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By DALE LEATHERMAN
Democrat Contributing Writer
Kentucky has been added to the growing list of states with confirmed cases of Potomac Horse Fever, a virtually untreatable virus disease which kills a third of the horses it affects.
An Arabian horse near LaGrange, Ky., tested positive for the disease according to Dr. Robert Whitlock, spokesman for Potomac Fever diagnostic teams at the universities of Pennsylvania and Illinois. Three other Arabians and several thoroughbreds are “suspicious cases,” Dr. Whitlock said, but have not been confirmed.
While Kentucky is famous worldwide for its thoroughbred breeding farms, LaGrange is the acknowledged center of the multi-million dollar Arabian horse industry.
Researchers at several institutions are working “vigorously” to detect a rapid test and treatment for the disease, Dr. Whitlock said, but lack of sufficient funding has hampered progress. Dr. Whitlock and Dr. Miodrag Ristic of the University of Illinois are coordinating their diagnostic efforts, while related research is also being done at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg.
Other animals and at least one human have been tested positive for “titers”, antibodies present only in an infected animal’s bloodstream.
A veterinarian who had been treating Potomac Fever in horses had a positive test for titers, according to Dr. Whitlock. The patient’s clinical illness — lethargy — differed from the violent diarrhea and high
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