Learn about this horse disease and how to prevent it.
The American Quarter Horse Journal — It is a disease that lurks in a horse’s blood, with tiny protozoa attacking red blood cells. Equine piroplasmosis is common in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, including parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, but is considered a foreign disease in the United States, and efforts are underway to keep it that way.
Currently racetracks in 11 states require negative piroplasmosis tests before horses are allowed onto the backside. Beginning July 1, all horses entering the grounds for any AQHA world championship show will also be required to present a negative certificate dated within six months.
“As the industry leader, AQHA needs to be vigilant and establish testing requirements to ensure any case of equine piroplasmosis can’t be traced back to an AQHA event,” said Tom Persechino, AQHA executive director of competition and breed integrity. “We’re encouraging all exhibitors to contact their veterinarians to schedule these tests. If the tests are completed around the second week of July, that horse will be eligible to show at the youth, select and open/amateur world without requiring another test.”
The American Quarter Horse Journal — Beginning July 1, 2011, all horses entering the grounds for any AQHA world championship show – in Oklahoma City, Amarillo or Houston – will be required to present a certificate of a negative blood test for equine piroplasmosis. The tests must have been completed within the previous six months and will cost exhibitors $30-$40 per horse.
Equine piroplasmosis is a disease of horses, donkeys, mules and zebras that is caused by two parasitic organisms, Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. Although, equine piroplasmosis is primarily transmitted to horses by ticks, this bloodborne disease has been spread mechanically from animal to animal by contaminated needles.
Currently, racetracks in 11 states have testing requirements for Equine Piroplasmosis and that number will increase. With the potential of an infected racehorse retiring to the show pen, the show industry is vulnerable.
“As the industry leader, AQHA needs to be vigilant and establish testing requirements to ensure any case of equine piroplasmosis can’t be traced back to an AQHA event,” said Tom Persechino, AQHA executive director of competition and breed integrity. “We’re encouraging all exhibitors to contact their veterinarians to schedule these tests. If the tests are completed around the second week of July, that horse will be eligible to show at the youth, select and open/amateur world without requiring another test.”
THURSDAY, AUG. 12, 2010 – RALEIGH – North Carolina has joined a growing list of states with cases of equine piroplasmosis, an animal disease the U.S. was free of for 20 years, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced today.
Tests of blood samples submitted to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the presence of EP in 11 horses in four locations. North Carolina joins 19 other states that have identified cases of the disease in the past two years.
State veterinary authorities immediately quarantined the premises where the horses resided. The quarantine means that no horses can be moved from these locations.
The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is conducting an investigation to determine the source of the disease and whether it has spread beyond the locations where the infected animals were housed.
TALLAHASSEE — November 18, 2009 — Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced the imposition of import restrictions on horses coming into Florida from Texas following the discovery of hundreds of Texas horses positive for Theileria equi, one of two organisms responsible for causing Equine Piroplasmosis (EP).
Bronson is requiring horses from Texas to have blood tests to check for Theileria equi within 30 days of entry into Florida, have a health certificate, be checked for ticks that carry EP, and be sprayed with a pesticide no more than two weeks before their arrival in Florida.
EP is considered a foreign animal disease, not endemic to the United States. It is a blood-borne parasitic disease primarily transmitted between horses by ticks or contaminated needles and is not directly contagious from one horse to another. Ticks are the natural method of transmission of the EP organisms, and the tick species known to be efficient at transmitting EP is not believed to be in Florida. Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=8914
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