Possible equine herpesvirus case at Delaware Park

Delaware Park in Newark, Del., has put in place restrictions on horses moving in and out of the backstretch after a horse there began exhibiting symptoms of equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease.

A biological sample from the horse has been sent to the nearby New Bolton Center for testing, according to racing secretary Jerome Doro, but presence of the disease has not yet been confirmed. The barn where the horse is stabled has been put on “lockdown,” Doro said, and horses that have come on to the grounds will, for the meantime, be barred from leaving.

“Right now we have nothing confirmed, but we’re just exercising an abundance of caution,” Doro said on Wednesday morning.

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Equine herpesvirus can spread easily among horses in close quarters, and the disease is sometimes fatal. During the summer months, a large number of horses generally ship in and out of tracks each day throughout the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic due to the large number of tracks operating live meets.

If the horse is positive, Delaware will likely have to implement quarantine restrictions on the barn where the horse was stabled. Those quarantine periods typically last two to three weeks after the affected horse first exhibited symptoms.