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  Discussion on EIA in Georgia
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 26, 2001 - 3:35 pm:

A case of Equine Infectious Anemia was reported in North Georgia on June 15, 2001 by the Georgia Dept. of Agriculture. The infected horse tested positive to EIA in a standard Coggins Test and the horse was euthanized on June 13. Ninty-one horses near the communities of Adairsville, Calhoun and Ranger, GA have been quarantined for 45 days and are undergoing periodic testing.

The infected horse, a 21 yo quarter horse was recently brought into Georgia from Michigan and sold to Georgia residents. The Coggins Test was part of the sale process.

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 - 7:53 am:

Thanks for the update, Michael. I was also interested in what happened on the Michigan side, does anyone have any news?
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 - 8:48 am:

I understand that MI has a new law that requires all horses in MI to be tested annually with horses showing positive to either be put down or housed in stabling a minimum of 1,500 ft from any other horses. (might be wrong the the amount of ft??)

My understanding, as explained by a vet, is that a coggins test finds a titers only, which means at one time or another the horse was exposed to the disease. The horse could be immune, a carrier or have the disease. Years ago a AAA race horse at a barn where I had a tack shop, tested positive. To stop the horse from being put down, the owners took him out in the middle of the night to a state where the laws weren't so stringent. This was a very large stable. It was also in the dead of summer when the flies and mosquitos were numerous.
No other horse in that barn ever tested positive.
The conclusion would seem that the test itself was either in error, or that this horse was immune. (note he had been in this stable for over a yr.).

I know that false positives on titers checks in other species of animals is not uncommon. I just think that after all these years, someone could come up with a better test than a coggins test.

Just my thoughts

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 - 2:24 pm:

My vet was out on Saturday and she told me that NINE had been put down and 91 were quaratined.

Dawn in Georgia

Posted on Friday, Jun 29, 2001 - 1:01 pm:

According to my vet, the 9 were in Northwest Georgia. We are in West Central Georgia. And the story is that the virus was BROUGHT from Michigan. It was being reported by the media on a pretty regular basis last week, but they weren't mentioning numbers, nor were they really getting into the devastating effect. They only said EIA had been reported in NW Georgia, like perhaps they didn't understand what was so important about it.

Dawn

This came as an email from Mikev the original poster of this topic:
Contrary to the posting on the discussion thread only ONE horse has been put down thus far (July 2) in Georgia after testing positive to EIA. I got this from the Equine Division of the GA Department of Agriculture this morning. The One horse that was euthanized is the original horse
that was discovered on June 11....DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 - 7:34 pm:

Sally,
there is a relatively new ELISA test that has the chief advantage of being quicker. The AGID test, known as a Coggins test, is actually quite good at identifying positive horses, with a very low rate of false positives. Everywhere I am aware of, this test is repeated before the horse is called "positive". As we have not identified horses that have contracted the disease that are then negative for the virus there seems to be little risk of false positives on the test. That horse, if truly positive, has a real chance of infecting new horses. When you hear such stories I wonder how did they get under the mandatory reporting to the Feds when a lab gets a positive. In my experience they know before the vet who sends in the sample.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 - 10:27 pm:

Dr O,
The AAA racing Quarter Horse Stallion I am talking about was shipped to Louisiana to be exact. This was a good 25 years ago, so I don't know if the regulations were more lax than they are now.There was also another case at another large barn the following year when a hunter/jumper was destroyed after testing positive. Again, no other horses in the very large stable where this horse was kept came down with the disease or tested positive.

How would we know how many horses tested with a false positive if they are destroyed soon after testing. Additionally, the horses that have been exposed to the disease and are immune will show positive and will also be destroyed. I agree that if a horse has the disease or is a carrier, he will ultimately infect others. But which is which? Wasn't there a study being done involving the ponies on Chicoteague (SP??) Island off of S. Carolina wherein a staggering number of the ponies (something like 60%) tested positive but with no evidence of the disease in the very isolated herds? Could exposure to the disease build up more immunity than suspected? Or could EIA have other companion illnesses or diseases which are fairly inconsequential in themselves but would test positive on a coggins test - much like the titers test for Feline Infectious Peritonitis wherein exposure to any one of the 100 or so corona viruses will give a positive results?? I sure don't know the answers, but what worries me is that I don't think the "experts" know either.

A positive coggins is a death sentence. In my humble opinion, I think all titers tests are questionable as they show exposure to the disease only. I know it's all we have, but it's all we've had for 30 plus years. I think there should be something better by now.

Again, this is simply my opinion.

