NM: Mysterious outbreak kills 24 horses in Roswell

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/mysterious-outbreak-kills-24-horses-in-roswell/

Mysterious outbreak kills 24 horses in Roswell
by: George Gonzales
Posted: Apr 29, 2022 /06:17 PM MDT
Updated: Apr 29, 2022 / 06:17 PM MDT


ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) – In a matter of weeks, 24 horses at HunterCreek Farms fell ill and died from a mysterious illness and it was a race against time before it spread to the rest of the farm. Now, the owner of the farm says she is left with a lot of unanswered questions as to what may have triggered the outbreak.

“They would first present with a runny nose and then there would be a little bit of blood in that and then they would start drooling and then they would die,” said HunterCreek Farms Owner, Susan Hunter.

Hunter says the horses started showing signs of sickness and within a matter of hours they would die. So she was determined to get to the root of the problem. “We did a self-quarantine after the third case and we kept that in place. It was horrible, we tried treating them with all kinds…we tried so many different medications on this and nothing seemed to help at all,” said Hunter...

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Emily]

From Shiloh's article:

Orton says the isolated bacteria, Actinobacillus Equuli, is common amongst horses and is usually found in foodborne toxins. “Our theory is that the toxin that was extremely potent just completely obliterated their immune system, their white cell counts. They all had zero white cell counts, which was a consistent finding.” Orton added.

Seems unusual. This is a farm that services the horse racing industry. They do rehab work, so some clients might come in stressed but still well cared for overall. They are looking into wildfire smoke being a factor in the Colorado wild horse prison's lethal flu outbreak, so possibly smoke was a factor here, too. There was a fire earlier in the month only 6-7 miles from this farm.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8053/