Serotypes refer to distinct variations within a species of microorganisms, classified based on the antigens present on their surface. In horses, understanding serotypes is important for identifying different strains of pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, that can cause disease. This classification aids in the development of targeted vaccines and treatments by identifying the specific serotype responsible for an infection. Common pathogens in horses with multiple serotypes include equine influenza virus and Streptococcus equi, the causative agent of strangles. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the identification, classification, and implications of serotypes in equine health and disease management.
Turton JF, Baklan H, Siu LK, Kaufmann ME, Pitt TL.A multiplex PCR using targets within the serotype-specific region of the capsular polysaccharide synthesis gene cluster of serotypes K1, K2 and K5 was evaluated using the 77 reference serotype strains of Klebsiella, and a panel of clinical isolates subjected previously to conventional serotyping. The PCR was highly specific for these serotypes, which are those most associated with virulence in humans and horses. PCR confirmed that isolates of the K5 serotype had cross-reacted with antiserum for other serotypes, particularly for K7. K5 isolates received by our laboratory were almost exclusively...
Agüero M, Gómez-Tejedor C, Angeles Cubillo M, Rubio C, Romero E, Jiménez-Clavero A.African horse sickness is an arthropod-borne disease of the equine included in the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) list with important economic consequences for horse trade. The disease is caused by African horse sickness virus (AHSV; family Reoviridae, genus Orbivirus), which is transmitted by Culicoides midges. It is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, spreading occasionally outside this area where the occurrence of Culicoides vectors allows virus transmission. Currently, only conventional (gel-based) reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocols are available for ...
Quan M, van Vuuren M, Howell PG, Groenewald D, Guthrie AJ.Between 2004 and 2006, 145 African horse sickness viruses (AHSV) were isolated from blood and organ samples submitted from South Africa to the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. All nine serotypes were represented, with a range of 3-60 isolates per serotype. The RNA small segment 10 (S10) nucleotide sequences of these isolates were determined and the phylogeny investigated. AHSV, bluetongue virus (BTV) and equine encephalosis virus (EEV) all formed monophyletic groups and BTV was genetically closer to AHSV than EEV. This study confirmed the presence of three distinct S10 ph...
Venter GJ, Paweska JT.Previously reported virus recovery rates from Culicoides (Avaritia) imicola Kieffer and Culicoides (Avaritia) bolitinos Meiswinkel (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) orally infected with vaccine strain of African horse sickness virus serotype 7 (AHSV-7) were compared with results obtained from concurrently conducted oral infections with five recent AHSV-7 isolates from naturally infected horses from various localities in South Africa. Culicoides were fed sheep bloods spiked with 10(7.6) TCID(50)/mL of a live-attenuated vaccine strain AHSV-7, and with five field isolates in which virus titre in the blo...
Hashimoto VY, Gonçalves DD, Silva FG, Oliveira RC, Alves LA, Reichmann P, Muller EE, Freitas JC.A total of 320 horses were studied in this paper, both male and female, between two and 17 years of age, which were used for traction of wagons in the urban area of the municipality of Londrina (PR). These animals were kept, after their daily work, in abandoned areas or plots, in the outskirts of the urban area of the city. When these animals were attended by the veterinarians, between 1996 and 2005, none of them presented symptoms suggesting leptospirosis. The most frequent reasons for the visit were loss of weight, unwillingness for work, parasitism, laminess, and wounds. Microscopic Seroagg...
Frye JG, Fedorka-Cray PJ.Third-generation cephalosporin (3GC) antimicrobials are the drugs of choice for treatment of salmonellosis in children. Salmonella isolated in the USA are assayed by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) for resistance to antimicrobials including first-, second- and third-generation cephalosporins. From 1999 to 2003, 34,411 Salmonella were isolated from animals in the USA, of which 10.9% were found to be resistant to ceftiofur, a 3GC used in animals, whilst only 0.3% were resistant to ceftriaxone, a 3GC used in human medicine. Ceftiofur resistance rose from 4.0% in 19...
Venter GJ, Koekemoer JJ, Paweska JT.Confirmed outbreaks of African horse sickness (AHS) occurred in the surveillance zone of the Western Cape in 1999 and 2004, both of which led to a two-year suspension on the export of horses. Light trap surveys in the outbreak areas showed that known vector competent Culicoides species, notably C. imicola, were abundant and present in numbers equal to those in the traditional AHS endemic areas. Isolations of AHS virus serotypes 1 and 7, equine encephalosis virus, and bluetongue virus from field-collected C. imicola in the surveillance zone demonstrated that this species was highly competent an...
