UC Davis Equine Isolation Facilities - The Next Frontier

The Equine Isolation Unit at the UC Davis veterinary hospital allows for care of horses with serious and highly contagious infectious diseases such as equine herpesvirus and strangles. Located away from other barns and buildings, this facility was specially designed to care for infectious cases. Each horse is housed in a biosecure stall with full climate control, including air-conditioning in the summer!

Doctors and staff undergo two levels of biosecurity when entering the isolation unit. First, they wash their hands and then don a set of pink coveralls (only used in isolation) over their outerwear and clean rubber boots. When entering each stall, hands are washed again, a white lab coat (specific to that horse) is then worn over the coveralls, and gloves and a hair covering are utilized. Each stall has its own footbath, in addition to footbaths throughout the facility. Dedicated staff are assigned to each case and do not interact with other patients during shifts.

A new Equine Isolation Facility is planned for the future Veterinary Medical Center (VMC) at UC Davis. Its design will focus on continuing UC Davis’ ability to provide state-of-the-art infection control environments for equine patients and help prevent the spread of harmful pathogens. The VMC, a decade-long campaign to build the foremost veterinary care facility in the world, will allow UC Davis to set the gold standard of care while defining advanced clinical research and education.