Prevalence of equine adenovirus antibodies in horses in New South Wales, Australia.

The researchers have conducted a study to understand the prevalence of two types of equine adenovirus (EAdV), EAdV1 and EAdV2, in the horse population in New South Wales, Australia. It was found that the majority of samples indicated an exposure to these viruses indicating they are widely prevalent within this group of horses.

Research Objective and Methodology

• The research aimed at assessing the prevalence of two known serotypes of equine adenovirus, EAdV1 and EAdV2, in the horse population in New South Wales, Australia.
• EAdV1 and EAdV2 viruses have associations with upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, respectively.
• In this study, researchers examined 122 serum samples from horses using a standard serum neutralization (SN) assay and ELISA, both are diagnostic tests that detect and measure antibodies in blood.

Findings

• Of the 122 serum samples, 97 displayed moderate to high titers of antibodies related to EAdV1 and/or EAdV2, suggesting most of the horses had exposure to these viruses.
• Additionally, eighteen of those sera were positive for both EAdV1 and EAdV2, indicating some horses had been infected by both types of viruses.
• The ELISA test, however, only noted positive results in thirty-seven samples. Therefore, among the two tests used in this study, the SN assay proved to be more effective in detecting antibodies.

Implications

• The research indicates that EAdV1 and EAdV2 infections are considerably prevalent in the tested horse population.
• This prevalence suggests that these viruses, which are known to cause respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, could pose significant health risks to this horse community.
• The study also suggests the SN assay as a more suitable method than the ELISA in detecting EAdV1 and EAdV2 antibodies in equine serum.