Posted on Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 - 1:34 am:

I know how you feel, Sally. It just seems like there MUST be a better way. But, it's hard for me to be objective here because of what happened to my first horse. I had bought him from the owner of the stables where I boarded him. He'd been living there for, oh, 15 years. Out of the blue one spring he came up positive. This was strictly a boarding stable with very low turnover, so he hadn't been exposed to new horses, and he hadn't been anywhere. I was devastated to say the least. I didn't have to put him down. A friend of a friend had an isolated ranch - this was in Texas - and he took Sirron. He got into a little research project with A&M. He had some ranch horses, and every six months they would test those horses and Sirron. Sirron stayed positive and the others stayed negative. Sirron was never ill and lived many years in happy retirement. No other horse at my boarding stable came up positive - then or ever.

Now, whenever I get DJ or Ami tested, I am literally SICK until I get the results back. I'll NEVER get over that. I think you have to have this happen to you to make you really question the situation. It's easy to say put all the positives down, sick or not, until it's your horse.

I realize this is a terrible, incurable disease, and I certainly don't want my horses put at risk. But it just seems like something is wrong when the test is responsible for more deaths than the disease. As you say, just my opinion, but I have the scars to go with it.

Suzy

Posted on Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 - 11:04 am:

This won't be a popular statement, I guess, but the reason "the test is responsible for more deaths than the disease" is because putting down these poor animals or isolating them has vastly diminished the incidence of infection.

Posted on Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 - 1:18 pm:

A better test would be to PCR for the virus. If set up correctly it would accurately identify horses who are carriers rather than those who are exposed and well. Furthermore quantitative PCR which is the new rave in science will give an accurate viral load.

'Scuse my ignorance but why are these horses put down? What is so nastly about this viral infection?

Carol

Posted on Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 - 5:53 pm:

Dr Carol,
An abbreviated explanation is that Equine Infectious Anemia is a virus that attacks the liver and other ograns causing a fall in red bloodcells and in hemoglobin level. It is carried from one horse to another by biting insects. Most horses die from the disease and it is believed the horses that live are life long carriers. When I was a kid, it was called Swamp Fever. It is usually lethal and supposed to be highly contagious.

Sharon,
Do we really know that putting these animals down is what has lead us to fewer incidents of the disease? From what I understand, this virus is easily killed with common detergents and also easily spread from one horse to another with a hypodermic needle. Could keeping our horses better than we did 50 yrs. ago and having better fly and mosquito control also play into it? Additionally, if more states like MI put into law that every equine in the state and coming into the state must be coggins tested. I think we will see a substantial rise in the number of "diseased?" horses.

Suzanne,
The thought of coggins testing scares me too. I have an amazingly healthy 33 yr old stallion that was shown extensively, boarded out when he was younger and at his age, has probably been exposed to most diseases in 1 form or another. He has not had a coggins test since he was last insured at age 13.
I also have a 20 yr. old mare that has never been tested. I will not feel good until I see "Negative" on the form.

The point I am trying to make is that it seems research on EIA began stagnating when the coggins test was developed over 30 yrs. ago. At that time, it was toted around has being highly effective and accurate. I think that after 30 yrs, science could come up with something better than a titers test. But I think research into EIA has been put on the back burner in favor of newer and more "in" diseases and, perhaps, for the drug companies who fund most research, more profitable diseases.

We have 10 dead horses in GA. Do we absolutely know that all 10 of these horses were carriers or had EIA? The one thing we do know is that they all had a positive coggins test.

Posted on Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 - 10:37 pm:

Sharon, my Sirron wasn't a "poor animal." He was a vital, healthy and much loved partner of mine. He was never sick throughout his "retirement" in quarantine, and he never infected the negative horses he spent those years with. If I hadn't had him tested because I was planning to take him to another state for a trail ride, he would have lived out his life at that boarding stable, and I'm sure he would not have infected any of those horses either. I hope this never happens to any of your horses. It won't be so easy to write them off, believe me.

Sally, I think you may be right that research on EIA stagnated after the Coggins test came along and was supposed to solve everything. But, now things may be looking up. As it turns out, EIA is very similar to AIDS. In fact, I've heard it referred to as Horse AIDS. Maybe this similarity will spur research in EIA to learn more about AIDS. Or, maybe AIDS research can help with EIA. In any event, it has brought the topic to the fore again. We can only hope.

