Please know that we are staying in contact with experts in multiple states to keep ourselves abreast of the latest knowledge on the outbreak, and we will try to keep you informed through multiple avenues when we learn valuable information.