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Meningoencephalitis in a horse associated with equine herpesvirus 1

2008; UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS; Volume: 60; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/s0102-09352008000600044

1678-4162

É.A. Costa, G.B.L. Lima, R.T. Castro, Ronaldo Furtini, R. V. Portilho, M. Resende,

Vector-Borne Animal Diseases

Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) and equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4), members of the Alphaherpesvirus subfamily, are highly prevalent equine pathogens that cause severe economic losses in equine breeding establishments (Mumford and Edington, 1980;Galosi et al., 2001).EHV-1 is associated with respiratory problems, abortion, neonatal death, and neurological damage that can lead to paralysis.EHV-4 (equine rhinopneumonitis) is mostly associated with respiratory disease (Carvalho et al., 2000a,b;Mori et al., 2003), but can also cause neurological disorders in some cases.EHV-4 is much less frequently reported than EHV-1 (Van Maanen, 2002).Remarkably, these two herpesviruses are ubiquitous, and infection is enzootic in most horse populations.In Brazil, the first infections related to EHV-1 were identified following reports of abortions in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio Grande do Sul (Nilsson and Correa, 1966;Carvalho et al., 1991; Carvalho et al., 2000a,b;Cunha et al., 2002;Diel et al., 2006).Since then, serological studies have attempted to estimate the prevalence and incidence of EHV-1 infection in herds with reproductive problems in these states.High rates of antibody presence have been recorded, with positive values ranging from 27.2 to 84.7%.The conclusion is that EHV-1 is present in Brazil and might have a higher risk of incidence in the offspring of horses that have been reported as positive (Carvalho et al.,