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. 2023 Jun;54(2):1137-1143.
doi: 10.1007/s42770-022-00890-3. Epub 2023 Jan 27.

Potential outbreak by herpesvirus in equines: detection, clinical, and genetic analysis of equid gammaherpesvirus 2 (EHV-2)

Angélica Cristine de Almeida Campos #  1   2 , Sofia Cicolo #  3 , Cairo Monteiro de Oliveira  4 , Camila Vieira Molina  4   5 , Pedro Enrique Navas-Suárez  6   7 , Thais Poltronieri Dos Santos  8 , Vanessa Barbosa da Silveira  4 , Carla Meneguin Barbosa  4 , Raquel Yvonne Arantes Baccarin  8 , Edison Luiz Durigon #  4 , Luiz Gustavo Bentim Góes  4   5 , Carla Bargi Belli #  9 , Danielle Bruna Leal Oliveira  4   10
Affiliations

Potential outbreak by herpesvirus in equines: detection, clinical, and genetic analysis of equid gammaherpesvirus 2 (EHV-2)

Angélica Cristine de Almeida Campos et al. Braz J Microbiol. 2023 Jun.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Equid herpesvirus (EHV) commonly affects horses causing neurologic and respiratory symptoms beside spontaneous abortions, meaning huge economic losses for equine industry worldwide. In foals, the virus can facilitate secondary infections by Rhodococcus equi, important in morbidity and mortality in equines. A total of five genotypes of EHV were previously described in Brazil including EHV-1, EHV-2, EHV-3, EHV-4, and EHV-5. EHV-2 genotype had only been previously described in Brazil in asymptomatic animals. We report the investigation of the dead of 11 foals in Middle-west region of Brazil showing respiratory and neurological symptoms, as well as several abortions in mares from the same farm.

Methods: Clinical and laboratory exams were performed in this case study. Lung, whole blood, serum, and plasma samples were analyzed by necroscopic and histopathologic techniques followed by molecular assays (conventional and qPCR and Sanger sequencing).

Results and conclusion: Laboratory exams revealed neutrophilia leukocytosis. Necroscopic and histopathologic findings were suppurative bronchopneumonia and ulcerative enteritis. Molecular assays point to the absence of the bacteria Rhodococcus equi and other viruses (including other EHV). The presence of EHV-2 DNA was confirmed by sequencing in serum sample from one foal. This is the first confirmed outbreak of EHV-2 causing disease in Brazilian horses with confirmed presence of the virus, and which highlight the important role of EHV-2 in equine respiratory disease and spontaneous abortions in equid in Brazil.

Keywords: Abortion; EHV-2; Foal; Herpesvirus; Horse; Neurological signs; Pneumonia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Histopathologic analysis of lung and brain. a Lung. Thickening of the pleura is observed (on the left of the image), markedly altered lung parenchyma due to a large inflammatory infiltrate in the alveolar septa. HE, 40 × . b Brain. Perivascular hemorrhage in the Virchow-Robin space, expanding to the neuroparenchyma. HE, 200 × . c Lung. Alveolar septa infiltrated by a large number of mononuclear inflammatory cells (lymphocytes and histiocytes); additionally, the alveoli present atelectasis. A bronchiole is seen to be filled with proteinaceous material. HE, 200 × . d Brain. Neuronal central chromatolysis; the arrow identifies the affected neurons with typical features of cytoplasmic pallor and eccentricity of the nucleus
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Necropsy exam. Foal lung presenting bronchopneumonia during necropsy exam
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree. Tree reconstructed using a MEGA7 software with heuristic search and “GTR + gamma + I” algorithm. Bootstrap (10,000 bootstrap replicates) values greater than 50% are depicted in the figure and visualized in the FigTree software (version 1.4.4). The analyzed sample (GenBank accession number MN537721) is highlight in red segregating in gammaherpesvirus clade
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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