KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) ordered the quarantine of a facility where a Quarter Horse tested positive for equine infectious anemia (EIA), the Equine Disease Communication Center announced on June 17.
The Quarter Horse was tested positive for EIA in May — prompting a quarantine of the horse's home facility until TAHC requirements for release have been met.
"TAHC staff is working closely with owners and veterinarians to monitor potentially exposed horses and implement biosecurity measures," according to the alert.
Equine infectious anemia is a viral disease, with no cure or vaccine, that attacks horses’ immune systems. Horses diagnosed with EIA are infected for life and typically die, are euthanized, or must be placed under very strict quarantine conditions for the remainder of their lives.
Although not all horses display signs of EIA infections, those that do can exhibit muscle weakness and progressive condition loss, poor stamina, fever, depression, and anemia.
The virus is transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids through blood-contaminated medical instruments and needles as well as blood-feeding insects such as horseflies.
For more information on EIA, visit the USDA's website, here.
In an April 8, 2019, notice, a Quarter Horse in Van Zandt County tested positive for EIA and its home facility was placed on quarantine.
The last reported EIA case in Kaufman County was that of two quarter horses at the same facility in June 2018. A third horse at the quarantined facility later tested positive for EIA. In that case, all positive horses were euthanized.
