Equine Infectious Anemia Update

The State Veterinarian's Office is continuing its investigation into a Weld County horse that tested positive for Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA).

The State Vet's Office has determined that about 240 horses have been on the quarantined premises during the same time as the infected horse. Approximately 100 of these horses were sent to 20 other states and steps are being taken to locate and quarantine those horses.

In Colorado there were about 140 horses on the same premise. So far, officials have located about 57 horses that were shipped to 26 different locations in 13 counties.

State Veterinarian Dr. Kenneth Rohr tells Colorado Ag Today the next steps are to work with local county vets and..

"Establish when those horses left the facility and then arrange to collect a blood sample 60 days later. And then after we get the blood sample if those are negative, then those exposed horses and subsequently all of the other horses they were exposed to would be released from the hold order. In the unlikely event that we find a positive in any of those tests then those would become infected horses and infected premises and beget another hold order."

There is no cure or treatment for EIA. Therefore, horse that tested positive in the index case has been euthanized.

But Dr. Rohr says Equine Infectious Anemia is only transmitted by blood, usually by Deer Flies or Horse Flies, not Stable Flies and not mosquitos. So it is not typically transmitted by contact between horses. He says they are hopeful they won't find any new cases.

Horse owners who did not purchase a horse in Weld County between July 18th and August 24th are at no higher risk.