from the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Assn.

Springfield, IL — The Illinois State Fair on Friday (Aug. 8) increased biosecurity practices in one of its Standardbred horse barns after learning that several horses in the barn may have been exposed to a horse at Balmoral Park in Chicago that was exhibiting symptoms of equine herpes virus (EHV-1), a contagious disease that poses no risk to humans or other animals, but can be fatal to horses.

These practices were implemented after consulting State Veterinarian Dr. Mark Ernst of the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Racing Board veterinarian Dr. David Fitzpatrick and were taken as a precaution to protect the health of all horses on the fairgrounds.

Fortunately, tests came back negative for the virus and the heightened biosecurity practices, which included restricting access into the barn, are no longer necessary.

The Department of Agriculture is responsible for the detection and eradication of animal diseases, which is essential to protect not only the health of animals, but also the agriculture economy.

Saturday’s (Aug. 9) races at Springfield were cancelled due to all of the recent heavy rain making the track unusable. Many of the races will be added to Thursday’s (Aug. 14) card, but the overnights will not.