AniCell and USDA: Recent partnership at Fonner Park Racetrack in Nebraska
Equine veterinarians, horse owners, or anyone who lives near a large racetrack or horse show grounds knows about EHV-1 and the devastating effects this virus can have. It’s highly transmissible through aerosolized droplets (sneezing) or cross-contamination from horses sharing water buckets, toys, and even eating treats from the same unwashed hand that just fed another horse who has the virus. It tends to sweep through barns very quickly, and can sometimes progress to a neurologic form (EHM) which often necessitates euthanasia. Recently the USDA contacted us to help out during a widespread outbreak of EHV-1 at Fonner Park Racetrack in Grand Island, Nebraska to see if our new antiviral support product originally developed for animal parvovirus could offer some hope. The team at AniCell developed a full-on clinical trial to address the 112 horses in the barn impacted by the neurological strain of the virus that had already claimed 2 horses’ lives by the time we arrived. The USDA, the Nebraska state veterinarian, horse owners, trainers, and backstretch workers were a pleasure to work with during two weeks of long days following stringent testing, administering the formulation, sample collections, and reviewing findings during the course of our stay. The samples were processed by an independent laboratory (UC Davis) and the results at this time have shown virus eradication by day 7. The response from these horses, including some very, very sick horses, goes along with everything we’ve seen stemming from the research and field trials done by our longtime partner in all things amnion, Dr. Rob Holland who first discovered how effectively our special formulation can help the body combat viruses such as Parvo and later, FIP. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone involved in this project. Helping animals is why we do what we do, and we are incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity to assist. Stay tuned for the published data on this new product.