Basic HTML Version
VET VIEWPOINT...
WE VIEW THE OPINIONS OF OUR VETS ON THE TOPIC
OF
EQUINE HERPESVIRUS AND THE THREAT TO THE
HORSE POPULATION.
Colin Mitchell BVM&S
CertEP MRCVS
Scott Mitchell Associates
Andy Cant BVMS CertVR MRCVS
Northvet Veterinary Group
This is not a disease that we are aware is
active in Orkney and indeed not one that
the labs in the north of Scotland are picking
up either. It would be true to say that luckily
we do not see much infectious disease in
general in the local horse population. It may
be our relative geographical isolation that
helps with that and the fact that horses tend
not to be kept in large liveries and so
spread is less likely. That's not to say that
there haven't been bits of coughs
‘gan aboot’ from time to time but no
definitive viral agents have been isolated.
This should not make us complacent
however; with horses travelling south to
competition the possibility of coming home
with more than you left with is there. With
new horses coming in from south it is wise
for owners to isolate horses for 2-3 weeks
on arrival to protect our biosecurity.
Paul May BVMS MRCVS
Paragon Veterinary Group
It is presumed that the virus is widespread
in most of the horse populations that we
see from the fell herds, individual horses
and ponies to livery and competition
yards. As the transmission of the virus
relies on movement of horses in stressful
circumstances, that will be happening in
all of these groups.
In our practice, I suspect that the impact of
equine herpes virus is felt mostly in younger,
competition horses. We try to monitor the
activity of the virus by investigating any
early births, sudden and severe neurological
cases (thankfully very rare in our experience)
and any flu-like outbreaks. But this leaves
what is probably the largest group
un-investigated, the underperforming
competition horses.
We try to encourage vaccination in
this group and some years we are more
successful than others. In contrast we
often have a good uptake of vaccine in
the mares that have been to us for
artificial insemination.
AUTUMN 2012 ISSUE
EQUINE MATTERS
20
Last year, one of our equine clients
experienced a yard outbreak of Equine
Herpesvirus (EHV). The infection was
thought to come from stabling near a
coughing horse at a show. The virus
slowly spread through the yard and
approximately 25 horses were affected
with clinical signs of respiratory disease.
Following the collection of blood samples
and nasal swabs, a positive EHV
diagnosis was made.
The illness was, in terms of severity,
quite mild. The horses all kept eating
and there were no cases of serious
illness or deaths.
However, the effect on the yard activities
was much more serious. The majority
of the showing season was missed and
throughout the winter, days hunting had
to be very much reduced. The horses
were not ridden for a considerable
number of months.
A vaccine against EHV is available and
I would recommend a discussion with
your vet to decide whether or not the
vaccine may be of benefit to your horse.
How much of a problem
is equine herpesvirus in
the horse population that
you treat?