Equine Infectious Anemia Virus

Equine infectious anemia virus causes a highly contagious viral infection in horses; it can be compared to HIV in humans. Equine infectious anemia virus is capable of producing its own DNA, which attaches itself to the various cellular structures in the body of a horse. In this manner, the virus replicates itself quickly, taking over the normal cells of the body and causing illness and disease. An infestation of equine infectious anemia virus can lead to the systematic failure of all the organs and organ systems in the horse’s body. Equine infectious anemia virus also affects the immune system of the horse.

Like HIV, the equine infectious anemia virus is also passed on through infected blood. This blood borne infection is passed mainly through mosquito bites, deer flies, and horse flies, all of which feed on blood. Also, similar to HIV, equine infectious anemia virus can be passed from a mare to the horse during mating and from mare to her offspring. However, blood swapping caused due to insect bites is the chief mode of infection. Till date there is no equine infectious anemia vaccine. There have been many vaccine trials, but unfortunately, none of them have been successful. Since the infection itself is fatal, the best possible thing to do is to try and keep the horses safe from exposure to the infection. Equine infectious anemia quarantine is one of the best methods to make sure that your horses do not get infected from an already infected horse. If you already have a horse infected, it is important to keep it separated from the others, in a quarantined area where the horse is not exposed to mosquitoes and flies, which may pass the infection along.

You can also read on equine infectious anemia testing

Another thing to remember, if you have an infected horse in your stable, is to never allow the sharing of needles when treating two horses. Be careful only to use disposable needles and destroy the needle after it has been used once. Sharing needles among horses is another common mode of transmission of the equine infectious anemia virus. Since this is a blood borne disease, a horse that has already been tested positive for equine infectious anemia, should never be bred, as this may only result in offspring that are infected, even if the mare is able to have a full term pregnancy that is normal in every way. If there is any blood exchange during the mating, the mare may also get infected.