Pirplasmosis In The US: A Broken Record
Yet another case of piroplasmosis has been identified in the US. The horse was identified as infected with the bloodborne parasite Babesia caballi through routine testing for interstate movement of horses. Babesia caballi and Theileria equi are both causes of piroplasmosis, and both have been found multiple times in the US over the past year or so. The infected horse is currently under quarantine.
The good news:
- The infected (and infectious) horse was identified so proper measures can be taken to reduce the risk of spread to other horses.
- The surveillance program that is in place is effective at identifying (at least some) positive horses.
The bad news:
- Still, no one has a good explanation as to why these unrelated cases keep occurring. I can't see any other explanation other than this disease must be present (endemically) in the US and is probably being spread by unrecognized insect vectors.
- The surveillance that is underway only tests a very small percentage of horses. So, for every infected horse that is detected, there may be many more that go undetected.
Clearly, a concerted and coordinated effort needs to be undertaken to determine the scope of the problem and, more importantly, the source and route of transmission (i.e. the insect vector) of these infections. If at least the vector is not identified, there's no way to properly control this disease.
