Contagious Equine Metritis Within the United States: A Review of the 2008 Outbreak

Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is a reportable foreign animal disease in the United States caused by the organism Taylorella equigenitalis. Import and export regulations regarding transport of horses into the United States from countries which either have a high prevalence of CEM or those that trade freely with countries having a high prevalence of CEM have failed to prevent the 2008 outbreak, which has not yet been traced to the original horse. It is important to recognize the clinical signs of acute CEM infections (endometritis, infertility, and abortion) to prevent further outbreak of disease. With early recognition, proper testing, and quarantine measures, the outbreaks and economic losses to the United States can be kept to a minimum. However, there are certain characteristics of the disease that are difficult to diagnose and control, such as the ability of the organism to infect an animal without creating clinical signs and the difficulty in culturing it. A review of the transmission, clinical signs, diagnostic methods, treatment, and prevention of CEM as well as a brief summary of the 2008 outbreak of CEM within the United States has been discussed in this article.