A deadly form of equine herpes has been discovered on a Mennonite farm near Mount Forest in southwestern Ontario.

The Neurotropic Equine Herpes Virus-1, which is not dangerous to humans, is easily transmitted from one horse to another and experts urge owners to take daily precautions as a matter of course to stop the spread of the virus.

“It’s almost always fatal,” David Alves, Ontario’s deputy chief veterinarian, said of the isolated case of EHV-1 Myeloencephalopathy.

While Neurotropic Equine Herpes Virus-1 is not a reportable disease in Canada, Ontario has a new Animal Health Act and it is one of the diseases under consideration for mandatory reporting in the province.

In the past years there have been EHV-1 outbreaks across North America, including Alberta and British Columbia. Horse competitions and rodeos have been cancelled in order to contain the virus. The last reported case in Ontario was last fall in the Dryden area in the northwestern part of the province. Within the past week 16 confirmed cases of EVH-1 were reported in California, and two are believed to be Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy.

“I’m always alarmed when there is equine herpes. It’s something that scares all of us as veterinarians,” said Mary Bell chair of the Equine Canada Health and Welfare Committee and a veterinarian in Puslinch, Ont., adding that Equine Canada has been urging the federal government to make Neurotropic Equine Herpes Virus-1 a reportable disease.