Gulati BR, Deepa R, Singh BK, Rao CD.Rotaviruses causing severe diarrhea in foals in two organized farms in northern India, during the period from 2003 to 2005, were characterized by electropherotyping, serotyping, and sequence analysis of the genes encoding the outer capsid proteins. Of 137 specimens, 47 (34.31%) were positive for rotavirus and exhibited at least five different electropherotypes (E), E1 to E5. Strains belonging to different electropherotypes exhibited either a different serotype/genotype specificity or a lack of reactivity to typing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) used in this study. Strains belonging to E1, E2, an...
Howerth EW, Mead DG, Mueller PO, Duncan L, Murphy MD, Stallknecht DE.Horses were inoculated with Vesicular stomatitis New Jersey and Indiana viruses by routes simulating contact and vector transmission. Clinical signs, lesions, antibody development, viral shedding and persistence, and viremia were monitored. Horses were infected with both viruses by all routes as confirmed by seroconversion. Salivation, primary lesions at inoculation sites, and secondary oral lesions were the most common clinical findings. Viral shedding was most often from the oral cavity, followed by the nasal cavity; titers were highest from oral cavity samples. Virus was rarely isolated fro...
Black WD, Hartley CA, Ficorilli NP, Studdert MJ.Equine rhinitis B virus (ERBV), genus Erbovirus, family Picornaviridae occurs as two serotypes, ERBV1 and ERBV2. An ERBV-specific nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that amplified a product within the 3D(pol) and 3' non-translated region of the viral genome was developed. The RT-PCR detected all 24 available ERBV1 isolates and one available ERBV2 isolate. The limit of detection for the prototype strain ERBV1.1436/71 was 0.1 50% tissue culture infectious doses. The RT-PCR was used to detect viral RNA in six of 17 nasopharyngeal swab samples from horses that had clin...
Kriegshäuser G, Deutz A, Kuechler E, Skern T, Lussy H, Nowotny N.Equine rhinitis viruses (ERVs) are the causative agents of mild to severe upper respiratory infections in horses worldwide. Immunologically, four serotypes of ERVs have been identified. Equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV) and Equine rhinitis B virus 1 (ERBV1) are the most frequent serotypes in Europe. Both viruses have a broad host range in cultured cells with ERAV being able to infect humans. Since there is neither information on the seroprevalence of ERAV and ERBV1 in Austria nor on the zoonotic potential of ERBV1, we investigated 200 horse and 137 veterinary sera for the presence of neutralizing...
Sánchez-Vizcaíno JM.African horse sickness (AHS) is an infectious but no-contagious viral disease of equidae with high mortality in horses. The disease is caused by an arthropod-borne double-stranded RNA virus within the genus Orbivirus of the family Reoviridae transmitted by at least two species of Culicoides. Nine different serotypes have been described. The nine serotypes of AHS have been described in eastern and southern Africa. Only AHS serotypes 9 and 4 have been found in West Africa from where they occasionally spread into countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Examples of outbreaks that have occurred ou...
Maree S, Paweska JT.This paper describes the production and purification of a group-specific recombinant protein VP7 of African horse sickness virus serotype 3 (AHSV-3) and validation of an I-ELISA for the detection of IgG-antibodies to VP7 in horse sera. Baculovirus-expressed VP7 crystals were purified from infected insect cells. Analytical accuracy of the I-ELISA was examined using sera (n = 38) from an experimentally infected horse, from foals born to vaccinated mares, from guinea-pigs immunized with nine serotypes of AHSV, and from sera of animals infected with other orbiviruses. Compared to traditional serol...
Paweska JT, Venter GJ.Field-collected Culicoides species (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) were fed on horse blood-virus mixtures containing one of the six serotypes of equine encephalosis virus (EEV1 to EEV6). The virus mean titres in the bloodmeals varied between 6.1 and 7.0 log10TCID50/mL. Of 19 Culicoides species assayed after 10 days extrinsic incubation at 23.5 degrees C, five yielded the challenge virus, namely Culicoides (Avaritia) imicola Kieffer (EEV1-6), C. (A.) bolitinos Meiswinkel (EEV1, 2, 4, 6), C. (Meijerehelea) leucostictus Kiefer (EEV1, 2), C. (Culicoides) magnus Colaço (EEV1) and C. (Hoffmania) zuluens...
