The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care will conduct a free seminar for horse owners and industry professionals addressing EPM, West Nile, and Foot and Mouth disease concerns. The seminar will be Friday, April 27, 2001, at the Kentucky Horse Park Visitor’s Information Center from 5-7 pm. The seminar coincides with the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event at the horse park. Speakers will include Dr. Bill Saville, of The Ohio State University, and Dr. Peter Timoney, of the Gluck Equine Research Center, in Lexington.

“There’s a great deal of concern in the world about these particular diseases at the moment. We want to help educate the industry and the general public to the cause and effect so that people can take the proper precautions to reduce or avoid the spread,” said Kim Brown, editor of The Horse. “This is especially important here in Kentucky, the horse capital of the world. The Kentucky Horse Park is the perfect setting to address such alarming issues.”

Background:

Foot and Mouth Disease

While this disease doesn’t cause illness in horses, the equine industry is suffering world-wide because of the inability to move horses within the European Union and among overseas countries for competition and sale. The potential for spreading the disease due to the movement of horses, humans, and vehicles is very high. Foot and mouth devastates the agricultural economy, and thus the overall economy, of any country unfortunate enough to have an outbreak. The United States has been free of this disease since 1929, but has allowed importation of animals from foot and mouth endemic countries under strict guidelines in the ensuing years. The last major outbreak of foot and mouth was in Europe in the late 1960s. See https://thehorse.com/TopicSearch/Default.aspx?n=Foot+and+Mouth+Disease&nID=6&ID=307

West Nile Virus

This is a deadly disease that affects horses, humans, and other animals. While this disease appears with regularity in other parts of the world, the first case of West Nile occurred in the United States in 1999. Since that first deadly visit in New York, the virus has spread as far south as North Carolina and as far west as Pennsylvania. It is predicted to appear in Ohio this year, and possibly in Kentucky by next year. An international conference on human and animal West Nile disease was held in Washington, D.C., in early April, and information from that gathering will be included at this seminar. For more on West Nile Virus, visit https://thehorse.com/TopicSearch/Default.aspx?n=West+Nile+Virus+(WNV)&nID=6&ID=79.

EPM

Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis is the number one cause of neurologic problems in horses. Caused by a single-celled parasite, EPM can cause minor coordination problems, severe gait deficits, or death. Some horses recover only to relapse and have symptoms again when taken off of treatment, and some horses never recover fully. There are many new advances taking place in the fight against EPM, and those will be covered at this seminar.For more on EPM, visit https://thehorse.com/TopicSearch/Default