Now two counties in Ohio are seeing syndromes similar to those being presented in Kentucky, according to an update Thursday by Dr. Grant Frazer, associate professor at Ohio State University. Frazer said there is no way to make a confirmation that this is the same problem that Kentucky veterinarians and researchers are dealing with, since no definitive description of the problem has been narrowed down.

Veterinarians in both Morgan and Highland Counties have seen an abnormal number of red bag abortions in ponies, Standardbreds, and Quarter Horses. A veterinarian in Morgan County has also seen the early fetal losses. The veterinarian in Highland County has not seen the early losses yet since he has not done enough ultrasound checks. Both of these counties are east of I-71 and south of I-70 in southeast Ohio, bringing up the question: Could this be an Ohio River Valley problem?

According to Frazer, the word from the Ohio diagnostic lab is that there hasn’t been an unusual increase in submissions to date, however the weather lags behind Kentucky’s. “We may be hit in the next week or two,” he said. “There seem to be no problems as yet west of I-71. It seems to be mainly in the southeast corner