Clinical course and diagnosis of abortion storm in mares caused by equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV1)

摘要

This article describes a case of an abortion storm caused by an EHV1 infection which took place in a stud of thoroughbred horses. The clinical course of the infection in the stud was investigated. On the basis of anamnesis, the analysis of clinical signs and gross pathological changes a suspicion of the aetiology of the abortion storm was put forward. The final diagnosis was made with the use of the PCR method. During the breeding season under investigation, 30 out of 44 pregnant mares from the barn of the stud A delivered healthy foals, 12 mares aborted, one delivered in term a dead foal and one delivered in term a live and weak foal, which succumbed within 24 hours after parturition. The analysis of this case of an abortion storm caused by an EHV1 infection may lead to a conclusion that an indirect cause of the outbreak could have been an insufficient level of protective immunity, connected with the lack of vaccinations of pregnant mares against a herpesvirus infection. Mares newly introduced into the barn, which had not been quarantined, were presumably the main source of the infection.