A Horse Person’s Thoughts on Monkeypox

Photo by Daniil Komov on Unsplash

Or, as it should really be called, rodentpox. I have a few thoughts on this, and some of them come from the biggest threat to equine public health in the U.S.

Equine herpesvirus.

EHV is dreaded by horse owners because it is highly contagious and can be transmitted from one farm to another by wandering humans.

Like monkeypox it comes in two main clades, one of which is far more serious than the other. A recent outbreak in Maryland sickened 44 of 47 horses on one premises. One horse died, and some others will likely never fully recover. The neurological form of EHV is particularly dreaded.

So, what does this have to do with monkeypox.

Means of Transmission

Monkeypox is transmitted by:

• Contact with sick rodents or, more rarely, nonhuman primates. Again, it should be rodentpox.
• Physical contact between individuals, skin to skin.
• Surface transmission.
• SHORT range airborne transmission (droplets), rarely.

EHV is a little different. Being a herpesvirus, pretty much every horse actually has the virus, but it is generally not pathogenic until something happens, usually stress. Once it goes pathogenic it is transmitted by: