Neuropathogenic and non-neuropathogenic genotypes of Equid Herpesvirus type 1 in Argentina

Vet Microbiol. 2009 Nov 18;139(3-4):361-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.06.025. Epub 2009 Jun 21.

Abstract

Infection with Equid Herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) leads to respiratory disease, abortion, and neurological disorders in horses. Molecular epidemiology studies have demonstrated that a single nucleotide polymorphism (A(2254)/G(2254)) in the genome region of the open reading frame 30 (ORF30), which results in an amino acid variation (N(752)/D(752)) of the EHV-1 DNA polymerase, is significantly associated with the neuropathogenic potential of naturally occurring strains. In order to estimate the prevalence of the EHV-1 neuropathogenic genotype in our country, we analyzed the ORF30 genome region of Argentinean EHV-1 isolates. The study was carried out by real time allelic discrimination PCR in 90 equine EHV-1-positive samples, being 89 from 54 cases of abortion outbreaks (two of which were in association with neurological disease) and one from the respiratory tract of a healthy horse in training. Our results indicate that 7% (4/54) of the abortion outbreaks studied were induced by the neuropathogenic (G(2254)) genotype of EHV-1 and 50% (2/4) of them were associated with simultaneous neurological disease. This information emphasizes the necessity to extreme the hygienic and preventive measures to diminish EHV-1 infections and consequently reduce the risk of epizootic neurological disease as has been recently observed in other countries.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Argentina / epidemiology
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Disease Outbreaks / veterinary
  • Female
  • Genotype
  • Herpesviridae Infections / epidemiology
  • Herpesviridae Infections / veterinary*
  • Herpesviridae Infections / virology
  • Herpesvirus 1, Equid / genetics*
  • Herpesvirus 1, Equid / isolation & purification
  • Horse Diseases / epidemiology
  • Horse Diseases / virology*
  • Horses
  • Mice
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction / veterinary
  • Pregnancy

Substances

  • DNA, Viral