A seventh horse at Churchill Downs has tested positive for EHV-1, according to an alert issued by the Equine Disease Communication Center on Dec. 13. The alert reveals that a trainer with three horses in the affected barn tested each of his horses, one of which returned a positive on a nasal swab and has been moved to isolation.
As previously reported, testing of 13 horses that resided on the backside of Churchill Downs in Barn 37 with the EHV index case did identify five additional positive horses. The five additional positive horses were immediately placed in secured isolation at Barn 42, while the index case remained hospitalized as of Dec. 2.
Two additional barns were identified to have an elevated risk of indirect exposure and have also been quarantined. As a result of this elevated risk, Barns 36 and 38 were also placed under quarantine to restrict horses stabled in those barns from having contact with the general population. Separate training hours were instituted for the quarantined barns.
Churchill Downs has implemented heightened biosecurity measures and will lift exit restrictions on horses from the unaffected barns provided they have a valid Health Certificate issued within 24 hours of departure beginning Dec. 3, 2022.
“We closed the barn area when we had the initial case, so we could do our epidemiological investigation to see how far and deep it was going to go,” Churchill Downs Inc. equine medical director Dr. Will Farmer told bloodhorse.com this week. “Once we felt like we had it contained, we did allow guys to start shipping out of the general population. We've had numerous horses that have shipped out to places if they're accepted to where they going.”
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