On 1/8/2009 9:25 AM John Newcombe wrote:
> As the 'infection' seems to have spread between stallions on the same farm and
as presumably no CEM testing was done on these stallions in 1997, how long has
CEMO been around ? It's not safe to assume it 'arrived' in 2008.!
>

One of the major questions that many are asking is "where did it come
from", and at this point, there is no definitive answer - and may never
be! Although the first stallion to be tested positive for the CEMO came
from Texas where he had been actively breeding in prior seasons, with
the mode of transference almost certainly being at the breeding farm in
Kentucky in some way during the collection process, there is no way to
determine if the "index" stallion (the first positive result) was truly
the index stallion, or a secondary transference - in other words at this
point, it could have been any one of the 7 positives that imported it to
the Kentucky facility. One would indeed think that prior season
trace-back would be a logical next step, but... q.v.

> Are any mares that were covered/inseminated in 2007 being tested ?
>

To the best of my knowledge, not at this time unless at the behest
privately of the mare owners themselves. Some mare owners in that
category have wondered if they should, but as I say, I believe that the
only mares currently undergoing "official" testing are the immediate
positive-contact animals. Maybe more "in depth" testing will follow with
later trace-back.

Regards to all,

Jos Mottershead
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