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Equine Disease Communication Celebrates Five Years Of Improving Horse Health

This year, the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) is celebrating five years as an industry initiative, which continues to advocate for the use of technology in reporting equine diseases. Conceived after a major equine herpesvirus outbreak in 2011 involving more than 240 equine premises in 19 states and two Canadian providences, it was apparent a universal communication system for the equine industry was necessary to help prevent disease spread.

Rapid spread of infectious disease can do irreparable harm to horse health and cripple the horse industry. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for consistent reliable medical information for people, the Equine Disease Communication Center serves as the source for providing the current facts about infectious disease in horses.

During the last five years, the EDCC has sent out more than 1,800 alerts for about 4,460 cases or outbreaks to more 8,400 email subscribers and 13,970 Facebook followers. The website (https://www.equinediseasecc.org) offers horse owners pertinent disease fact sheets and biosecurity information, all reviewed by veterinarians on the American Association of Equine Practitioners Infectious Disease Committee.

The benefits of the EDCC communication system are evident from recent outbreaks of equine herpesvirus at racetracks where large numbers of horses comingle and frequently move to and from the tracks, farms and training centers. The prompt EDCC reports have allowed the affected track and local equine community to communicate the steps taken to stop the disease from spreading.

Dr. Kathleen Anderson from Equine Veterinary Care at the Fair Hill training Center uses the EDCC to keep informed about current disease outbreaks across the country. “Having timely and reliable information allows unaffected racetracks and other horse facilities to assess risk before moving horses. Knowing that a track or farm has successfully contained the disease by quarantine helps surrounding horse activity to continue uninterrupted.”

Until five years ago, the equine community had to rely on multiple sources to learn about infectious diseases in their area. That sometimes-caused confusion and misinformation. Because horses are transported more than any other animal, up to date information is necessary to know where there is a disease risk. “I am happy to celebrate five years of growth for the EDCC service and look forward to increasing of our efforts to educate all stakeholders about infectious disease,” says Dr. Nathaniel White, director of the EDCC.

The EDCC is entirely dependent on funding from owners, horse organizations and allied companies. “The need for this type of system has been a long time coming, and we are happy to be a part of the EDCC's efforts to continue to protect and improve horse health by providing real-time and reliable information,” says, Dr. Katie Flynn, chair of the AAEP, Infectious Disease Committee.

Donations are needed annually to support the EDCC staff and activity. To donate, click here.

Learn more about the EDCC here.

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Five Tips For Proper Hay Storage

As summer winds down, focus turns from baling hay to storing hay. Although storing hay indoors is ideal, it is not always possible. To protect your hay investment, follow these five hay storage tips.

When storing outdoors, bales should be covered with a tarp or another durable cover. Tarps and plastic covers have reduced storage losses by half. For round bales stored outdoors, using net wrap or B-wrap reduces storage losses compared to twine.
Water and animal proof the storage site. Don't stack hay under a leaky roof as it will grow moldier with each rainfall event. Plug rodent holes and detour wildlife, such as raccoons, from living in hay storage areas during the winter months. Not only can rodents and wildlife make a mess of hay storage areas, feces from some wildlife can cause diseases in horses.
Regardless of indoor or outdoor storage, do not stack hay directly on the ground. Instead, stack bales on pallets to allow air flow and help prevent hay from absorbing ground moisture. Hay bales stored on wet surfaces can have as much as 50 percent spoilage.
Use older hay first. However, hay should keep indefinitely if the hay was properly baled and stored. High humidity can increase moisture content and reduce storage life. Therefore, we recommend feeding hay within two years of harvest.
When storing round bales outdoors, store them end to end. Stacking round bales while stored outdoors usually increases losses as stacking traps moisture and limits drying from the sun and wind. Additionally, buy or bale tightly packed bales, store bales on a well-drained surface, and never store bales under trees or in low lying areas.

Find more hay storage tips here.

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Stall-Side Test For Equine Disease May Assist With COVID-19 Detection

Scientists have discovered a way to use a cell phone's camera to detect respiratory diseases like equine influenza in horses; that same technology could help identify COVID-19 in humans. These easily spread diseases can cause large death tolls, as well as economic loss and disruption of daily life.

One complication to slowing the spread of diseases like these are the is the lack of widely available testing that can offer speedy and accurate results, reports The Horse. This means that communities are unable to make informed recommendations regarding quarantines that can help control the spread of the disease.

Early diagnosis of disease, whether in horses or humans, is key to controlling the spread of disease, notes Dr. Brian Cunningham, an electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. If obtaining results takes days, whether because of a backlog of samples or lab closures because of holidays, the virus has already spread before a positive result is even given. Adding to the potential delay in diagnosis and implementation of control strategies is that some affected patients may have more than one disease.

Cunningham has developed a testing technique for a variety of equine respiratory pathogens, including Streptococcus equi, EHV-1 and EHV-4, and equine influenza. The test uses nasal swabs to detect viral RNA, which is converted to DNA and then amplified in compartments on a silicon chip. Each compartment on the chip can be used to test for a different virus. The chemical reaction it produces replicates billions of copies of the original viral nucleic acid sequence. Fluorescent markers bind to the DNA during amplification, which can be seen on smartphone cameras as green light.

The entire test takes about 30 minutes and can be done stall side, eliminating the need to send samples to a lab and wait, possibly days, for results. With modification, the test could also be used to detect contagious human respiratory viruses like COVID-19.