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article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Granddam horse (right) a few days before giving birth. (Credit: National Park Service) <\/p>\n
AUSTIN – An alert has been issued to Texas horse<\/a> owners to check their animals for warning signs of a deadly virus as an outbreak begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n The spread of Equine Herpesvirus Type 1 (EHV-1) has been reported by veterinarians after a barrel racing competition in the Waco area earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Equine Herpesvirus outbreak <\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n The outbreak was noticed after the World Championship Barrel Racing (WPRA) Finals on Nov. 5\u20139.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is warning all horse owners, trainers, and venue operators who were at or near the event or have been to any large gathering of horses in the past two weeks to check their animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The strain noticed by Texas veterinarians in recent days is “particularly aggressive,” the release from Miller’s office says.\u00a0<\/p>\n The virus can spread through contact between horses, shared equipment, particles in the air, and even by the touch of handlers.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n “This virus can spread fast, it can be deadly, and the earliest signs are often so subtle they\u2019re easy to miss,” Miller said. “That\u2019s why monitoring your horses right now is critical. The quicker we identify a potential case, the better chance we have to protect not only our animals, but the entire Texas equine community.”<\/p>\n “I\u2019m asking every local horse rider, roper, trainer, and breeder to do their part today,” Miller added. “Check your horses twice a day, isolate any exposed animals, tighten up your biosecurity, and call your vet the moment something looks off. If we work together and take this seriously, we can get ahead of this outbreak and keep our horses and our state’s $12.3 billion equine industry safe.”<\/p>\n Signs of Equine Herpesvirus <\/p>\n Clinical signs of EHV-1 can vary widely, and may include:<\/p>\n Fever.Nasal discharge, coughing, or other respiratory changes.Depression or lethargy.Neurological signs: stumbling or incoordination, loss of tail tone, hind-limb\u00a0weakness, head tilt, recumbency.Abortions in pregnant mares. Who should act immediately?\u00a0 <\/p>\n Those who should act immediately are those who:<\/p>\n Have a horse that was present at the WPRA event in the Waco area\u00a0or transported one to\/from that event.Have a horse that has mingled with those transported from that event.Any horse owner or facility operator who has recently participated in large\u00a0multi\u2013barn gatherings, roping jackpots, or traveled extensively enough to include\u00a0the Waco region. How to protect your horses <\/p>\n To protect your horses and the broader Texas equine community, the TDA\u00a0recommends the following immediate steps:<\/p>\n Isolate any horse that attended the Waco event for at least 14 days from other\u00a0equines, or until cleared by a veterinarian.Suspend hauling, showing, or mixing horses from the exposure group until\u00a0further notice. Avoid taking exposed horses to other barns or events.Disinfect trailers, wash-racks, cross-ties, tie-areas, tack rooms, buckets,\u00a0grooming tools, and any shared equipment. Use an appropriate virucidal\u00a0disinfectant.Avoid sharing tack, halters, grooming equipment, buckets, water hoses, etc., between exposed and unexposed horses.Monitor temperatures twice daily for all exposed horses and report any fever (\u2265101.5 \u00b0F) or other signs to a veterinarian immediately.If any horse exhibits neurologic signs, coughing, or nasal discharge, isolate it\u00a0immediately, wear protective gear, and call your veterinarian.Keep accurate records: track which horses were present at events, their\u00a0movement, and who handled them for contact tracing if needed.Stay in contact with your local veterinarian and keep up to date on updates from\u00a0state veterinary authorities. <\/p>\n The Source: Information in this report comes from the Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s office.<\/p>\n Pets and Animals<\/a>Texas<\/a>Health<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Granddam horse (right) a few days before giving birth. (Credit: National Park Service) AUSTIN – An alert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[584,223,5163,27,29,28,216,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-56754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-pets-animals","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-headlines","13":"tag-texas-news","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}