Provincial veterinarian urges P.E.I. horse owners to step up biosecurity

The provincial veterinarian is urging horse owners on P.E.I. to boostbiosecurity measures at their barns to help prevent the spread of contagious diseases, including strangles.

"Recently, we've had some cases of Streptococcus equi, or strangles, here in Prince Edward Island and also there's been reports of equine herpes virus in Ontario and Quebec, and both of those diseases are quite contagious," said Dr. Jill Wood, provincial veterinarian with the Department of Agriculture and Land.

"So it seemed like a really good time to remind people of the simple things they can do to help protect their animals, and their farms, from infectious disease."

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The Red Shores Racetrack in Charlottetown has been in lockdown since an outbreak of the upper-respiratory illness stranglesin mid-February.

Wood said there is currently no formal tracking of these kinds of diseases on P.E.I., but she would support that changing.

"It's something we're looking at, and hopefully you'll see some changes in that area in the next couple of years, sothat we're able to assist a little more formally if there were a serious outbreak of a disease," Wood said.

"Being able to officially diagnose it, and officially respond, might help get things under control a little faster than if people are kind of left to try to figure that out on their own."

Equine herpes and strangles

Strangles has been in the news lately, but Wood said she also wants to raise awareness about equine herpes, a virus that spreads very similarly,mostly through nasal secretions.

"In most horses, it causes just a mild upper respiratory illness, like a cold in a person, but it can have a neurological form that's quite serious," Wood said.

"They have been seeing that strain of the virus in Ontario and Quebec."

Strangles can cause swollen lymph nodes, nasal discharge and fevers in horses, donkeys and mules. While the illness can be fatal, most animals do survive.

"Unfortunately, it is quite contagious. The bacteria can get on hands, wheelbarrows. It's spread mostly by shedding through nasal secretions so, of course, just petting a horse on the nose and then petting another horse can transmit it," Wood said.

"Oftentimes the horses are not showing symptoms when they first become infected. This should sound very familiar to people, with everything we've gone through with COVID in the last year."

Red Shores racetrack has put in place strict biosecurity measures since the oubtreakat the Charlottetown site, bringing in security and allowing only essential workers into each barn. Barns have also been supplied with foot baths, brushes and disinfectant.

Wood recommends similar measures at private barns, saying some things are"very easy" to change.

"Biosecurity for me today started before I even left the house. [I]made sure I had clean coveralls on, clean footwear," Wood said.

"We follow protocols that they have here at the barn with a foot wash. We notified the barn owner, of course, before we arrived."

Wood said it's also important to ensure disease can't spread from horse to horse, by means of "not sharing equipment, tack, water buckets, brushes; not allowing horses to have nose-to-nose contactwith horses they aren't already stablemates with,.

"Things that cost no money, and take very little time to institute, can make a big difference."

Wood also recommends hand sanitizer use for barn personnel, and contact tracing should there be a horse diseaseoutbreak, similar to COVID-19 protocols.

Waiting game

At the Chappell barn in Marshfield, P.E.I., trainer Kyle Arsenault said he's spending more time following biosecurity protocols lately.

"We've definitely implemented more cleaning, sanitizing water buckets [and] feed buckets more regularly," Arsenault said. "The horses that race are separated in the stalls by more than six feet in the barn here."

He added that race horses won't be heading back to the track until the strangles outbreak is over, even with the start of the racing season scheduled for May.

"Obviously with the strangles, we're not going to take that risk."

Testing continues

Meanwhile, Lee Drake from Red Shores said the second round of test results is going well, with close to 20 of 45 returned as negative, as of March 19.

He said there continue to be no clinical cases on the grounds.

Drake said the track has implemented a series of colour coding at the barns, with horses that tested positive for the bacteria that causes strangles being placed inred zones, and other horses in a green zone.

Drake said the red zone horses also have their own dedicated jogging time.

Wood said she's hoping the number of cases of strangles at the Charlottetown racetrack will eventually be down to zero.

"Nothing we do with biosecurity will ever make moving horses around one hundred percent safe from infectious disease," Wood said.

"But yes, obviously, if you could get that down to zero, then that would make everyone really happy."

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