Descriptive epidemiology of equine influenza in India (2008-2009): temporal and spatial trends.
Equine influenza is a contagious viral disease that affects all members of the family Equidae, i.e., horses, donkeys and mules. The authors describe the pattern of equine influenza outbreaks in a number of states of India from July 2008 to June 2009. The disease was first reported in June 2008 in Katra (Jammu and Kashmir) and spread to ten other states within a year. All outbreaks of equine influenza in the various states were confirmed by laboratory investigations (virus isolation and/or serological confirmation based on haemagglutination inhibition [HI] assays of paired samples) before declaring them as equine influenza virus-affected state(s). The virus (H3N8) was reported from various locations in the country including Katra, Mysore (Karnataka), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Gopeshwar and Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) and was isolated in 9- to 11-day-old embryonated chicken eggs. The virus was confirmed as H3N8 by HI assays with standard serum and amplification of full-length haemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Serum samples (n = 4 740) of equines from 13 states in India screened by HI revealed 1074 (22.65%) samples as being positive for antibodies to equine influenza virus (H3N8).
National Research Centre on Equines, Sirsa Road, Hisar, Haryana, India.
Nitin
N
Virmani
Bidhan C
BC
Bera
Baldev R
BR
Gulati
Shanmugasundaram
S
Karuppusamy
Birendra K
BK
Singh
Rajesh
R
Kumar Vaid
Sanjay
S
Kumar
Rajendra
R
Kumar
Parveen
P
Malik
Sandeep K
SK
Khurana
Jitender
J
Singh
Anju
A
Manuja
Ramesh
R
Dedar
Ashok K
AK
Gupta
Suresh C
SC
Yadav
Parmod K
PK
Chugh
Partap S
PS
Narwal
Vinod L N
VL
Thankur
Rakesh
R
Kaul
Amit
A
Kanani
Sunil S
SS
Rautmare
Raj K
RK
Singh
D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D053123:Influenza A Virus, H3N8 Subtype; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013029:Space-Time Clustering