The University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) Large Animal Clinic has reopened its doors to all patients after a brief closure to non-emergency patients. The restriction was prompted by the admission of a horse that later tested positive for the neurologic form of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1).

According to a press release issued by the WCVM, "Veterinarians reopened the clinic’s doors to horses at 8:00 a.m. on June 29 after multiple clinical examinations and diagnostic tests confirmed that there was no spread of EHV-1 among horses at the veterinary college.

"The WCVM voluntarily suspended its equine clinical services on June 21 following the confirmed diagnosis of EHV-1 in a Saskatoon-area horse that was brought to the clinic on June 18," the release continued. "The horse was humanely euthanized on June 19 due to the severity of the disease. Diagnostic testing confirmed that the horse had the neurologic form of EHV-1, also called equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy."

The release indicated that clinicians have been "monitoring the health of nearly two dozen horses housed in or outside the veterinary college’s clinic. None of these horses have shown clinical signs of the disease, and all diagnostic tests are negative for EHV-1 infection