Horse owners advised to take precautions due to virus
Utah’s state veterinarian is advising horse owners to limit travel for their animals and to take precautions because of multiple cases of an equine virus reported in neighboring Nevada.
Dr. Barry Pittman says the cases reported in Nevada involve horses that traveled on rodeo circuits but that all the specifics of possible exposure in Utah aren’t clear.
Nevada agriculture officials have ordered the quarantine of several horses that tested positive for an equine herpes virus after the state high school rodeo last month in Pahrump.
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food says the virus is usually spread by direct horse-to-horse contact through the respiratory tract and nasal secretions but that it can also move indirectly through contact with physical objects that have virus contamination.
