Virology in horses encompasses the study of viruses that affect equine species, including their biology, transmission, and impact on horse health. This field investigates viral pathogens that can lead to a range of diseases, from respiratory infections to neurological disorders. Common viruses affecting horses include equine influenza virus, equine herpesvirus, and West Nile virus. Understanding these viruses involves examining their genetic makeup, modes of transmission, and interactions with the equine immune system. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and control measures of viral infections in horses.
Dutta SK.An adenovirus was isolated from a foal with respiratory tract disease. The virus produced cytopathic effects (CPE) in equine embryo kidney (EEK) cell culture, contained deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), was resistant to chloroform and pH 3, and was moderately resistant to heat. The virus caused hemagglutination of human (type O) erythrocytes. Viral density was 1.34 g/cm,3 and diameter was 75 nm. An adenovirus-associated virus (AAV) isolated from the infected cell culture was 22 nm in diameter. These viruses are classified as equine adenovirus and equine AAV.
Pedersen CE, Eddy GA.Polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic examination of viruses selected from the Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) complex revealed distinct strain to strain differences in profiles of the two virion envelope proteins. The core protein was identical in all viruses tested. We detected five electrophoretic patterns into which the virus strains could be classified and these were designated alpha (alpha), beta (beta), gamma (gamma), delta (delta), and episolon (episolon). Isolates representing variant E of subtype I exhibited a profile characterized by only one apparent envelope band. The epizo...
Rhim JS, Ro HS, Kim EB, Gilden RV, Huebner RJ.A horse skin cell line (E. Derm, NBL-6, CCL-57) was susceptible to focus formation by the Kirsten mouse sarcoma virus, feline sarcoma virus (ST stain) and the MSV pseudotypes with woolly monkey, gibbon monkey, RD-114, AT-124, baboon placenta and murine xenotropic (BALB/c 3T3 and C57L/JD) type-C viruses. Foci were detected within 5 days after infection and the transformed cells continued to produce infectious virus and group-specific antigen of their respective type-C leukemia viruses. The transformation efficiency of various type-C sarcoma viruses in horse cells was also very high.
Erickson GA, Maré CJ.Goat Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) antiserum and normal serum were conjugated and evaluated for staining sensitivity and specificity. Cross-staining with either eastern or western equine encephalomyelitis virus-infected cells did not occur. The baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cell line when combined with highly specific VEE conjugate detected 100 medium suckling mouse intracerebral lethal doses (suckling mouse LD-50/IC) of the 1B subtype of VEE virus per milliliter of equine tissue suspension. Conjugated goat antiserum was assayed for sensitivity for detection of VEE virus-infected eq...
Levitt NH, Miller HV, Pedersen CE, Eddy GA.The development of a new diagnostic procedure for the identification of Venezvelan, eastern and western equine encephalomyelitis (VEE, EEE, WEE) viruses is described. The procedure utilizes virus precipitation with reference fluorescein-conjugated gamma globulin, followed by cellulose acetate electrophoresis. Clinical specimens containing varying concentrations of virus yielded, in primary duck embryo cell culture, sufficient virus for detection within 22 to 44 hours. Identification of VEE, EEE and WEE virus in specimens was accomplished by microprecipitation within this time. In contrast to c...
Fontaine M, Aymard-Henry M.From the Revised Nomenclature of WHO, the fowl influenza virus A/Duck/Ukraine/63 (Hav7 Neq2) has the same neuraminidase as the equine virus A/equi 2/Miami/63 (Heq2 Neq2); the A/Chicken Germany "N"/49 virus has the same neuraminidase as the equine virus A/equi 1/Prague/56. A comparative study of the antigenic specificities confirms that the Neq2 neuraminidases are closely connected, whatever their animal origin, and that the fowl strain Hav7 Neq2 can be used for the titration of anti Neq2 antibodies in the serums of animals immunized with the equine virus Heq2 Neq2. The Neqi neuraminidases of v...
Scherer WF, Madalengoitia J, Flores W, Acosta M.Two strains of eastern encephalitis (EE) virus were isolated in the Amazon region of Peru near Pucallpa, Loreto Department, using sentinel hamsters. EE virus antibodies were found in healthy horses at both Pucallpa and Iquitos in the same Department. Fourteen group C and four Guama group arboviruses were recovered from sentenel hamsters and mosquitoes near Iquitos. The group C agents were Caraparu-Ossa, Marituba, and Oriboca-Itaqui viruses, and the Guama group agents were Bimiti virus. Besides providing a detailed account of these investigations, this article includes a current list of known a...
McChesney AE.Since the advent of cell culture techniques, numerous viruses have been shown to be related to respiratory diseases in horses. Although the viruses differ in many ways, they cause disease with some common characteristics. This report is a summary of some of the available material from written sources and from personal observations. It is intended to help explain some of the changes observed in viral-induced respiratory disease.
Boorman J, Mellor PS, Penn M, Jennings M.Seven-day-old embryonated hen eggs were infected with African Horse Sickness virus by the yolk sac and intravenous routes. Virus reached a high titre in the blood of infected embryos. Culicoides variipennis midges which took a blood meal from infected eggs became infected with virus, and after 7 days at 26 degrees - 27 degrees C transmitted African Horse Sickness virus to uninfected eggs. C. variipennis may therefore be considered a biological vector of African Horse Sickness virus in the laboratory.
