The disease can cause neurological problems in horses, paralysis and death. Wystrach tells KGUN9 News horse owners have to be especially careful for time being until they have a better understanding of how widespread the coach handbagsdisease has become." We still have probably a week or ten days to try and map out where things are going to go and it certainly is the type of disease process that if it decided to take off it could be pretty devastating to the horse industry," Wystrach said.The disease has been traced to a show horse in Utah, since then dozens of horses have caught the disease in nine states and Canada."This is a fatal disease, you want to know and you want to be able to take the necessary precautions. Otherwise it could be expensive and you could lose some good show stock which is worth a lot of money so you take a financial blow," Nelson said.The Equine-Herpes Virus EHV-1 can infect a horse through the air, horse to horse contact or transmitted by humans to the animals. Doctor Audrey Wystrach says the best thing for horse owners to do is have their animals checked out right away."This disease does not affect humans and does not affect pets it's completely isolated towards horses," Wystrach said.The veterinarian tells 9OYS there's no preventative care to give horses but owners should be wary of high fevers. She also sits on the Santa Cruz County Fair board and was part of the decision to cancel the show this weekend to try and keep infections down."A lot of history and a lot of tradition but unfortunately in the interest of the horses and their owners we made that decision," Wystrach said.Horse owners are on high alert after hearing an shop online 2011outbreak of Equine-Herpes Virus has infected several animals across the country. Nelson Farms the horses still get time to run around but their contact to others outside the area is limited. Trish Nelson tells 9OYS she's making sure all her animals stay on her property.
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