Are there any bio-terrorism concerns involving equine diseases?
Several diseases of horses have long been recognized as capable of being used as a bio-terrorist weapon, such as glanders and Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis. Glanders is a disease of horses, mules and donkeys and has not been found in the U.S. since the early 1900 s. Glanders can be spread to humans through horses and was used by the German army in World War I to sicken enemy soldiers. In its bioweapons program, the former Soviet Union was producing the bacterial agent that causes glanders as late as the early 1980’s. Glanders continues to exist in several third world countries, some of which have recently become members of the European Union. The U.S.
