BOWLING GREEN, Mo. (AP) – Agriculture officials are keeping a close eye on horse populations in northeast Missouri after two horses tested positive earlier this month for a contagious, viral disease known as equine infectious anemia.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture says a Belgian horse in Pike County and second horse on the same farm both tested positive earlier this month and were euthanized.
Nearly 700 other horses located nearby were also tested, but no additional positives cases
were found.
Agriculture director Jon Hagler says the disease can have a devastating impact on the equine industry.
It is commonly transmitted through horse flies, deer flies, mosquitoes and gnats and can be found in ponies, donkey and mules as well as horses.
There is no vaccine.
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