??? Blood Transfer Horse-To-Horse ???

[Edward DeVere]

I'm a layman. Can anyone explain the whys and wherefores of the third paragraph from the bottom?

http://drf.com/news/four-infected-horses-euthanized-calder

[FenceBored]

I'm a layman. Can anyone explain the whys and wherefores of the third paragraph from the bottom?

http://drf.com/news/four-infected-horses-euthanized-calder

I second your confusion:

The state veterinarians office ... believe the disease had been spread by management practices within the barn which involved the transfer of blood from the infected horse to non-infected horses.

[point given]

The use of a same needle to draw blood from all four horses ?

[Shelby]

Maybe we should re-title this thread...I almost started a new topic about this article.

I would like to know why the HELL the horses were put to sleep???? It's not contagious, right??

[Shelby]

Also, I just read that it's transferred by the ticks. A tick that's already infected, bites another horse and infects again. Thus, I guess it is contagious???

[joanied]

My first question would be how did this trainer ship that first horse from new mexico to Fl. without a blood work prior to shipping...if they'd done that, it would be detected...
since no ticks were found, the only way the other 3 horses could become infected is blood to blood transfer...which leads me to beleive that for some insane reason, the same syringe was used on all 4 horses...incredible to think that, but it's the only conclusion you can come to:

Quote from an article on EP:
"This disease is not directly contagious from one horse to another but requires direct blood transfer. Human infection with equine piroplasmosis is extremely rare."

It's a shame about these poor horses...this was something easily prevented from happening.
I think the owners of these horses made the right call in having them euthanized...it was kinder than putting them in permanent quarentine as they would always be a carrier.

Damn shame:( :mad: