Virginia training facility quarantined due to equine herpesvirus

Virginia veterinary health officials have placed a training center in Fauquier County under quarantine because a horse who recently resided there tested positive for the equine herpesvirus after shipping to Florida.

The State Veterinarian’s Office of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said the unidentified facility was placed under quarantine Tuesday, one day after being notified by Florida officials about the positive test. The horse is now at Payson Park in Indiantown, Fla., and that training center was placed on a 21-day quarantine on Monday.

Virginia is now the fifth state in the past three months to quarantine an equine facility because of the equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease that can sometimes be fatal. Though it is not known if the outbreaks are related, facilities in Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia have been placed under quarantine since an outbreak of the disease erupted at Sunland Park in New Mexico. Tracks in other states have placed bans on horses shipping from the states in an attempt to contain the disease.

The Virginia veterinarian’s office said in a release that all the horses at the Virginia training center are being checked twice daily for clinical signs of the disease. As of Wednesday, the veterinarian’s office said, no horses at the facility had spiked a fever in excess of 105 degrees or shown any other symptoms.

One other horse based at the training center was shipped out of state since the affected horse was shipped out, the release said. That horse is also being monitored for symptoms.

The Virginia quarantine will last for 21 days, the standard time for a quarantine at a facility where a horse has tested positive for the equine herpesvirus. During the quarantine, no horse will be allowed to ship in or out of the yard.