Oregon Equine Herpesvirus-1 Outbreak

In the last month, 16 of the 19 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm, have showed respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all have been tested for the disease. To date, three older victims have been euthanized–one from Brookhill Stables and the two horses from the private farm, which

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In the last month, 16 of the 19 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm, have showed respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all have been tested for the disease. To date, three older victims have been euthanized–one from Brookhill Stables and the two horses from the private farm, which visited Brookhill for 4-H lessons in early July.

The Oregon State University’s (OSU) Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has confirmed the presence of EHV-1 in three horses from which samples were taken at the boarding facility, and more samples from those horses and “suspect” horses at nearby operations are pending at the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky (the Gluck Center houses the reference laboratory for herpesvirus in the United States). All horses at Brookhill have shown EHV-1 antibody levels consistent with exposure or vaccination at least (less than 1:256), and active infection at worst (1:256 and higher).

In a press release Don Mattson, DVM, PhD, a veterinary virologist at the OSU laboratory, said, “These samples showed extremely high antibody titers to EHV-1 (much higher than we have ever seen). The fact that the antibody titer was very high (suggesting generalized infection with much virus present), older horses were affected, and horses at the stable were alleged to be vaccinated against EHV-1 every three months, suggests that we may be dealing with a similar form of the virus (to the Ohio State University outbreaks early this year; see article Herpesvirus Hits Hard). This virus is very infectious and is spread by droplet aerosol and mechanically by handling exudates from animals that are just coming down with the disease

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Written by:

Christy West has a BS in Equine Science from the University of Kentucky, and an MS in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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