Kentucky’s 2013 EIA Surveillance and Testing

All 77,001 serum samples tested for equine infectious anemia (EIA) in Kentucky in 2013 were negative for the disease.
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During calendar year 2013, 77,001 serum samples purported to represent horses within Kentucky were tested for equine infectious anemia (EIA), with no positive animals being discovered. Of these, 73,549 samples were collected and tested to comply with state regulations governing the sale and exhibition of equine within Kentucky or to meet interstate transportation requirements (private testing). The remaining 3,452 samples were collected and tested as part of our market surveillance program of stockyard animals. Equids sampled and tested in this surveillance model are considered to have an elevated risk of exposure due in part to the environment from which many of these horses originate and the “trading channels” through which they might have passed.

Comparatively, private testing declined 4.7% from 2012 while the market surveillance testing decreased a staggering 70% during this same reporting period. The modest decline in private testing could be a result of a still-recovering economy that likely impacted some interstate movement of horses for recreational purposes. The significant decline in the number of horses sampled through Kentucky’s market surveillance program could also be attributed in part to a depressed economy, but was likely exaggerated by the reality of few sustainable markets for these animals.

During the 24-year period of 1990 through 2013, 369,441 samples were collected and tested through the market surveillance program with 129 equids (0.03%) found to be positive. In comparison, private testing had more than 1.8 million samples tested during this same time period with 92 (0.004%) positive equine identified. The last year a horse in Kentucky tested positive for EIA was in 2007.

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