Abstract
The prevalence of EHV-1 and EHV-4 antibody-positive horses was determined using a type specific ELISA on serum samples collected from 229 mares and their foals resident on a large Thoroughbred stud farm in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales in February 1995. More than 99% of all mares and foals tested were EHV-4 antibody positive, while the prevalence of EHV-1 antibody positive mares and foals were 26.2 and 11.4%, respectively. Examination of the ELISA absorbance data for the individual mares and foals suggested that the EHV-1 antibody positive foals had been infected recently with EHV-1 and that a sub-group of the mare population was the likely source of infectious virus for the unweaned foals.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Animals, Suckling
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Antibodies, Viral / blood
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Cross-Sectional Studies
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Disease Reservoirs / veterinary
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Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / veterinary
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Female
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Herpesviridae Infections / epidemiology
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Herpesviridae Infections / transmission
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Herpesviridae Infections / veterinary*
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Herpesvirus 1, Equid / immunology*
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Herpesvirus 1, Equid / pathogenicity
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Horse Diseases / epidemiology*
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Horse Diseases / transmission
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Horses
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Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / veterinary
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Male
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New South Wales / epidemiology
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Respiratory Tract Infections / epidemiology
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Respiratory Tract Infections / transmission
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Respiratory Tract Infections / veterinary*
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Sensitivity and Specificity
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Seroepidemiologic Studies
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Varicellovirus / immunology*
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Varicellovirus / pathogenicity