State quarantines 17 horses

MADISON (AP) - State agricultural officials have quarantined 17 horses on Wisconsin farms after they were exposed to an equine venereal disease that was confirmed last month in a quarter horse stallion in Kentucky.

The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said Wednesday the horses are on 11 farms in Fond Du Lac, Green Lake, La Crosse, Manitowoc, Outagamie, St. Croix, Waukesha and Winnebago counties.

Most of them are mares bred or artificially inseminated by one of seven out-of-state stallions that have tested positive for contagious equine metritis, or CEM, according to state officials.

CEM can cause temporary infertility and spontaneous abortion in horses, but it is treatable and poses no threat to humans.

The quarantine means the horses can't leave their farms without state approval and must be isolated from non-quarantined horses until they test negative, a process that could take weeks or months, state veterinarian Robert Ehlenfeldt said.

The general horse population isn't considered at risk since the disease is contracted by breeding with an infected animal or sharing equipment contaminated with CEM, Ehlenfeldt added.

The Wisconsin moves are part of an investigation that began in mid-December after Kentucky officials confirmed CEM in a quarter horse stallion on a central Kentucky "premises," according to a statement on the Web site of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The site did not name the location and Wisconsin DATCP spokeswoman Donna Gilson said she thought the name has not been released.

Since then, USDA veterinarians have confirmed CEM in a total of seven stallions - four in Kentucky and three in Indiana that spent time at the Kentucky premises.

A traceback investigation involving at least 250 horses in 27 states is under way, including quarantines of at least one mare in Montana and farms in two Virginia counties.

Gilson said the USDA fears the outbreak could threaten the country's $415 million horse, semen and embryo export business. Other countries could decide to impose strict import protocols, movement restrictions and expensive testing requirements on American horses in light of the disease, she said.

"It's purely hypothetical. We haven't been blackballed by any countries yet," Gilson said. "(But) they can set whatever conditions they want to."

Calls to APHIS offices in Maryland and Washington D.C. after hours Wednesday met with busy signals. A message left with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture wasn't immediately returned.