Obregón AM, Fernández C, Rodríguez I, Balbis Y, Martínez B, Rodríguez J.To assess the sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility, and stability of five latex agglutination systems for detecting antibodies against leptospira in human and animal sera, by using the Leptospira serotypes that are most widely prevalent in Cuba. Methods: We performed an analytic and descriptive study with 706 human sera (65 tested positive for antibodies against leptospira with microagglutination (MAT) and hemagglutination (HA) techniques; 156 sera that tested negative with MAT and HA); 485 sera from 424 patients who had clinical or epidemiologic signs of leptospirosis; and 29 animal sera...
Gudmundsdottir KB, Svansson V, Aalbaek B, Gunnarsson E, Sigurdarson S.Twenty isolates of Listeria monocytogenes associated with five confirmed and four suspected incidents of listeriosis in horses in Iceland were characterised by serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and ribotyping. Semiquantitative estimates of the numbers of L monocytogenes were made on faeces from horses with clinical signs of listeriosis and on grass silage fed to them. Large numbers of L monocytogenes were often found in the faeces of horses with severe signs of disease. The 20 isolates could be divided into six genotypes, each incident involving only one genotype. One serovar 1/2a g...
Koekemoer JJ, Dijk AA.Since protection against African horsesickness (AHS) is serotype-specific, rapid serotyping of AHSV is crucial to identify the correct vaccine serotype for efficient control of the spread of AHS outbreaks, especially when they occur in non-endemic regions. This paper describes the first one-day serotyping procedure that requires only a single RT-PCR and hybridization and which can identify multiple serotypes in mixed infections in one assay. The same region of genome segment 2 of all nine AHSV serotypes is amplified in a single RT-PCR. A universal primer set, designed to amplify the 5'-termina...
Martinez I, Barrera JC, Rodriguez LL, Wertz GW.Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is the most common cause of vesicular disease outbreaks in livestock throughout the Western Hemisphere. Two major serotypes, Indiana and New Jersey, cause epidemic disease in pigs, cattle, and horses. We generated recombinant viruses derived from the Indiana serotype genome that were engineered to contain and express: (1) a single copy of the glycoprotein gene from the Indiana serotype (VSIV-GI); (2) a single copy of the glycoprotein gene from the New Jersey serotype (VSIV-GNJ); or (3) two copies of the glycoprotein gene, one from each of the two major VSV sero...
Singh BR, Singh VP, Agarwal M, Sharma G, Chandra M.Haemolysin patterns of 175 strains of different Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovars isolated from different animal sources and places were determined using 11 different blood agar media made with either non-washed horse/sheep erythrocytes or with washed erythrocytes of cattle, sheep, horse, goat, rabbit, guinea pig, and human A, O and B blood groups. Study on 47 strains belonging to 10 serovars of Salmonella from buffalo meat (buffen), 42 strains of 11 serovars from goat meat (chevon): 16 strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi B and 25 of S. enterica serovar Paratyphi B ...
Rocha T, Ellis WA, Montgomery J, Gilmore C, Regalla J, Brem S.A bacteriological survey of kidneys from 145 abattoir horses was performed, which resulted in the isolation of two Leptospira strains. The isolates were serologically typed as belonging to serogroups Australis and Pomona, and REA identified them as L. interrogans serovar Bratislava and L. kirschneri serovar Tsaratsovo, respectively. These are the first Leptospira isolates obtained from horses in Portugal and the Bratislava strain is the first serogroup Australis strain to be isolated in this country. The 145 horses were also serologically tested for leptospiral antibodies, and 37% had MAT titr...
Paweska JT, Prinsloo S, Venter GJ.The oral susceptibility of livestock-associated South African Culicoides midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) to infection with the tissue culture-attenuated vaccine strains of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) currently in use is reported. Field-collected Culicoides were fed on horse blood-virus mixtures each containing one of the seven serotype-specific vaccine strains of AHSV, namely serotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8. The mean titres of virus in the bloodmeals for the seven vaccine strains were between 6.8 and 7.6 log10TCID50/mL. All females (n = 3262) that survived 10 days extrinsic incubati...
