Canadian EHV update

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EHV Alberta update

May 25, 2011

Update on EHV-1 Conference Call

A group of 15 Alberta Veterinarians had a follow up conference call this morning to discuss the EHV-1 situation in Alberta. They included the Chief Provincial Veterinarian, the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association, the University of Calgary Veterinary Program and Equine practitioners.

The overall consensus is there has not been any significant second wave of the disease over the past week. There has been one new suspect horse which has tested negative at this time with more results pending. This horse has been quarantined with proper biosecurity procedures.  Since last report, one of the suspect respiratory cases from Ogden has come back positive on nasal PCR testing.

Therefore, at this time the summary of horses affected in Alberta is as follows:

§  One positive neurologic case from May 1st that is clinically normal at this time. (This particular horse was reported in our previous updates)

§  Three positive respiratory cases that were either in Ogden or directly associated with Ogden horses. These horses have been isolated and all except one are normal at this time.  The horse that is still exhibiting symptoms is presently responding well to antibiotic treatment. (These horses were reported in our previous updates)

§  One horse which tested positive and was from Ogden but showed no clinical signs. (This particular horse was reported in our previous updates)

§  One new suspect patient mentioned in the second paragraph above, showing mild neurologic signs and had initially tested negative is now awaiting results with further tests pending. This horse does have a direct link to the initial group of horses.

Therefore; we feel a second wave of infections has not materialized within Alberta. The 21 day incubation from the May 8th date of return from Ogden will be reached in 4 days.  We feel confident that a significant number of clinical cases would have started to surface now if, there was to be a second wave of affected horses in the general horse population.

The above group of Veterinarians involved, continue to believe horse activities, outside of the cutting horse population, should go forward with normal biosecurity procedures being taken. We are directing horse owners to the AB.VMA website for a well-defined list of biosecurity protocols recognized North American wide.

Another conference call is scheduled on Monday May 30, 2011 and we will update our sites at that time.

Greg Andrews, DVM

Moore Equine Veterinary Centre Ltd

Latest update on EHV 1

This update comes from the Canadian Quarter Horse Association, an affiliate of the AQHA. I haven't found a Canadian update yet.

 Neurotropic Equine Herpes Virus -1

Status Update #2

Date: 27 May 2011

ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org 

Source: DVM Veterinary News Magazine [edited]  

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Veterinary+Equine/Outbreak-New-equine-herpes-virus-cases-emerge/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/724806?contextCategoryId=378 

Secondary exposures make up about half of all confirmed equine herpesvirus cases, veterinary officials report. Suspected or confirmed cases remain under voluntary or sanctioned quarantine.

Of the 47 cases of equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) now confirmed across 9 western states, 14 were contracted through secondary or tertiary exposure, veterinary officials report. Another 28 cases of equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM), the neurologic form of the disease, have been reported, 25 from direct exposure during the recent National Cutting Horse Association competition in Ogden, Utah.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) now places the total number of EHV-1/EHM cases at 75. Eleven of those horses died or were euthanized.

In the last week, 15 new cases have surfaced, APHIS reports.

More than 400 horses in 19 states were exposed to the virus at the Utah event, and another 1635 are at risk of secondary or tertiary exposure, APHIS says in its 26 May 2011 update on the outbreak.

Although the incubation period for EHV-1 is 2 to 14 days, Dr. Leonard Eldridge, Washington's state veterinarian, says the virus can be shed for up to 28 days. The Nevada Department of Agriculture says it observed horses that attended the Utah event through 22 May 2011 for signs of infection. Horses at risk of secondary infection will be observed until 5 Jun 2011.

APHIS says horses known to have been exposed to the virus have been notified by state animal health officials, and suspected or confirmed cases are under voluntary or state quarantine.

As of 25 May 2011, here are USDA's totals on the outbreak:

Arizona - 2 EHV-1 and 1 EHM from direct exposure, 8 EHV-1 from secondary/tertiary exposure;

California - 9 EHV-1 and 6 EHM from direct exposure, 1 EHV-1 from secondary/tertiary exposure;

Colorado - 9 EHV-1 and 6 EHM from direct exposure, 1 EHV-1 from secondary/tertiary exposure;

Idaho - 1 EHV-1 and 3 EHM from direct exposure, 2 EHV-1 from secondary/tertiary exposure;

Nevada - 1 EHV-1 from direct exposure, 2 EHM from secondary/tertiary exposure;

New Mexico - 2 EHV-1 and 1 EHM from direct exposure, 1 EHM from secondary/tertiary exposure;

Oregon - 4 EHV-1 and 1 EHM from direct exposure;

Utah - 1 EHV-1 and 4 EHM from direct exposure, 2 EHV-1 from secondary/tertiary exposure;

Washington - 4 EHV-1 and 3 EHM from direct exposure.

Nine horses with confirmed cases of EHV-1/EHM through direct exposure died or were euthanized, plus another 2 horses with confirmed cases contracted through secondary exposure.

Horse owners are being advised to notify veterinarians if they participated in the NCHA event or if their horse suddenly comes down with a temperature above 102 F, which typically precedes clinical signs, veterinarians say.

