I can’t help but wonder what he was “doing” to spread EIA around to 16 horses. It seems like too big of an operation to do something dumb like reuse $0.50 needles. Someone in the comments on FB mentioned NG tubes, but that seems like a really unlikely method of transmission to me considering just how many horses were affected. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was some kind of red blood cell doping. 
I have a hard time coming up with any non nefarious ways that many horses in one barn can have that many positives. I must say a positive coggins test is such a terrifying thought to me that I don’t even let myself go there. The thought of having to put a seemingly healthy horse down is truly horrifying.
This is tragic…,
Tragic, sure, but—
“The current epidemiological investigation indicates that spread of EIA among these horses occurred via iatrogenic transmission”
I cannot think of a non-nefarious reason that would result in iatrogenic transmission of so many racehorses short of being a cheapskate and having all your horses legally dosed with the same syringe & needle or something.
Oh…I agree. It’s tragic in that it most likely didn’t need to happen…
And did he not do Coggins??? My late DH (DVM) told a story about a lazy vet in KY years ago who pulled 20 tubes from the same horse on a farm. All 20 were positive….
This would be at least 40 years ago. The guy lost his license.
Why would he lose his license? Or was he falsifying coggins?
Obviously I have no details about the Heath Taylor situation. I’m sure he kept up with his coggins on whatever legal interval was required. Horses can be exposed in the interim.
I guarantee you he had valid coggins on all of them. They can be infected that same day though so it really is just a snapshot in time
He falsified Coggins.
That is an excellent point. Thank you.
Not saying that isn’t the case but I seriously doubt it. That’s literally like $20. Not to mention he would have already lost his license for life if so.
because I don’t know, and because this DID happen but to foals, would there be any reason for racehorses to get some plasma for any “enhancing” properties?
Otherwise, the only thing I know about all the previous mass EIA outbreaks I’ve heard of, is re-using needles, which seems to be quite common in certain circles
Unclean dental equipment can do this too, but I wouldn’t believe for a second all those horses just happened to have dental work done with the same uncleaned equipment
I have absolutely seen 30ml syringes re-used for smz’s/pills to dissolve in and then used.
There wouldn’t be a needle involved in that case. EIA is a blood born issue usually transferred by biting insects like horse flies.
Gotcha
I don’t know anything about what caused this problem, but for the record, “big operations” are not immune to cheapness and laziness. In fact, the bigger the operation, the harder to oversee, leading to people down the totem pole doing random stupid shit, in my opinion.
I was wondering how the hell there was iatrogenic transmission (and freaked out as I tried to imagine how we could be in a “factor 8” scenario), then I read a blurb that said the horses were linked to bush racing. So, some kind of doping going on, which is awful, but nowhere near as awful as a factor 8 scenario.
I never ceased to be amazed at some of the things people do to race horses so I never say never but I have never heard of anyone using plasma on race horses. I guess there could possibly be some actual blood doping going on.
Did you read the Paulick Report article? They were Quarter Horses and their trainer isn’t known as a bush track trainer.
This didn’t happen at any bush track
