Epidemiological Aspects of Equid Herpesvirus-Associated Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) Outbreaks

Klouth, Eva; Zablotski, Yury; Petersen, Jessica L.; Bruijn, Marco de; Groendahl, Gittan; Mueller, Susanne und Goehring, Lutz S. (2022): Epidemiological Aspects of Equid Herpesvirus-Associated Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) Outbreaks. In: Viruses, Bd. 14, Nr. 11, 2576

Abstract

Equid Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a multifactorial disease following an EHV-1 infection in Equidae. We investigated a total of 589 horses on 13 premises in Europe in search of risk factors for the development of EHM. We found that fever (p < 0.001), increasing age (p = 0.032), and female sex (p = 0.042) were risk factors for EHM in a logistic mixed model. Some breeds had a decreased risk to develop EHM compared to others (Shetland and Welsh ponies;p = 0.017;p = 0.031), and fewer EHV-1-vaccinated horses were affected by EHM compared to unvaccinated horses (p = 0.02). Data evaluation was complex due to high variability between outbreaks with regards to construction and environment;viral characteristics and the virus's transmissibility were affected by operational management. This study confirms earlier suspected host-specific risk factors, and our data support the benefit of high vaccine coverage at high-traffic boarding facilities.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Tiermedizin > Zentrum für Klinische Tiermedizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• Sprache: Englisch