title: Surveillance programme for important equine infectious respiratory pathogens in the USA.
abstract: The prevalence and epidemiology of important viral (equine influenza virus [EIV], equine herpesvirus type 1 [EHV-1] and EHV-4) and bacterial (Streptococcus equi subspecies equi) respiratory pathogens shed by horses presented to equine veterinarians with upper respiratory tract signs and/or acute febrile neurological disease were studied. Veterinarians from throughout the USA were enrolled in a surveillance programme and were asked to collect blood and nasal secretions from equine cases with acute infectious upper respiratory tract disease and/or acute onset of neurological disease. A questionnaire was used to collect information pertaining to each case and its clinical signs. Samples were tested by real-time PCR for the presence of EHV-1, EHV-4, EIV and S equi subspecies equi. A total of 761 horses, mules and donkeys were enrolled in the surveillance programme over a 24-month study period. In total, 201 (26.4 per cent) index cases tested PCR-positive for one or more of the four pathogens. The highest detection rate was for EHV-4 (82 cases), followed by EIV (60 cases), S equi subspecies equi (49 cases) and EHV-1 (23 cases). There were 15 horses with double infections and one horse with a triple infection. The detection rate by PCR for the different pathogens varied with season and with the age, breed, sex and use of the animal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. npusterla@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pusterla
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Kass
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mapes
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vaala
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McDaniel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Whitehead
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Manning
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D018397:Equidae / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance / Q000662:veterinary*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology