Tufts' new equine isolation ward triples patient capacity

North Grafton, Mass.

-- A new six-stall equine isolation ward at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University triples the capacity for patients at the infectious-disease unit.

The $3.7 million, 3,300-square-foot facility, part of the Hospital for Large Animals, was dedicated Sept. 8. More than 12 percent of the hospital’s incoming horses, calves, goats and alpacas are suspected of infectious diseases, and some had to be turned away in the past when the original two stalls were full.

Each of the stalls in the new facility are self-contained with separate ventilation units and two hoists for patients with neurological symptoms.

In a statement, Dr. Deborah Kochevar, PhD, dean of Cummings, said the new facility will help the school collaborate even more with Tufts’ Division of Infectious Diseases, which was selected in 2003 by the National Institutes of Health as one of six institutions forming the Food and Waterborne Diseases Integrated Research Network.