Kweon CH, Kwon BJ, Ko YJ, Kenichi S.VP7, the sero-group common antigen, of African horsesickness virus (AHSV-4) was expressed in insect cells by recombinant baculovirus. To develop a specific diagnostic method, monoclonal antibody (Mab) against VP7 was prepared and investigated as diagnostic reagent with the baculovirus expressed VP7. However, the Mab against VP7 of AHSV cross-reacted with Chuzan virus by the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), confirming the presence of conserved domain of VP7 among Orbiviruses. This study describes two types of ELISA; Mab linked indirect (I-ELISA) and competitive-ELISA (C-ELISA) using bac...
Koekemoer JJ, Paweska JT, Pretorius PJ, van Dijk AA.We present the first VP2-gene phylogenetic analysis of African horsesickness (AHS) viruses within a serotype. Thirteen AHSV 7 isolates were obtained from cases that occurred in South Africa during 1998-1999, and three were historical AHSV 7 isolates. The goals were to start a database of isolates of known location and time of isolation and to determine if we could identify the origin of an AHS outbreak in the surveillance area in the Western Cape. We prepared full-length cDNA copies of the VP2-genes of the isolates. Nucleic acid sequence data of a 786 bp region was used to characterize the gen...
Potgieter AC, Cloete M, Pretorius PJ, van Dijk AA.The outer capsid protein VP2 of African horsesickness virus (AHSV) is a major protective antigen. We have cloned full-length VP2 genes from the reference strains of each of the nine AHSV serotypes. Baculovirus recombinants expressing the cloned VP2 genes of serotypes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 were constructed, confirming that they all have full open reading frames. This work completes the cloning and expression of the first full set of AHSV VP2 genes. The clones of VP2 genes of serotypes 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 were sequenced and their amino acid sequences were deduced. Our sequencing data, together with t...
Lucken R, Daas A, Behr-Gross ME.The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) has organised an international collaborative study, divided in two phases, aimed at producing and establishing a suitable reference serum for serological potency testing of clostridial vaccines for batch consistency demonstration. In phase 1 a series of pools produced from sera provided by each manufacturer and raised against the broadest range of antigens possible were blended to obtain TN titres which were representative of the range normally elicited by the vaccines under test. Detailed statistical analysis of the data was not pos...
Venter GJ, Groenewald D, Venter E, Hermanides KG, Howell PG.Equine encephalosis virus (EEV) is widespread and prevalent in southern Africa. In this study, the oral susceptibility of Culicoides (Avaritia) imicola Kieffer (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) to EEV was confirmed. In addition, C. (A.) bolitinos Meiswinkel, collected in the high-lying eastern Free State, South Africa, was systemically infected with the Bryanston serotype of EEV after feeding through a membrane on artificially infected equine blood containing 4.7 log10 PFU/mL of EEV. The mean infectivity of Bryanston virus in C. bolitinos increased from 1.2 log10 PFU/midge, in midges assayed for viru...
McCluskey BJ, Mumford EL, Salman MD, Traub-Dargatz JJ.Approximately 20 sentinel premises in Colorado were visited quarterly during a 3-year prospective study to investigate the persistence of VS viruses in horses. A survey to assess management practices, health events, animal movements and environmental data was completed at each visit. Collection of serum samples and oral swabs along with a clinical examination of sentinel horses were performed at each visit. Serum samples were tested by 2 or more of 4 available serological tests. The data collected for two years (August 1998 to August 2000) are reported here. During this period there was seroco...
Blickwede M, Dolz G, Herrero MV, Tomlinson SM, Salman M.Serum samples were collected from domestic horses in 4 different regions of Costa Rica to detect antibodies against vesicular stomatitis viruses, serotypes New Jersey (VSV-NJ) and Indiana (VSV-IN). A total of 214 samples were tested by the virus neutralization test. The sampling regions were identified as low North Pacific dry area (1), low Middle Atlantic humid area (2), low South Pacific humid area (3), and the highlands (4). In region 1, 97.1% of horses were positive for VSV-NJ and 16.5% were positive for VSV-IN. The mean antibody titer and its standard deviation after logarithmic transform...