Related Links: Equine herpesvirus outbreak: 44 horses test positive in 9 western states, veterinarians report [Further coverage is available on the DVM News Magazine web-site.].

[Byline: Rachael Whitcomb]

   

Communicated by: HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org 

     

Flowers

My flowers that Janice gave me are now flourishing, and someone commented that they'd like to see them once they were all planted.

Gazania and white lobelia

Close up of the Gazanias

My barn board planter with pansies surrounding  ?? Janice will have to tell us the name of that one.

Yellow Osteospermum

My favorite petunia, Royal Velvet Supertunia. I have Raspberry Blast Supertunias 

in with them, and some dianthus.

I have lots more, but these are the ones that are furthest along. Our apple trees are still in blossom, and all throughout the town there are flowering shrubs in full glory. I love this time of year!

Sunday Stills

Grass and weeds abound here, and this is what Ed chose for today's challenge. He said to get down in the dirt- well, here that would be down in a mud puddle, but the rain did make for some interesting subjects.

Soggy dandelion gone to seed.

Not sure what this is called, but there is way too much of it in Beamer's pasture.

This hairy li'l monster is also pestiferous in the pasture.

It rained so hard that day, all the long grass was just laying over.

The weeds at the edge of the hayfield, and the view of the clouds obscuring the mountains.

Playin' with my camera

Since the rain stopped the horses got turn-out early this morning, and I figured it was a good time to play with the new camera: I wanted to try out the action setting. Rio was happy to oblige as my model.

I think the camera should have a "goofy" setting:

The horses were so happy to get out on the grass that I couldn't get much action from them. Too busy munching! But I did manage a couple.

You can see in this photo the lumps under Chickory's jaw from her new teeth erupting.

 See those dark spots on Rio's face? He's going to shed out that color. Pretty much like mama, I figure. Should be a flashy boy when he's all grown up, with all that chrome and a dark color.
Couldn't get much action out of Beamer either.

Yep, he was filling his face too, but he did strike a pose for me.

These photos were all taken before sun up, I guess I'm pretty happy with how they turned out considering I didn't play with speed or aperture, just let the camera figure it out. I did some macro shots for Sunday stills too that turned out nicely- but you'll see those ones on Sunday.

Wet and windy....

Means that my wussy boy Beamer had to have his blanket on today.

I took pity on him when I saw that he was trying to pee and having trouble because he was shivering. He's pretty pathetic, snuggled right up in his blankey and would have smiled if he could!
We even started the wood stove today. I woke up about 2:30 AM when the storm hit, and it only quit raining about 12 hours later, with more on the way tonight and tomorrow. I know many places are hit by flooding, and we could well be next, there's still a whack of snow in those nearby mountains. Mountains that I can't see because we're all socked in with low lying rain clouds.
I've been playing around with the new camera, figuring out what all the buttons mean, and the handiest subject were dogs and cats. Tried out the macro on Pearl:

She does love her little kitty house- no boyz allowed!

Wordless Wednesday

Long weekend- but a good one!

This is some of the folks who showed up for Ted's birthday party; we had a bonfire, plenty of food, lots of collies to throw the ball for including Tess's littermate Luke, and a Dairy Queen birthday cake:



Of course, I totally blew my diet for the occasion (I've lost 16 pounds, but don't dare weigh myself for a few days!). The weather held out; although it rained in the morning it cleared off and was lovely by the time the party got rolling. Since we're all old folks now, we wound it down around 10 PM. Thanks to all our friends and family from Alberta who spent a lot of hours on the road to make this a special day for Ted, and to everyone else who helped us celebrate!
Since we reconfigured the horse pens, I now have my round pen back, and I worked Chickory today. Threw the saddle on her, led her over to the pen, and longed her a little in the bosal (she is shedding caps now, so no bitting for a while). She worked just lovely, you'd never know it was August last year when she was last worked. Ted came along after a bit, and I got on her and had him lead her around. She is pretty cautious when I'm on her, I need to build her confidence and get her moving out freely. When I can get her moving out nicely at all gaits, and stopping and turning well, it will be time to move on to the big arena, and some trail riding. I might try ponying her from Gussie too.
Breeding season is done here, we bred Belle on Easter weekend, and Gussie May 12-16. So I really need to get Chickory going well this year, as Gussie gets next summer off. Beamer is still available for other mares, but I'm not really advertising especially with the EHV problem.
Ted got to see another littermate of Tess's today, this one I sold to a lady who is a caretaker for a mine that is shut down, and it's bear country; the dog, which she named Wallace, has done a good job of protecting her. There are feral cats there too, and apparently Wallace thinks it's his job to round them up and keep an eye on them.

Progress and party

Things are just a-hummin' along here, we've been taking advantage of the nice weather to get things done outside, like spraying the dandelions, getting my flower baskets planted, and more of the garden done(I still have a couple of rows to plant) and of course, taking time to smell  photograph the blossoms. After all, it is Blossom Festival weekend here!



The pen project is done now, Ted and I spent a whole day on teardown,

 fixing the slope of the pen for drainage,

 and setup.


