Equine viral arteritis.

Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) is a significant yet infrequent disease in horses that can lead to both direct and indirect financial losses. Through strategies like serological and virological screening, effective quarantine, and strategic vaccination, EAV infection and EVA can be effectively prevented.

Understanding Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA)

• Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) is a disease that primarily affects horses. Although it’s not a common disease, when it does strike it can yield severe repercussions.
• The disease can lead to a variety of directly harmful effects on the horses, including causing abortions, sparking pneumonia in newborn horses, and initiating febrile (fever-based) disease in performance horses. Thus, it can cause considerable health damage to horses and disrupt breeding and performance activities.

Economic Consequences of EVA

• The harm EVA can cause to horses translates into potential economic costs. This includes direct costs resulting from the health impacts on horses, for example, loss of potential income from aborted foals and decrease in performance of infected horses.
• Beyond these direct costs, EVA can also bring about indirect financial losses. These mostly come in the form of restrictions on the movement of horses, especially carrier stallions who are persistently infected and their semen, due to national and international trades and animal movement regulations. Restrictions can inhibit the selling or breeding potential of stallions and might necessitate expensive testing or treatments.

Preventing EAV Infection and EVA

• The paper highlights that there are effective strategies available to prevent Equine Arteritis Virus (EAV) infection and consequently, EVA. These strategies are primarily preventive and revolve around the principles of good herd management.
• Serological and virological screenings are suggested, which are tests that can detect markers in the horse’s blood that indicate an EAV infection. By identifying infected horses, they can be treated or isolated appropriately to prevent the spread of the virus.
• Implementing appropriate quarantine procedures for newly acquired or infected horses helps to control the spread of EAV within a herd. By separating these horses, they can’t infect others and can be treated without risk to the rest of the population.
• Strategic vaccination is another primary prevention method. Vaccinations help to “train” the horse’s immune system to fight off the virus if exposure occurs, thus preventing the development of EVA.

These combined strategies can not only prevent EVA, but also help manage the disease if outbreaks do occur, limiting the negative health effects and economic impacts.