Experimental reactivation of equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV 1) following the administration of corticosteroids.
Eight ponies were experimentally infected with equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV 1) (subtype 1). All animals showed clinical and serological evidence of infection and virus was isolated from nasal swabs and leucocytes. These ponies were kept in isolation for a further three months during which time complement fixing antibody decreased at least four-fold. Following immunosuppression with dexamethasone and prednisolone subtype 1 virus was recovered from six of the eight animals within 14 days. Five of these six ponies were viraemic and three of them shed virus in nasal secretions; only four displayed significant rises in complement fixing antibody and only two in neutralising antibody. Clinical abnormalities were not detected during reactivation.
D000818:Animals; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004861:Herpesvirus 1, Equid / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D006736:Horses / Q000382:microbiology; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000494:pharmacology; D014775:Virus Activation / Q000187:drug effects
D003907:Dexamethasone; D011239:Prednisolone