Horses Quarantined at Los Angeles Equestrian Center After Deadly Virus Outbreak

Officials detected the virus in up to five horses, one of which had to be euthanized.

Horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center were put under quarantine after a deadly equine herpesvirus was confirmed in five animals this week.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture quarantined and isolated all of the horses residing in the "A" barn Thursday at the Center after detecting equine herpes myeloencephalopathy in two horses. One of them, a 5-year-old Saddleback, had to be euthanized because its symptoms were so severe.

On Friday, the virus was found in three more horses. They were all placed in isolation, according to the CDFA.

All but one of the infected horses had just returned from a horse show in Las Vegas, but no other cases were detected in other horses that attended the show.

On-site CDFA veterinarians were monitoring the quarantine and were taking the horses' temperatures twice a day.

Equine herpes myeloencephalopathy, or herpesvirus-1, is a neurologic disease that can cause respiratoy disease, abortion and neonatal death in horses. 

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