I hope and pray all turns out will if you have your horses tested. As I found out with Sirron, you can NEVER know. When I had DJ at Purdue last year for anemia - among other abnormal blood values - they naturally felt they should do a Coggins. The Doc looked at me straight and said, "Do you want this done? Because if it's positive, the State Veterinarian will know before I do." Of course, I had to let them test him. Lord! He was negative :)

Suzy

Posted on Friday, Jun 29, 2001 - 6:45 am:

Suzy,
I referred to "poor animals" as in their fate ,c'mon now! I dearly love my horses and go to what is considered by some ridiculous lengths to care for them.IMHO, some diseases & hereditary disorders could be eradicated through management and responsible breeding. I really did stir things up, didn't I! I just am aware that EIA, at least here in Florida ,was much more prevalent ( and killed more animals) before the test was developed,and many folks had to watch their horses die badly. Care to weigh in on this, DrO?

Posted on Friday, Jun 29, 2001 - 7:47 am:

Hello Everyone,
I believe it was the early 70's when the federal government made an attempt at eradicating EIA through test and slaughter. Though I was still a teenager, I still remember a horse at our local boarding barn being put down without apparent clinical signs at this time.

Prior to this time this was a common disorder in horses anywhere horseflies were prevalent. The rates of infection and mortality were very high just about everywhere. Though the attempt at eradicating the disease failed, the incidence fell tremendously and now we are where we are: a rare disease generally confined to inapparent carriers of the the disease found on the horses first coggins test.

There are some that feel this disease no longer represents a threat to horses. They point to all the healthy horses that test positive. I have had just 3 horses test positive in 20 years, they all appeared healthy. One was a pregnant pony mare, just bought in the mountains on VA, who we allowed to foal and raised the foal away from the mother and who eventually tested negative for the disease. The mare was euthanized.

Have horses changed? Has the disease changed? I don't think so, certainly better care results in a lower mortality rate today but I think it is mainly that sick animals are quickly identified and euthanized and we are left with the inapparent carriers as the prevalent form. This is a disease that is raising more and more questions with some professionals beginning to question the neccesity of test and slaughter however it is not based on any research to suggest the facts have changed but based on their personal experience.

I was planning to try and put together a history and current concepts on EIA when I get a little spare time, look for it next month.
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jun 29, 2001 - 8:16 am:

Suzy,
I guess I still find myself miffed at your tone,so I'll toss this out.... Every horse I've ever bought came with a negative Coggins. We trailride at various & distant locations and show, so my horses are tested yearly. If one of my horses became positive , to me that would mean he was infected by another horse.And I'd be mad.If he never displayed symptoms the potential to infect other animals would still be there. Miserable - and avoidable - situation to find oneself in through no fault of your own. That's where I'm coming from. I would probably send the horse off to one of the isolation areas here, but I'd certainly grieve the loss of my beloved companion.

Posted on Friday, Jun 29, 2001 - 11:36 pm:

Sharon - let's not get crazy here, okay? It's a hot button with me - always will be. No one who's never been through it can understand how it feels - not just you - ANYONE. This was my FIRST horse, and I'd only had him five years. I didn't really know anything about EIA. It was just something you tested for when you were going to travel. Then BAM! I don't know where Sirron could have gotten it. He'd been negative six months before, none of his fellow boarders ever tested positive and he hadn't been with any other horses. So, it isn't always "avoidable."

It was a nightmare I'll NEVER get over. I didn't know I had any option but to put him down before another boarder told his rancher friend about it, and he offered to take Sirron.

I'm not saying you don't love your horses. I'm not saying that horses that have contact with other horses shouldn't be tested - they should. It's totally irresponsible not to. BUT, Sirron lived for years and never infected the other horses on the ranch. I don't have answers. I wish I did. I just know that this will never be "real" to a person who hasn't lived it and cried an ocean of confused and frustrated tears.

Suzy

Posted on Thursday, Jul 5, 2001 - 4:36 pm:

Whoa! Before this gets out of hand, as of July 2, there was/is only ONE documented case of EIA in Georgia - not the nine or ten mentioned on this thread. This info was verified by me in a discussion with the head of the Equine Division of the GA. Dept of Agriculture.

Let me add this - as a person who transports two TWH geldings all over the country for Civil War reenacting and film events, I'm required to show a current negative Coggins Test EVERYWHERE I take my horses by the sponsoring organizations. Those of you who do NOT test your horse annually, do a diservice to the rest of us. The only way a disease is erradicated - without some miracle vaccine, innoculation or cure - is to identify all disease carriers and either totally isolate them ( a near impossible task unless you can also isolate horseflys, etc.) or, unfortunately, put down the horses who are disease carriers.

Yes, I feel for you if you have your horse tested after all these years and it comes up positive, BUT, the effect that your horse could have in contributing to the transfer of the disease of hundreds of other horses is what is most important. The one reported case in Georgia immediatly caused the quarantine of 41 other horses in close proximity and the testing of an additional 50 horses. That's one horse possibly infecting 91 other horses. So far, everything is negative.

Every school system in the country requires basic innoculation and testing of children before allowing them to interact with one another - why is it so hard for us to understand that this should also apply to horses?

Posted on Thursday, Jul 5, 2001 - 11:13 pm:

Of course we should test our horses for EIA if they are going to be in contact with other horses - I don't think anyone is disputing that. But, the analogy to school kids is not quite applicable. No one is going to kill your child if they test positive - even for AIDS. And, no, a horse is not a human child - but Sirron was the only "child" I had. As I said, I don't have any real suggestions for a better way to prevent the spread of EIA. It just seems like, after all these years, that there SHOULD be one.

I'm VERY glad to hear that there was only the one case and that all exposed horses have remained negative so far. Believe me, I FEEL for their owners! Hopefully, all will be well. Thanks for the update.

Suzy

Posted on Friday, Jul 6, 2001 - 7:30 am:

Thanks for the clarification on the number of cases, Mike. I'll pass that on to my vet so she can perhaps clear that issue up with her source. I sure am glad it's not as it was reported to me.

Dawn

Posted on Friday, Jul 6, 2001 - 8:28 am:

As far as I know EIA is the only disease in the U.S. that is controlled by Euthanasia. We have had numerous highly contagious, lethal diseases come into the U.S. in the last 30 years where even quarantine was not used and probably should have been. I owned an Arab mare that contracted Potomac Horse Fever at a very well known Arab Stud Farm which I am sure contributed greatly to the spread of the disease in MI, as I found out that this farm was a study farm for Potomac Horse Fever by the Morris Animal Foundation. She lived through the disease but was initially thought to be a carrier (she was not).

If we destroyed all horses that showed a positive titers (remember titers tests show exposure only) to every contagious, potentially lethal disease, we would probably eradicate all equine diseases in the U.S.. But how many horses would be left? The cost seems a bit high to me.

We may also be destroying the very animals that could lead to a vaccine. Carriers of disease usually break with the disease or shed the disease under stress. Suzy's horse was moved from a barn where it had spent a good portion of his life and shipped to Texas where he was put in with new horses. Yet he never broke with the disease, and obviously never shed it. The pony mare that Dr. O talked about was pregnant. She carried the foal to term, but never broke with the disease nor did she pass it onto her foal. At least in the case with Suzy's horse (only because he lived long enough), I think it is pretty obvious that the horse had been exposed and was immune. This horse and others like him could very well lead to a vaccine. And frankly, I think there are a great many horses out there like him. There are hundreds perhaps thousands of horses in the U.S. that have not been coggins tested or not tested on any kind of regular basis. How many of them would test positive? And yet there has not been any type of significant outbreak of E.I.A. in years and years. If the disease is so contagious and all positive horses are either carriers or have the disease, than why haven't there been more documented incidents of the disease itself.

In my life, I have raised cats, dogs and horses. I have found titers testing in cats and dogs to be highly unreliable. Does it automatically become reliable when used in horses? I don't think so. And yet we continue to rely on titers testing for this disease and the outcome is always Euthanasia.

Posted on Friday, Jul 6, 2001 - 11:38 am:

If Coggins testing, and the actions associated with an animal being found positive to exposure,is so ineffective as a disease control then why are there so few horses dying of EIA now as compared to twenty years ago? And symptomatic animals did die - wasted, weak and bleeding.

Posted on Friday, Jul 6, 2001 - 11:43 am:

Also,since the EIA virus is of the same type as the HIV virus (although clinical symptoms are very different, as is transmission )the chances of a vaccine are pretty slim. Look how long & hard reseachers have worked to find one for AIDS.

Posted on Friday, Jul 6, 2001 - 1:56 pm:

Sharon,
I never said Euthanasia is ineffective in controlling disease. Euthanasia will control and probably eradicate any disease. And is EIA truly the same type virus as HIV? They have been compared to each other, but then so was Feline Leukemia. The only similarity that I know of between these diseases is that there is no, known cure. But at the rate research is going (or lack thereof) relative to EIA, they will most certainly find a cure for HIV first. They already have a vaccine for Feline Leukemia.

By the way transmission of EIA is what is similar to HIV. They are both blood born pathogens, but then so is rabies.

Posted on Sunday, Jul 8, 2001 - 4:01 pm:

Sally,
Same family of viruses. Bloodbourne, but not sexually transmitted, nor through saliva,lactation,birth, etc - at least that's my understanding.
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