Forum to address equine tick disease

Lexington, Ky. - 10/25/07 - The American Horse Council's National Issues Fall Forum will host a session on equine piroplasmosis (EP) and related issues, presented by Kent Fowler, DVM and chief of the Animal Health Branch at the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The forum begins Nov. 2 at Keeneland Racetrack .

Fowler, who has 25 years of experience in equine medicine and surgery, chairs the Piroplasmosis subcommittee of the Infectious Diseases of Horses Committee, under the U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA).

EP is classified as a foreign-animal disease, occurring in Africa, Asia, South and Central America, although the tick parasites that spread it exist in the United States.Regulations requiring the testing of horses imported into the country to determine their EP status have been in place for years.

Among other issues, Fowler will discuss a long-used piroplasmosis test that has possibly resulted in some false-positive results, allowing an unknown number of EP seropositive imported horses to enter the country.