Clift SJ, Penrith ML.Tissues from 196 experimental and confirmed natural cases of African horse sickness (all 9 serotypes) were examined with a standardized and validated immunohistochemical assay for detection of the causative virus. The study confirmed that heart and lung are the main target tissues for African horse sickness virus (across all serotypes), followed closely by spleen. It also indicated that microvascular endothelial cells and monocyte-macrophages are the main target cells for virus replication. The importance of monocytes as target cells was emphasized, with relatively few tissue macrophages conta...
Martinez I, Barrera JC, Rodriguez LL, Wertz GW.Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is the most common cause of vesicular disease outbreaks in livestock throughout the Western Hemisphere. Two major serotypes, Indiana and New Jersey, cause epidemic disease in pigs, cattle, and horses. We generated recombinant viruses derived from the Indiana serotype genome that were engineered to contain and express: (1) a single copy of the glycoprotein gene from the Indiana serotype (VSIV-GI); (2) a single copy of the glycoprotein gene from the New Jersey serotype (VSIV-GNJ); or (3) two copies of the glycoprotein gene, one from each of the two major VSV sero...
van Rijn PA, Maris-Veldhuis MA, Grobler M, Wright IM, Erasmus BJ, Maartens LH, Potgieter CA.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is a virus species in the genus Orbivirus of the family Reoviridae causing African Horse Sickness (AHS) in equids with a mortality of about 95% in naïve horses. AHS causes serious losses in developing countries where horses play a central role in draft power and transportation. There are nine AHSV serotypes inducing no or low cross-neutralizing antibodies. AHSV is spread by biting Culicoides midges. AHS is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, and a serious threat outside Africa, since Culicoides species in moderate climate conditions are spreading the closely rel...
Lynch JA, Binnington BD, Artsob H.A 4-fold or greater seroconversion to the snowshoe hare serotype of the California serogroup of viruses in a horse with acute encephalitis was demonstrated by hemagglutination-inhibition, complement-fixation, and neutralization tests. The horse had a mild fever, was ataxic, had a head tilt, and was observed to circle. Chloramphenicol, dexamethasone, and B complex vitamins were administered and the horse recovered. The snowshoe hare virus is a recognized human pathogen, but it has not been associated with disease in horses. It is unknown whether horses play a role as amplification hosts for the...
Aklilu N, Batten C, Gelaye E, Jenberie S, Ayelet G, Wilson A, Belay A, Asfaw Y, Oura C, Maan S, Bachanek-Bankowska K, Mertens PP.African horse sickness (AHS) is associated with high morbidity and mortality in equids, especially horses. A retrospective analysis was carried out concerning 737 AHS outbreaks that occurred during 2007-2010 in Ethiopia. A total of ten outbreaks were investigated in the study period. All four forms of the disease (pulmonary, cardiac, horse sickness fever and the combined form) were observed, with the cardiac form being the most prevalent. Multiple African horse sickness virus serotypes (AHSV-2, AHSV-4, AHSV-6, AHSV-8 and AHSV-9) were detected by molecular methods (type-specific real-time RT-PC...
Begg AP, Johnston KG, Hutchins DR, Edwards DJ.A survey of 2 horse populations was done to detect the number of asymptomatic faecal excretors of Salmonella sp. 1201 faecal samples from 250 horses hospitalised at the University of Sydney were cultured. Three serotypes, S. typhimurium (4 horses), S. anatum (2) and S. tennessee (1) were isolated from 7 horses (2.8%). None was detected in 75 mares similarly examined at a thoroughbred stud farm. In retrospect, S. typhimurium was also the most common (70%) of the 19 serotypes recovered from 171 horses with clinical salmonellosis seen at Camden, 1969 to 1986. Forty cases occurring since 1983 were...
van Rijn PA, Maris-Veldhuis MA, Boonstra J, van Gennip RGP.African Horse Sickness Virus (AHSV) (Orbivirus genus, Reoviridae family) causes high mortality in naïve domestic horses with enormous economic and socio-emotional impact. There are nine AHSV serotypes showing limited cross neutralization. AHSV is transmitted by competent species of Culicoides biting midges. AHS is a serious threat beyond the African continent as endemic Culicoides species in moderate climates transmit the closely related prototype bluetongue virus. There is a desperate need for safe and efficacious vaccines, while DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated) vaccines would...