Beamer now has his shelter under the overhang of the shop, separated by an alley from the girls. We still have to tear down his old shelter, but the important part is done.
Our out of town company for Ted's birthday party arrived yesterday, and Rio was happy to get lots of attention, especially when the ladies found just the right spot to scratch for him.


You can see the dark spot on his hind leg- that's the black showing through his baby hair; I just can't wait to see what color he sheds out; Kai is chocolate brown this year, and his full sister Jazz that Janice owns is going to be featured on one of her posts soon, so it will be neat to compare all 3 siblings.
Well, we couldn't leave Beamer out, he did get a share of he attention too, and showed off his gentlemanly manners.


Today it's raining- guess you can't have Blossom Festival without a little rain!- but hopefully it will be all done by the afternoon; good thing we have a large deck for our birthday BBQ.
Busy day for me- I'll catch up with you all later!

Another filly for Carol

There is a new filly over at All These Pretty Horses and it's another big foal. Plenty of big foals this year.
It seems that my Picasa Web album has reached its storage limit, and since I don't do credit cards, I can't get more storage with them. It means I can't upload any more photos until I find another source for web storage of photos; any suggestions? I need something user friendly and free!

Wordless Wednesday

Friends, Flowers, and a Filly

Thanks to Janice, I am going to be busy making things look pretty here in time for Ted's birthday party this weekend.

She was in town today and brought me plenty of flowers, some I ordered, and some were gifts. I managed to get a lot of my planters filled, and will have to finish off tomorrow.
Janice was also kind enough to do some pruning for me, including this pear tree which is blossoming but probably needs another pear tree nearby to cross-pollinate and produce fruit.

My friend Carol over at All These Pretty Horses had a lovely bay filly off her San Jo mare a  couple of days ago. 2 down, two to go for her!
My sympathy goes out to all the people who are affected by the wild fires raging in Alberta, fueled by the high winds. This has been a horrible year for natural disasters; earthquakes, floods, fires- what next? Plagues, I guess, and let's not have that happen!

New Link on the EHV-1

http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/Diseases/EQUINEHERPESVIRUS.pdf
Hat tip to Tracey from Mustang Diaries for posting this link on Facebook.

You never know the day or the time....

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vth/announcements/index.aspx
The Equine Herpes Virus is on the rampage, many places are either under quarantine to keep it out, or under quarantine to prevent the spread. If you were planning on hauling to a show, you may want to check with your vet and the vets in the area of the show; many will be cancelled and some venues will be shut down. This is a neurological version of the virus, and some horses are being euthanized.
Sounds like a good time to stay home and just enjoy our horses.

Sunday Stills

Shoot high, shoot low- this is always a fun challenge because it gives me an excuse to lay down in the pasture and take horse photos, like these:

Rio

Gussie, just before our ride, 

and for go high:

It's not easy taking a picture of yourself riding, from above, and actually getting something in the frame!

Fun in the Sun

The Barrel-O-Rama was a lot of fun today; hot sun beating down, a stiff wind so it wasn't too hot, and more kids on ponies than you'll see anywhere! The grand entry was really cute- the biggest horse in front, and diminishing in size down to a mini pony; there were two lines, behind the Canadian flag all the ponies had red leg wraps and their riders wore red vests, and behind the American flag the ponies had blue wraps and the riders sported blue vests.

They actually did the crossover pattern without any wrecks, and all things considered, it was a really cute grand entry. And then every one of those ponies, including the minis, were entered in the barrel race.

Some of those kids could really ride and who knew ponies were so fast- even the minis!

This was the 6 and under class; some kids were led,

and some just rode for all they were worth! They all had a lot of fun, then it was time for the big girls to run, and I was busy picking up knocked over barrels. Forgot to put sunscreen on - stupid me.

Blogger, bones, blossoms, bugs and bits

When blogger was down for a day, I noticed that I lost some of the comments on my last post. Probably won't get them back either.
This evening when I was bringing Beamer in, I tripped over a bit of barb wire that was half buried in the ground and did a face plant- of course, I managed to get my arm out a little to break my fall, and heard that unmistakable little snap! of a bone cracking in my wrist- fortunately it seems as if it's only a minor one; I iced it for an hour or so, and it seems bearable. There is a lot of junk buried in the ground here; lots of bale strings and wire bits. We've been  cleaning it for two years now and there always seems to be more surfacing.

  The cherry blossoms are in full force, and the Magnolia trees are blooming. I'll try to get some photos of them this weekend. Of course, the bugs are back too; we have mosquitoes and plenty of these guys:

Rio is thriving, he has a lot of speed and likes to show it off- but he can stop on a dime too. I think he'd make a good reining horse, he's built right for it. He gets more handsome by the day!

and he has the cutest little nose!

I really can't wait to see what color he sheds out- I'm pretty sure he will be lighter colored than Kai; Kai is chocolate brown right now. 

Tomorrow I will be helping out at a big barrel-o-rama here, I'll be a barrel setter. My camera is charged up, I might be able to get a few photos. 

Wordless Wednesday