Sudia WD, Fernandez L, Newhouse VF, Sanz R, Calisher CH.Virus vector studies were conducted in the States of Durango, Chihuahua, and Tamaulipas, Mexico, in June and July 1972. Apparently only a low level of Venzuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus transmission to equines occured at the time of the study, and the infection was restricted to areas which had not experienced overt activity during the preceding year. The low level of infection was associated with a scarcity of mosquitoes. The IB (epidemic) strain of VEE virus was isolated from two pools of Anopheles pseudopunctipennis (Theo.) and the blood of one symptomatic equine. The low mosquito po...
Nakajima H, Yoshino T, Ushimi C.Equine infectious anemia virus was purified from infected horse serum samples. Electron microscope observation on negatively stained preparations of purified virus showed roughly spherical particles sized between 100 and 200 nm in diameter. In disrupted particles, an envelope was visible but no internal structure could be resolved. Since the purified virus fraction had a strong antigenic activity to antiserum in immunodiffusion reaction, these particles are thought to be the causative virus of equine infectious anemia.
Gorelkin L, Jahrling PB.Pancreatic tissue from hamsters inoculated with a virulent strain of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus (VEE) was studied sequentially with fluorescent antibody, light and electron microscopic technics. Progressive viral growth and cellular necrosis in the pancreas were demonstrated. Pancreatic infection resulted from both viremia and direct extension from the spleen across contaminated serosal planes. Mature viruses traversed the endothelium within endothelial vesicles and were associated with acinar as well as islet cells.
Joncas JH, Gilker JC, Chagnon A.The relative value of heterophil agglutinins (HA) and of specific EBV antibodies in the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis (IM) was assessed in 108 cases of the disease and in 280 controls. Among the 108 cases 93 were HA-positive by sheep cells in at least one of their sera, while 15 were HA-negative by the same test. Among the 280 controls false-positive HA tests were not encountered except in eight cases with the horse cell microtitre tests. With one of the two slide tests at least two false-positive tests and 12 false-negative tests were also found but these sera had low titres in microt...
Kihm U, Ackermann M.The objective of the present review was to summarize current knowledge of African horse sickness (AHS), based on available literature (which is nonetheless relatively scant) and recent information obtained from the O.I.E. Brief description is made of the biology of AHS virus (an arbovirus, transmitted by Culicoides imicola), isolation of the agent, diagnosis by serotyping procedures, and preventive measures (such as protection of horses from insect infestation, or vaccination programs) which may be taken. The recent outbreaks in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, have demonstrated that much more re...
Munday JS, Grant K, Orbell G, Vaatstra BL.A 6-year-old Thoroughbred mare developed multiple flat plaques, < 1 cm in diameter, on the left front fetlock. These were treated topically using 5-fluorouracil and resolved after 4 weeks. However, additional similar plaques developed on the left front pastern 5 months later. These lesions resolved within 3 months without treatment. Unassigned: One plaque that developed initially and one plaque that developed later were examined histologically. Both consisted of well-demarcated foci of moderate epidermal hyperplasia. Scattered throughout both plaques were cells showing evidence of papillo...
Bonaduce A, Martone F, Bonaduce D, Vaccaro A.The six strains were not antigenically different from strains isolated in Naples in 1967 and Andria in 1968.
Balasuriya UB.The primary goals of this chapter are to discuss common viral RNA isolation and purification methods that are routinely used by various diagnostic laboratories, to highlight the advantages and drawbacks of each method, and to identify the most suitable and reliable method to increase the sensitivity and specificity of RT-PCR assays for the detection of equine influenza virus (EIV) in clinical specimens. Our experiences and review of literature show that magnetic bead-based nucleic extraction methods (manual and automatic) work well for isolation and purification of EIV RNA from nasal swab spec...
Sinclair R, Binns MM, Chirnside ED, Mumford JA.The N-terminal fragment comprising residues +1 to +50 (gB1-50) of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) glycoprotein B was expressed as a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein in Escherichia coli. Recombinant gB1-50 (rgB1-50) was recognized in immunoblots by sera from rabbits immunized with EHV-1 and by convalescent-phase sera from horses with natural EHV-1 infections. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for monitoring antibody levels against EHV-1 was developed by using rgB1-50, and its specificity was assessed with a panel of reference antisera against other equine viruses. A specifi...
Uppal PK, Yadav MP, Singh BK, Prasad S.A progenital disease encountered at one equine stud farm at Bangalore in Southern India during 1987 was investigated and confirmed as equine coital exanthema on the basis of characteristic lesions and clinical symptoms, isolation of equine herpes virus-3 (EHV-3) from the scabs collected from animals having active lesions and demonstration of neutralizing antibodies in the sera of recovered mares and stallion. This is the first authenticated report of the occurrence of equine coital exanthema in India due to EHV-3.
Thompson DB, Spradborw PB, Studdert M.Some details of the clinical and postmortem findings of an Arab foal that died as a consequence of adenoviral pneumonia superimposed on a combined immunodeficiency disease are provided. The foal was the 17th in a series of similar deaths that occurred on a farm since 1959. An adenovirus, which by haemagglutination inhibition and serum neutralisation tests was antigenically similar to 2 other equine adenoviruses isolated in Australia, was isolated from a nasal swab taken from the foal when it was 23 days of age.
Weremowicz S, Parzych R, Malicki K.Summary
The outbreak of equine influenza in Poland in 1980 was caused by an equine influenza virus antigenically related to the strain A/equine/Miami/63/Heq2, Neq2. This was confirmed by isolation of six strains of influenza virus from horses suffering from the acute form of the disease. About 45 % and 69 % of positive results were obtained in the HI test performed with sera taken from convalescent and affected animals, respectively. A relatively high level of antibodies against newly isolated equine influenza virus strains was found in 50 % of serum samples taken from the grooms. A relativ...