A survey on equine herpes virus-1 infection in horses of Khuzestan province

Equine Herpesvirus type 1 is a DNA virus with worldwide distribution which can cause noticeable economic loss. Although this virus is moderately contagious, after shedding, latent infection in the host can be considered as a potential risk for the other horses in the herd. The most important clinical syndromes caused by this virus are respiratory involvment, abortion, myeloencephalopathy and neonatal disease. The current study, using a PCR test on 150 horses in five cities in Khuzestan province (Ahvaz, Shooshtar, Shoosh, Ramhormoz and Mahshahr), reported no positive case about the presence of a DNA virus in the blood of the studied horses. This finding has shown that the presence of this virus in the horses from this region, at the time of performing the test, is justifiable. The results of this study vis-à-vis those of other studies show that the presence of EHV-1 among horses in different studies is very dissimilar. Regardless of the difference between the actual infection rate in different regions and herds, the reason for this disparity is possibly related to the sample type, presence or absence of clinical signs (related to the virus) in the sampled horse, and the laboratory method used.