Nemoto M, Hata H, Higuchi T, Imagawa H, Yamanaka T, Niwa H, Bannai H, Tsujimura K, Kondo T, Matsumura T.We evaluated antigen detection kits for human rotavirus with regard to their usefulness for diagnosing equine rotavirus infection. Limiting dilution analyses showed that of the seven kits investigated the Dipstick `Eiken' Rota (Dipstick) had the highest sensitivity to two serotypes of equine rotavirus. The Dipstick did not cross-react with several equine intestinal pathogens. An investigation using 249 fecal samples indicated that the sensitivity of the Dipstick was 81.9% and 47.3%, and its specificity was 98.2% and 99.0%, and its concordance rate was 92.8% and 68.3%, compared with values obta...
Ranz AI, Miguet JG, Anaya C, Venteo A, Cortés E, Vela C, Sanz A.A panel of 32 hybridoma cell lines secreting monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) reactive with African horsesickness virus serotype 4 (AHSV-4) has been developed. Four of the MAbs recognized the major core antigen VP7, twenty recognized the outer capsid protein VP2 and eight reacted with the non-structural protein NS1. With the VP7-specific MAbs a rapid and sensitive double antibody sandwich immunoassay has been developed to detect viral antigen in infected Vero cells and in spleen tissue from AHSV-infected horses. The sensitivity of the assay is 10 ng viral antigen per 100 microliters. The NS1-speci...
Plummer G, Bowling CP, Goodheart CR.Four equine herpesviruses (equine abortion virus, equine herpesvirus types 2 and 3, and equine cytomegalovirus) were compared. The equine abortion virus did not cross-neutralize with any of the other viruses, but the other three did show varying degrees of cross-neutralization among themselves. Equine abortion virus grew more quickly in tissue cultures than did the others, and attained higher titers of infectivity in the culture fluid; it also formed plaques in a wider range of tissue culture species, although the other three were not specific for one tissue culture system only, in that they w...
Potgieter AC, Cloete M, Pretorius PJ, van Dijk AA.The outer capsid protein VP2 of African horsesickness virus (AHSV) is a major protective antigen. We have cloned full-length VP2 genes from the reference strains of each of the nine AHSV serotypes. Baculovirus recombinants expressing the cloned VP2 genes of serotypes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 were constructed, confirming that they all have full open reading frames. This work completes the cloning and expression of the first full set of AHSV VP2 genes. The clones of VP2 genes of serotypes 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 were sequenced and their amino acid sequences were deduced. Our sequencing data, together with t...
REBERS PA, HURWITZ E, HEIDELBERGER M.Rebers, Paul A. (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J.), Esther Hurwitz, and Michael Heidelberger. Immunochemistry of pneumococcal types II, V, and VI. II. Inhibition tests in the type VI precipitating system. J. Bacteriol. 82:920-926. 1961.-As in other immune systems involving polysaccharides, rabbit antibodies but not those engendered in the horse were found sensitive to degradation of type VI pneumococcal (Pn) polysaccharide (SVI), and were readily inhibited by fragments of SVI. Large amounts, 30 to 111 mumoles, of most sugars gave up to 15% inhibition, while sugar and polyol phosphates ...
Verwoerd DW.In the early colonial history of South Africa, horses played an important role, both in general transportation and in military operations. Frequent epidemics of African horsesickness (AHS) in the 18th century therefore severely affected the economy. The first scientific research on the disease was carried out by Alexander Edington (1892), the first government bacteriologist of the Cape Colony, who resolved the existing confusion that reigned and established its identity as a separate disease. Bluetongue (BT) was described for the first time by Duncan Hutcheon in 1880, although it was probably ...
Hamblin C, Salt JS, Mellor PS, Graham SD, Smith PR, Wohlsein P.Investigations have been carried out to elucidate the possible role of the donkey in the epidemiology of African horse sickness (AHS). These studies have shown that despite the absence of pyrexia or other observable clinical signs, donkeys become infected with virulent AHS virus serotype 4 (AHSV 4) and that they develop a viraemia which can persist for at least 12 days, albeit at a comparatively lower titre than that recorded for similarly infected ponies. AHSV 4 showed a similar tissue tropism in the pony and donkey but the virus appeared to replicate less efficiently in donkey tissues. The o...
