OVERVIEW

Contagious Equine Metritis, also known as CEM, is a venereal disease caused by the bacteria called Taylorella equigenitalis.

It is spread between mares and stallions during breeding, by artificial insemination with contaminated semen and from stallion to stallion through contaminated equipment.

Since the disease doesn’t produce many outward signs, horses can be otherwise healthy, silent carriers of the bacteria.

The USDA currently considers all countries of the European Union, and a small number of others, to be affected with CEM.

To protect the U.S. equine industry, horses imported from CEM-affected countries must test negative for the disease before entering the United States.

The CEM free status of the United States must be maintained and protected to facilitate worldwide travel of horses to and from the country.

The CEM organism is slow to grow on culture and takes multiple samples of multiple sites to reliably prove that a horse is clear.

The US maintains a rigorous testing process, which is proven to reliably detect carriers of the organism.

This protocol is built on recommendations by the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) based in Paris, France.

Unfortunately, until another testing method is proven superior, the current protocol will remain in place for horses importing from the European Union and other CEM affected countries to the United States.

MARES

Each mare is routinely cultured a minimum of 3 times and a blood sample is taken with the first culture. These 3 cultures and blood sample are required to fulfill the requirements for testing. A number of facilities also routinely perform a 4th culture to serve as backup in case of an issue with one of the other cultures.

· It takes 8 days from any given culture to receive the results.

· Cultures must have minimum of 72 hours between sampling.

· Cultures are routinely obtained Monday-Friday.

· Holidays will impact the testing schedule.

· All mares must receive a 5-day topical treatment (aka Clean & Pack) prior to release.

· Typical Duration of Stay: 14-21 days.