Most of us who read the DHJ pay little
or no attention to what might happen to our horses, should
certain governmental agencies of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
fail to be alert in performing their duties as required by
law.
Having stated that, let me explain a little about what
you have just read.
There are many diseases of livestock, including horses,
which are found in some foreign countries. Were they to
be introduced into our animal populations, they would utterly
devastate and destroy our livestock operations.
Most livestock people have heard or read about foot-and-mouth
disease, which infects cloven-hooved animals. It has been
reported in the U.S. several times and has been stamped
out by a vigorous control program, including quarantining
animals in the affected area and slaughtering them. The
disease, itself, can be found endemic in many countries,
including some in our own hemisphere. It is found in Mexico,
where outbreaks occur from time to time, and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture works with the Mexican government in controlling
the disease. If it should spread into the U.S. and become
established in the cattle, sheep and hog populations, it
would be devastating to the numbers of these species.
The same can be said for Venezuelan Equine Encephelomylitis
or V.E.E., which appeared in Texas a few years ago, apparently
coming from Mexico. It is a highly fatal disease of horses.
Stringent steps were taken by state governments to ban
the import of horses from the stricken areas, and vaccination
efforts were undertaken to produce immunity against the
disease in those horses living in or near these afflicted
areas. Often states will cooperate with the Federal government
in the control or abolishment of these diseases when they
are introduced accidently from some outside source.
It is the job of certain agencies of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture to monitor the presence of some of these
diseases in foreign countries and to quarantine and test
them in animals such as horses, imported into the United
States. That is simply why horses which are imported must
spend a given amount of time undergoing testing and surveillance
at quarantine areas so designated upon arrival in the States
from some other point of origin. This fact is often resented
by the purchaser of the quarantined horse or horses, since
the period of quarantine may last for many days or several
months, depending on the animal’s origin and the
disease-screening process.
Everyone involved in this process of quarantining a horse
must realize that even though it is a lengthy and expensive
one, it serves the best interests for the horse industry
by possibly keeping out a disease which could ruin the
entire horse business.
As I have mentioned before, individual states also have
laws regarding importation of horses into their territories.
Occasionally states will pass laws, when the emergency
arises, banning the importation of animals from other states
where a disease is known to exist in their stock.
There are some diseases of the horse, which are found
in parts of the world, which we never want to import into
the country. For any reason we do not want these conditions
to become established in our own equine populations. To
list a few, they are: Glanders; Dourine; African Horse
Sickness; and Contagious Equine Metritis or C.E.M.
A veterinarian in the course of a month’s time will
receive a good many pieces of literature or bulletins from
colleges of veterinary medicine, veterinary periodicals,
and reports from various federal and state governmental
agencies, all dealing with information regarding diseases
and conditions of animals, their treatment, and their occurrences
in the states and country as a whole.
In the past several months there has been quite a bit
of information released about Contagious Equine Metritis
and its importance to the equine industry. This has been
prompted by the very recent discovery of some stallions
with C.E.M., which were imported into this country, and
a C.E.M. positive-test mare found at an approved C.E.M.
quarantine facility in Florida. Apparently the infected
mare had been test-bred by a stallion which had just recently
been imported from Germany.
As a result, the state of Florida has announced some additional
testing on all breeding-age stallions and mares being imported
from countries where C.E.M. is known to exist. This is
in addition to testing being done at the Federal level
at their own quarantine stations.
Contagious Equine Metritis (C.E.M.) is a true sexually
transmitted disease of the horse and ass family. It is
generally held that there are only two other sexually transmitted
genital infections of these species. One is a Klebsiella
infection and the other a Pseudomonas infection of the
genital tract.
C.E.M. is caused by a coccus-type bacteria sporting the
grand name Taylorella equigenitalis. This disease is found
today in about 25 countries, including most nations of
Europe. The very first outbreaks in 1977 appeared on stud
farms in Ireland and England. Two outbreaks occurred in
this country in 1978 and 1979. They were in Kentucky and
Missouri, and, I believe, involved Thoroughbreds which
were traced back to carrier stallions which had been imported
from somewhere in Europe. At that time very stringent methods
were adopted by federal and state agencies, and the disease
was eradicated. The U.S. has been free of the condition
until these cases were discovered as the horses entered
quarantine facilities in the United States (federal) and
Florida (state).
Most countries with C.E.M. have control programs in place
which try to detect breeding animals which are infected
and, therefore, prevent the disease from spreading. To
our credit we have rigid import regulations and quarantines
for those horses coming from countries which are deemed
not to be C.E.M.-free.