Mayo CE, Weyer CT, Carpenter MJ, Reed KJ, Rodgers CP, Lovett KM, Guthrie AJ, Mullens BA, Barker CM, Reisen WK, MacLachlan NJ.The availability of rapid, highly sensitive and specific molecular and serologic diagnostic assays, such as competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA), has expedited the diagnosis of emerging transboundary animal diseases, including bluetongue (BT) and African horse sickness (AHS), and facilitated more thorough characterisation of their epidemiology. The development of assays based on real-time, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect and identify the numerous serotypes of BT virus (BTV) and AHS virus (AHSV) has aided in-depth studies of the epidemiology ...
Donahue JM, Smith BJ, Donahoe JK, Rigsby CL, Tramontin RR, Poonacha KB, Wilson MA.A study to determine the prevalence of leptospira-induced abortions in the central Kentucky equine population during the 1990 foaling season and to determine the leptospira serovars responsible was conducted. From July 1, 1989 through June 30, 1990, 32 (4.4%) of 726 submissions (fetuses, stillborn foals, and/or placentas) were diagnosed as leptospirosis by the fluorescent antibody test and/or microscopic agglutination test. Attempts were made to isolate leptospires from the fetal tissues and/or the dam's urine in 31 of these cases. Leptospira interrogans serovar kennewicki was isolated from 11...
Gordon SJG, Bolwell C, Rogers CW, Musuka G, Kelly P, Guthrie A, Mellor PS, Hamblin C.Sentinel herds and samples submitted by private equine practitioners were used to determine the sero-prevalence and sero-incidence of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) and equine encephalosis virus (EEV) in horse and donkey populations in the Highveld region of Zimbabwe. The sero-prevalence and sero-incidence of antibodies against these viruses were determined using the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of serum antibodies. In donkeys, the median sero-prevalence of AHSV antibodies, across the three rainy seasons under study, was 75% (inter quartile...
Huang JA, Ficorilli N, Hartley CA, Wilcox RS, Weiss M, Studdert MJ.Equine rhinovirus serotype 3 isolate P313/75 was assigned, with an unclassified genus status, to the family PICORNAVIRIDAE: The sequence from the 5' poly(C) tract to the 3' poly(A) tract of P313/75 was determined. The sequence is 8821 bases in length and contains a potential open reading frame for a polyprotein of 2583 amino acids. Sequence comparison and phylogenic analysis suggest that P313/75 is most closely related to the prototype equine rhinitis B virus (ERBV) strain P1436/71, formerly named equine rhinovirus type 2. A high degree of sequence similarity was found in the P2 and P3 regions...
Hashimoto VY, Gonçalves DD, Silva FG, Oliveira RC, Alves LA, Reichmann P, Muller EE, Freitas JC.A total of 320 horses were studied in this paper, both male and female, between two and 17 years of age, which were used for traction of wagons in the urban area of the municipality of Londrina (PR). These animals were kept, after their daily work, in abandoned areas or plots, in the outskirts of the urban area of the city. When these animals were attended by the veterinarians, between 1996 and 2005, none of them presented symptoms suggesting leptospirosis. The most frequent reasons for the visit were loss of weight, unwillingness for work, parasitism, laminess, and wounds. Microscopic Seroagg...
House C, Mikiciuk PE, Berninger ML.Five serological methods of diagnosing African horse sickness were evaluated, using a battery of serum samples from experimental horses vaccinated and challenged with each serotype of African horse sickness virus (AHSV1 through AHSV9): agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID), indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA), complement fixation (CF), virus neutralization (VN), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The 5 tests were also compared using a panel of field samples, convalescent equine sera with antibodies to domestic equine viral diseases, and sera from horses awaiting export. The ELISA describ...
Da Silva AS, Jaguezeski AM, Laber IF, von Laer AE, Lovato LT, da Silva MO, de Moura AB.Leptospirosis in horses is often associated with reproductive disorders. In the southern states of Brazil, horses are used for various jobs and cultural practices; nevertheless, serological surveillance for Leptospira is rare. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Leptospira spp. in horses in southern Brazil, as well as to identify the risk factors for infection and its impacts on reproduction. We performed microscopic agglutination tests for 12 serovars that corresponding 9 serogroup (Sejroe, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Australis, Pyrogenes, Pomona, Canicola, ...
