UNCONDITIONAL CARE FOR HORSES AND YOU

From tracking infectious disease threats to championing equine veterinarians, everything we do is in support of the horse.

Our passion at Merck Animal Health is simple: do what’s right for the horse. That includes working tirelessly to support people like you who care for horses.

We work tirelessly to continually refine and improve the products and programs that impact the health and wellbeing of horses.

• Vaccinations and pharmaceuticals that set the standard in safety and efficacy

• $1 million+ in vaccine donations through the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign, a 15-year (ongoing) nonprofit partnership with AAEP. Meet a horse who’s benefited on page 7.

The unique trust between horses and people fuels our commitment to creating premium equine health solutions, backed by a team of knowledgeable equine professionals

• Partnership with the EquiTrace® app enables our Bio-Thermo® microchips to provide instant temperature monitoring and health records management

• Merck Equine Research Fellowship through the Gluck Equine Research Center supports advanced study of equine disease

We’re making critical investments in the health and longevity of the equine veterinary profession through multiple initiatives.

• The Merck Animal Health Veterinary Wellbeing Study III was expanded to include veterinary technicians

• A founding sponsor of MentorVet, an evidence-based approach to empowering healthy veterinary professionals

• A founding partner with Sustainability in Equine Practice Seminars to help veterinarians achieve greater wellbeing, productivity and peer collaboration

We champion programs that strengthen the bond between human and horse.

• Annual Merck Animal Health Foundation for the Horse Scholarship

• Ongoing infectious disease tracking and sequencing through our Equine Respiratory Biosurveillance Program shapes disease response and enables us to update vaccines to account for current circulating strains

Our Unconditional commitment comes to life this season in particular through the ongoing Equine Respiratory Biosurveillance Program. Insights from the program are constantly advancing, and some of the latest are included in a recently published study, “Frequency of Detection and Prevalence Factors Associated with Common Respiratory Pathogens in Equids with Acute Onset of Fever and/or Respiratory Signs (2008-2021).”1 It documents a period of 13 years in which 10,296 U.S. horses with acute onset of fever and respiratory signs were tested via nasal secretion (qPCR) for detection of equine influenza virus (EIV), equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), equine herpesvirus-4 (EHV-4), equine rhinitis A and B viruses (ERVs), and Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi). A few timely highlights include:1

• Together, EIV and EHV-4 made up 63% of all single infections.

• S. equi was detected in 22%, ERV in 11% and EHV-1 in 4% of all positive samples.

• There was a distinct seasonality to EIV and EHV-1 (more likely in the spring), as well as to EHV-4 (more likely in the fall).

- Update: Figure 1 features the most current cumulative data (through 2022) on seasonality of infectious diseases since the paper was published.

• When compared to all horses with known respiratory infections, clinical signs were fairly consistent across pathogens. However, coughing was a clinical hallmark of EIV infection (Figure 2).