by Jeff Apel

Emerald Downs is taking precautions against equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) even though a sick horse euthanized last week did not show symptoms of the highly contagious disease.

Washington State University is conducting an autopsy on the horse. Since March, the Auburn, Washington, track has seen equine flu-like symptoms that include elevated temperatures and runny noses, although no confirmed cases of EHV-1 have been reported.

“The disease is endemic. It’s in the horse population. A percentage of the population carries it at all times,” said Susie Sourwine, Emerald Downs’s vice president of marketing. “It’s whether a horse is symptomatic of it—that’s when an outbreak occurs. There has not been a case of it here.”

Sourwine said Emerald Downs has not had to deal with EHV-1 before. The disease impacted racing on the East Coast in 2006.

“We’re just taking all the precautions in light of what’s happened on the East coast,” she said. “We want to be on top of this.”

Tests conducted by the Washington Horse Racing Commission identified sick horses at the track that were carriers of EHV-1, which manifests itself in three forms: respiratory disease, spontaneous abortion, and neurological disease. Neurological symptoms can include a loss of coordination, the inability to stand, and bladder control problems.

“You don’t need to do a quarantine until you have a positive symptom of EHV and we have none of that,” Sourwine said. “We’re in a precautionary mode just so we’re prepared. The horses can spread the virus even if they’re not sick with that particular strain of the virus.”

Sourwine said trainers and grooms at Emerald Downs recently met with the Washington Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Washington Horse Racing Commission to learn about EHV-1 and ways to avoid transmitting it. This weekend, the track also asked for a voluntary ban on shipping horses out of the track in hopes of keeping the sickness from spreading.

“Horses are coming in,” Sourwine said. “But nobody is leaving right now.”

Equine sickness has affected entries at the track, which is currently conducting a 91-day meet that concludes September 30.

“The local vets believe we’re at the end of whatever bug was being passed around. We’re coming out of that,” Sourwine said. “But we just want to make sure there’s no way we’re contributing to not containing any possible outbreak of something like that.”

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor