Isolation of equine herpesviruses from horses with respiratory disease

Abstract

Extract

Although respiratory disease is common in horses in New Zealand, little is known of the viruses which are involved. In other countries the principal cause of equine respiratory disease is equine herpesvirus 1 (Studdert, 1974) and equine influenza A virus (Powell et al., 1974; Powell, 1975). Mixedinfections of these viruses have also been reported (Jensen, 1973). Rhinoviruses (Plummer, 1962; Hofer et al., 1973), adenoviruses (Todd, 1969), parainfluenza 3 virus (Ditchfield et al., 1963) and equine arteritis virus (Doll et al., 1957) have also been isolated from horses with upper respiratory disease, and serological evidence of reovirus infections in horses has been reported (Bachmann et al., 1972).