Behind the Scenes of the Montgomery Co. EIA Hold Order On July 9, the Maryland equestrian world was


shocked to learn that a horse stabled in Mont- gomery County had tested positive for Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA), a disease that had not surfaced within the state for several de- cades. No one was more shocked than Sum- merhill Polo owner Charles Muldoon, who had requested that a new mare that had come to his farm for training receive an updated Coggins. “T is is the craziest thing you’ve ever heard of,” Muldoon stated, adding, “It is a good thing we caught it when we did.” T anks to the equine health practices that Muldoon already had in place at his facility and the quick action of the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the single case of EIA was con- tained and did not spread to any other horses. T e big question still


remains… how did this happen in the fi rst place? T e Equiery sat down with Muldoon to talk about the case, and many other things related to MDA-imposed hold orders.


The Case Early in the summer, a new mare arrived at


Summerhill Polo in Poolesville for training. T e mare had a current Coggins that was nega- tive. Muldoon has a farm policy however, that requires all horses to have Coggins tests for the year in which they are competing. T us, even though the mare had a negative Coggins from 2017 that was still “good” by U.S. standards, he requested a new Coggins be drawn. His veterinarian drew blood for the new Coggins test and the results came back as a very slight positive. At this point, the veterinarian took a second sample to make sure the fi rst was not a false positive.


ing EIA and has his own theory of how the mare caught the disease. “I think that she may have had it for a while but like so many other diseases, her titer had been going up and down and just hap- pened to be down when her last Coggins was drawn,” Muldoon explained. It is just a theory but could also explain why the fi rst Coggins drawn in July of this year showed up as a very low positive.


Hold Order


“This is the craziest thing you’ve ever heard of. It is a good thing we caught it when we did.” - Charles Muldoon


When there is a case of EIA, the farm with the infected horse is placed on a 60- day investigative hold. Because EIA is a blood-borne disease and not transferable by human contact, people were al- lowed to come and go from the farm, but horses could


not leave the property and no new horses could come in. Although Muldoon’s farm was the only farm in the area on an of- fi cial MDA hold order, several neighbor- ing farm owners put their own farms on self-quarantines “just to be safe.” As an active polo operation, the hold


order had a major impact on Muldoon and his clients. “We are used to traveling and playing [polo] all summer and now we couldn’t go anywhere. It was tough to say the least,” he said, adding, “but it is what we had to do, so we did it.” To keep his clients and their horses


“It was a fi nancial disaster but it was our responsibility to make sure it didn’t spread elsewhere.” - Charles Muldoon


16 | THE EQUIERY | NOVEMBER 2018


Muldoon said it was this second test that con- fi rmed positive for EIA. At that point, MDA was notifi ed and almost immediately, Dr. Marla Stevens from MDA drove down Muldoon’s farm drive with an offi - cial hold order. “Dr. Stevens was great,” he said. “She went through everything that we could and couldn’t do and was super helpful and guided us through the whole process.” Because there is no cure for EIA, the mare was euthanized. “It is a good thing we drew the new Coggins when we did or there may have been time for it to have spread to other horses,” Muldoon added. “T is is no one’s fault. We did everything right and it just happened.” Of course, he said, “T e owner was devastated and very depressed over the whole situation. T is was the horse that was going to take him to the next level of play.” It should be noted that the mare never showed any symptoms of EIA. Muldoon spent most of the summer research-


going, Muldoon organized scrimmages and matches be- tween the players at the farm and even brought in some pros to do matches on the horses at the farm. “It


is a hard balancing act to keep the clients happy and still run a business while not being able to ship out of the farm,” Mul- doon stated. He did end up having to cancel all of their local matches and told his European clients to stay home for the summer. “It was a fi nancial disaster but it was our responsibility to make sure it didn’t spread elsewhere,” he said. During the 60-day hold order, MDA tested over 270 horses across Maryland and Virginia with all Coggins tests com- ing back negative. When the hold order was lifted on September 14, after the 42 horses on the farm were re-tested, MDA state veterinarian Dr. Radebaugh said, “We still have some loose ends to tie up and a few more horses to test, but every- thing is fi ne.”


continued...


What is EIA? by Sara Gordon As news of a Montgomery County horse test- ing positive for EIA circulated the internet, a lot of Equiery readers started posting questions as to what the virus is, how a horse becomes infected and how they may or may not be treated. T e Equi- ery hopes we are able to answer a few of your ques- tions here. According to Jason Schellhardt, “T is virus is


very rare for our area and is more common along the Gulf Coast. We are currently investigating where the horse could have been infected.” Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) is a blood-


borne virus, typically transferred by biting fl ies or infected needles that aff ects horses, donkeys and mules. EIA is closely related to the human im- munodefi ciency virus (HIV), but is not known to aff ect human health. T e disease is characterized by fever, anemia, jaundice, depression, edema and chronic weight loss. However, EIA is often dif- fi cult to diff erentiate from other fever-producing diseases. Categorized as a retrovirus, “EIA contains ge-


netic RNA material which it uses to produce DNA. T is DNA is then incorporated into the genetic makeup of the infected cells,” according to the United States Department of Agriculture. T e clinical symptoms are a result of infl ammatory and immune responses to the virus, where the horse’s system continuously produces antibodies that will never successfully eliminate the virus. Instead, they unintentionally attack the cells with viral particles attached, which cause damage to the kidneys, liver, spleen, lymph nodes, bone marrow and brain. According to the MDA Public Health Offi ce,


the virus can take on three stages. T e “carrier” phase is a horse that has low levels of the virus in its system but can still transmit the virus. T ese horses, as in the Montgomery County case, may not show any symptoms. A horse in the “chronic” phase will look thin and unhealthy and will spike a fever. T e “acute” phase is fatal. Unfortunately, there is no successful way to treat EIA and there is no vaccination against it. For horses that are in- fected and survive the virus, the only options are a lifetime of quarantine or euthanasia. According to USDA, only one horse fl y out of six million is likely to pick up and transmit EIA from carrier horses. Insect transmission of EIA is dependent on the number of insects, the density of the horse population, the number of time the insect bites the same and other horses, the amount of blood transferred between horses and the level of virus obtained in the blood meal. T e Coggins is a blood test that detects antibod- ies to EIA showing either a negative or positive test result. While there is a misconception that the purpose of a Coggins is simply to ensure your horse is free to travel, it is a most important screen- ing to ensure your horse’s health status and avoid the spread of EIA.


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