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Maryland officials confirm gelding had EHV-1 The preliminary lab report on News Reporter, the gelding euthanized on January 2, confirms that the five-year-old was infected with Equine Herpesvirus (EHV-1), officials from the Maryland Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday. The Charles Frock trainee was stabled in Barn 5 at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland. "The result of the diagnostic performed suggested that the horse had mounted an extremely strong and recent immune response to the herpes virus, which is very good evidence that we are dealing with a current infection and more specifically a neurologic disease," Maryland State Veterinarian Guy Hohenhaus said. "This result was very consistent with what we expected. This confirms what we and the veterinarians treating these animals have been suspecting for days." Officials at Pimlico placed a Hold Order on Barn 5 last Friday as well as isolating horses in the Detention Barn. Four of the six isolated horses are currently experiencing neurological signs. Horses trained by Frock, William Christmas, Robert Gamber, Hassan Elamri and David Mohan are housed in Barn 5 and not allowed to race until further notice. The 40 horses remaining in the barn are permitted to train from 10 to 11 a.m. (EST) after regular training hours end at 9:30 a.m. "This outbreak is behaving like you would suspect a herpes outbreak to behave. It is very similar to other outbreaks we have seen at similar facilities over the last several years in that over a period of several days you have several new horses spiking fevers and showing neurological signs," HoHenhaus added. "We are taking all the necessary precautionary measures to contain the animals showing signs of suspected illness and have the full cooperation of all parties involved." Full test results are expected back Friday.
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