— first published in the November 2025 issue of The Equiery

On September 25th, MHC hosted a biosecurity webinar for its Industry Professional members. The moderator was MHC’s Vice President for Land Use Claire Lacey, who has managed multiple barns and has taken several Biosecurity Certificate courses.

The panelists were Nathaniel A. White II, DVM, DACVS, who is the Director of the Equine Disease Communication Center; Dr. Krista E. Estell DVM DACVIM (LAIM), who is an infectious disease specialist and Clinical Associate Professor at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center; and Maryland State Veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Trout.

The webinar coincided with an unusually robust strangles outbreak that, as of press time, has reached 21 confirmed cases so far this year. Maryland has also had three confirmed cases of West Nile Virus this year. We have been reporting confirmed cases in real time on our website and on our Facebook page.

Attendees had the opportunity to submit questions ahead of time.

Dr. White was the first speaker and he explained the role of the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) and described the sources of the EDCC’s information. He also discussed which communicable diseases are currently active in Maryland and whether there is an increase or decrease of communicable diseases over all.

Dr. Estel described effective strategies for minimizing risk, including the best methods for cleaning and disinfecting exposed areas and which vaccinations should be on a regular preventive care schedule.

Dr. Estel also addressed strangles specifically by summarizing what the veterinary medicine community knows currently about the disease, how it spreads, and how to treat it. She described pro-active steps that owners and barn managers can take to stem the spread of the disease.

Dr. Trout explained which contagious equine diseases must be reported to the State Veterinarian and how that process works. She answered questions about contact tracing and the extent to which barns can operate while under quarantine.

The second part of the webinar focused on questions from the attendees, including:

  • How should barn managers handle biosecurity when your owners have horses at more than one location, or when your volunteers or employees work at more than one equine operation?
  • Which items of equipment and clothing can carry contagious diseases between barns?
  • How does one practice biosecurity on a small farm with limited acreage?
  • What safeguards are in place for veterinarians who visit multiple farms in a day and who may not yet know if a barn they serve has been exposed to a communicable disease?
  • Do veterinarians have to disclose to owners or barn managers when they have visited an infected farm earlier in the day?
  • Is there a way that to find out which farms and facilities have been exposed to a communicable disease?
  • What is the biosecurity risk of passing a possibly infected horse on a trail?

MHC Industry Professional members may watch the video replay at no charge by logging into the MHC website and visiting the “Webinar Videos” page of the members-only section.

If you are not an IP member but would like to watch the video replay, you can join as a new IP member or upgrade an existing membership at https://mdhorsecouncil.org/join/.