Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM)

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We have had a number of Friesian lovers and breeders write to us following publication of the article Contagious Equine Metritis Investigation Progresses in Wisconsin. Nanning was identified by Wisconsin officials as being a stallion that was found positive for CEM in that state. There was a quote in the article from an official that said Nanning might be the source of the current CEM outbreak, but there were no conclusions drawn. We talked to Nanning’s owner and vet, and all the information was reviewed by officials prior to publication.

Any stallion that enters the United States as a breeding animal must go through testing for CEM. They are not allowed into the country without being negative. However, stallions have gone through quarantine before and later been found to be positive because of the difficulty of testing for the causative organism. While there have been a few individual cases of CEM in the United States in the past decades, there hasn’t been an outbreak since the late 70s in Kentucky in Thoroughbreds.

This is an easily managed disease if testing and treatment are done appropriately. When stallions are used for artificial insemination and not live cover (as is the case with Nanning), the treatment of semen with extender that contains appropriate antibiotics can eliminate that risk of spreading the disease via breeding.

Please read all our articles on CEM, view the video interview with CEM expert Peter Timoney, FRCVS, PhD, of the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center, and watch the videos on testing and treating mares and stallions

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