Mumford JA, Bates J.Serological responses following two and three doses of an inactivated equid herpesvirus 1 ( EHV -1) vaccine containing a subtype 1 strain were examined in yearling ponies. Complement fixing antibody responses were significantly higher against the subtype 1 vaccine strain than against a subtype 2 virus. Complement fixing antibody responses declined rapidly after the second dose of vaccine and had returned to almost pre-vaccination levels eight weeks after the second dose of vaccine. Complement fixing antibody titres to the heterologous subtype 2 strain increased after each successive dose of va...
Wangdi C, Picard J, Tan R, Condon F, Dowling B, Gummow B.Determine leptospiral serodiversity, serodominant serovars and prevalence in the horse population of Northern Queensland (NQ), Australia, with special focus on the Atherton Tableland and Townsville-Burdekin regions. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Serum samples from 429 horses originating from 172 horse-owning properties in NQ were collected at regional horse shows and veterinary clinics. Samples were analysed using a microscopic agglutination test. Owners were interviewed on potential risk factors associated with leptospirosis. Results: Of the 172 properties that submitted samples, ...
Grewar JD, Thompson PN, Lourens CW, Guthrie AJ.Thoroughbred foal body temperature data were collected from shortly after birth until shortly after weaning during the 2007/2008 season on a stud farm in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Equine encephalosis (EE) caused by EE virus (EEV) serotype 4 (EEV-4) occurred in the foal group during the first autumn after their birth (March and April 2008). A descriptive study was undertaken to provide data on the EEV maternal antibody status, the association between pyrexia and EEV infection, and the incidence of infection amongst the foals prior to and during the episode. This included the fr...
Rodríguez M, Joseph S, Pfeffer M, Raghavan R, Wernery U.African horse sickness (AHS) is a serious viral disease of equids resulting in the deaths of many equids in sub-Saharan Africa that has been recognized for centuries. This has significant economic impact on the horse industry, despite the good husbandry practices. Currently, prevention and control of the disease is based on administration of live attenuated vaccines and control of the arthropod vectors. Results: A total of 29 horses in 2 groups, were vaccinated. Eighteen horses in Group 1 were further divided into 9 subgroups of 2 horses each, were individually immunised with one of 1 to 9 AHS...
Vernon SD, Webb PA.We developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that was capable of detecting immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody to vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in the sera of experimentally and naturally infected cattle and horses. The detection of IgM in the sera of these animals permitted an estimate of the recency of infection by VSV serotype New Jersey. A VSV serotype New Jersey epizootic strain isolated from a horse and passed once in an Aedes albopictus cell line was used to infect a horse and a calf. Sera from these animals were used to standardize the ELISA. This assay was used to test ser...
Hemida MG, Perera RAPM, Chu DKW, Alnaeem AA, Peiris M.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is one of the main causes of viral respiratory affections in horses. Little is known about the prevalence of EIV in Saudi Arabia especially the H3N8 serotype. Objective: To assess prevalence of equine influenza in horse populations in Eastern and Central Saudi Arabia. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We collected 145 sera, 323 nasal and 323 rectal swabs from horses from six major cities in Eastern and Central regions. None of the horses were vaccinated against EIV. Sera were tested in ELISA assays for influenza A type-specific antibodies and by haemagglutin...
Zilch TJ, Lee JJ, Saleem MZ, Zhang H, Cortese V, Voris N, McDonough SP, Divers TJ, Chang YF.Little information is available about experimental inoculation of leptospirosis in horses and the pathogenicity of Leptospira interrogans serovar Bratislava in this host. Objective: To determine the serological, clinical, pathological and haematological responses of horses to L. interrogans serovar Bratislava strain PigK151. Methods: Randomised controlled in vivo experiment. Methods: Ten seronegative female foals were divided into 2 groups, control (n = 4) and challenged (n = 6). The challenged group received 1 × 109 leptospires divided equally between topical ocular and intraperitoneal...
Browning GF, Chalmers RM, Sale CS, Fitzgerald TA, Snodgrass DR.The homotypic and heterotypic antibody response to rotavirus was determined in three pony mares and their foals. The normal concentrations of anti-rotavirus antibodies in mares' milk and mares' and foals' serum over the first 10 weeks post-partum were measured using IgA, IgG and rotavirus serotype-specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. Experimental infection of the foals with serotype 3 equine rotavirus produced a rapid, serotype-specific response which peaked 10 days after infection and a slower heterotypic response which peaked 32 days later. In contrast, vaccination of the mares with ...
