{"id":2703,"date":"2009-10-21T08:45:27","date_gmt":"2009-10-21T01:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/?p=2703"},"modified":"2009-10-21T08:45:27","modified_gmt":"2009-10-21T01:45:27","slug":"tick-transmitted-horse-disease-detected-on-south-texas-ranch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/industry\/tick-transmitted-horse-disease-detected-on-south-texas-ranch\/","title":{"rendered":"Tick-Transmitted Horse Disease Detected on South Texas Ranch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Animal Health Commission<\/strong><\/p>\n

Box l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director<\/strong><\/p>\n

For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or\u00a0ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n


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A tick-borne disease known as equine piroplasmosis has been confirmed on a ranch in South Texas.\u00a0 Additional testing is being conducted to determine the extent of infection.\u00a0 Horses on the ranch are quarantined to their premises, and a thorough disease investigation is underway.<\/p>\n

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Equine piroplasmosis can affect horses, donkeys, mules or zebras and cause clinical signs common to many diseases, including poor appetite and weight\u00a0 loss.<\/p>\n

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Death losses can occur.\u00a0 Some infected equine animals may exhibit few or no signs of disease.\u00a0 Those animals that\u00a0 survive the acute phase of infection may<\/p>\n

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continue to carry the parasite, which has been identified as\u00a0Theileria equi<\/em> (formerly known as\u00a0Babesia equi<\/em>), for long periods of time.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cAlthough equine piroplasmosis is not considered to be endemic in the U.S., cases h\u00a0\u00a0 ave been detected on occasion,\u201d said Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas\u2019 state veterinarian and head of the Texas Animal Health Commission, the state\u2019s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.\u00a0 \u201cIn June, equine piroplasmosis was detected in Missouri, with a related case found in Kansas.\u00a0 In 2008, the infection was detected in Florida.\u00a0 These cases have been closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs many as 15 tick species are capable of carrying and transmitting the blood parasite responsible for causing equine piroplasmosis,\u201d Dr. Hillman explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, we do not know which species of tick is responsible for transmitting infection on the South Texas ranch.\u00a0 Additional blood and<\/p>\n

tick samples are being collected and will be submitted for analysis to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dr. Hillman said there is no vaccine for equine piroplasmosis, and treatment generally is not effective against this tick-borne infection.\u00a0 To avoid spread of the disease, it is important to eliminate contact with ticks and to prevent the transfer of blood from one equine animal to another.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEquine owners may want to consult with their veterinarians for recommendations on preventing tick infestation,\u201d said Dr. Hillman. \u201cIf equine animals exhibit signs of illness, a veterinarian should be contacted, so appropriate samples may be collected for laboratory testing.\u00a0 Currently, we have no indication that this<\/p>\n

tick-transmitted disease has occurred at other sites in Texas, but maintaining vigilance for this blood parasite is necessary in determining the extent of this disease situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

–30–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Animal Health Commission Box l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719 Bob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or\u00a0ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us A tick-borne disease known as equine piroplasmosis has been confirmed on a ranch in South Texas.\u00a0 Additional testing is being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,14,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-industry","category-watching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2704,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions\/2704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}