This disease, where it flourishes, is very economically
devastating to the equine industry. It happens like this:
an infected stallion, who, by the way, shows no symptoms
of the ailment, will breed a mare. Two to ten days later
the mare will have developed an infection of the vagina,
the cervix, and the lining of the uterus. These are known
as vaginitis, cervicitis, and endometritis, respectively.
The mare will also exhibit at this time a very nasty so-called
muco-purulent discharge.
Of course when this happens, the conception rate plummets,
as much as 50 percent or more. Some mares will recover
on their own and conceive upon a later breeding. Other
mares may show little or no signs of the infection, but
will probably be infertile for a while.
In any case, many of these so-called recovered mares will
be carriers of the ailment for several months or longer.
The clitoral sinuses and fossa will harbor the infection
for a long period of time, and these mares will show no
clinical symptoms of the disease.
The diagnosis of the condition is based upon recovering
the causative bacteria from the cervix, uterus, endometrium,
or the clitoral sinus or fossa. Collection and growth of
the bacteria are not easy procedures, so there is some
room for a margin of error. With the present culture techniques
it is feared that some carriers may slip through the net
and go undetected.
Antibodies against the bacteria which are circulating
in the blood can be detected by any one of several serological
tests. However, these tests are not 100 percent accurate,
so they seem to have a limited value, especially in diagnosing
the chronic carrier.
Another test to detect the presence of the causative bacteria,
using a polymerase chain reaction, may be the best yet.
It has only recently been approved.
At the present time all horses imported into the United
States from countries with C.E.M. are quarantined. Three
negative samples taken seven days apart from the endometrium,
clitoral fossa, urethral fossa, and cervix, for the presence
of T. equigenitalis, are required. At least one set of
samples must be taken from the quarantined mare at the
time of estrus.
The pregnant mare is kept in quarantine until she delivers.
Upon delivery she must have three negative culture samples
at seven day intervals, the same as other mares, in order
to be released from quarantine.
Stallions from countries with a C.E.M. problem must be
quarantined upon arrival in the U.S. for at least 45 days.
Cultures are taken from three areas: the prepuce, urethral
fossa, and the urethra. They must test negative for the
causative bacteria.
In addition to the above cultures, the stallion is required
to breed three mares, and they, in turn, must have negative
cultures on the three different occasions taken seven days
apart. For the trial mares this same procedure as described
previously for the quarantined mares.
Now, one can understand why the authorities in Florida
were disturbed and announced additional testing requirements
for all breeding-aged stallions and mares imported into
Florida from countries affected by C.E.M. No one in his
or her right mind wants an infected stallion or mare to
slip through the tests and be dumped out into our horse
populations.
Florida’s C.E.M. emergency rule, which has been
put into place, requires imported mares to have additional
testing over and above the federal tests. Not only are
there more tests, but there are also more culture locations.
Also, the post-breeding test of most mares has been extended
from 15 to 21 days.
In addition, C.E.M. serological testing must be done on
the first three mares bred to stallions after their release
from quarantine.
With this emergency rule in place and operational it should
make the possibility of a carrier mare or stallion much
less likely to slip through the screen undetected.
I decided to write this article for two reasons, the first
being that I wanted to demonstrate how some of our governmental
agencies are working hard to protect the livestock industry,
including the horse business. We often do not realize what
a responsibility the men and women who work in these agencies
have resting on their shoulders. A mistake on their part
could cost, in this case the horse industry, millions,
if not billions, of dollars in losses.
Many draft horse breeders today are entering the “warm-blood” market,
and raise draft-Thoroughbred or draft-Morgan or draft-Quarter
Horse crosses, to name a few. Even though many animals
of the draft breeds are not imported, I am sure there are
plenty members of the so-called “hot blood” breeds
that are. So a draft breeder could get caught up with C.E.M.
by purchasing an imported stallion or mare of some “hot
blooded” breed.
The second reason is that in the last two months I have
just clocked 18 phone calls and letters, mostly from subscribers
to the DHJ, who have asked about C.E.M. Among the 18 received
is a page from the Florida Market Bulletin by the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services with the
following headline: “Disease testing increased–Florida
moves to protect horse industry.” Then there follows
a discussion of C.E.M. Well, guess who sent it. None other
than Mr. Lynn Telleen, the editor of the DHJ!
I will say, I had most of the reading and research done
for this article when his letter arrived.
I hope I have answered most, if not all, of your questions
about Contagious Equine Metritis. And it’s sure great
to report that there are some real dedicated government
employees out there watching out for the horse and mule
industry!
