Seroprevalence of equid herpesvirus in the Lithuanian horse farms

Equid herpesvirus type I and 4 (EHV-1/4) infection is a highly contagious viral disease registered worldwide. EHV-1 can cause abortion, respiratory disease and paralysis. EHV4 can also cause abortion but usually causes only respiratory disease. Infected foals can pass the infection to healthy mares via inhalation of the virus contaminated respiratory secretions. Once a pregnant mare is infected she may abort from 4 months onwards, but it is usually between the 8th and 11th months. Abortion may take place several months after infection or as little as 2 weeks later. One hundred forty horses from 9 horse farms, rider clubs and agricultural companies from different Lithuania regions were investigated for EHV-1 and EHV-4. It was estimated that in different horse farms from 33.3% to 100% of horses were seropositive to EHV-1 or EHV-4. These results were approved by isolation of virus in cell cultures and direct fluorescent antibody test. The results from this study indicate that ERV has a high prevalence in Lithuania horse population, which can cause abortions, respiratory diseases and encephalitis. Key words: Equid herpesvirus, seroprevalence.