CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA : Horse Antiserum Apparently Works

An experimental antiserum given to three horses suffering an illness that has killed 18 horses in Southern California appears to be working, state officials said. No new cases of the illness surfaced over the weekend at the Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center where the sickness was discovered. Officials believe the toxin that caused the deaths was in hay cubes manufactured in Utah and shipped late last month to at least 60 stables from Ventura to San Diego. More than 850 tons of the cubes, produced and distributed by Parmount Cubing in Los Angeles County, have been recalled. The firm denies that its product caused the deaths of any horses. The recall should be complete by the end of this week, said Stanley Buscombe, chief of feed and fertilizer for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.