Latest Equine Hendra Case ‘Unusual,’ Veterinarians Say

The case confirmed in New South Wales last week revealed unusual signs and aspects of the disease, EVA says.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Equine Veterinarians Australia (EVA), a special interest group of the Australian Veterinary Association, says the Hendra virus case confirmed in a horse near Casino, New South Wales, last week revealed unusual signs and aspects of the disease.

Ben Poole, BVSc, MANZCVS, EVA spokesman, said that this latest case in northeastern New South Wales makes dealing with Hendra even more complicated and concerning.

“The facts of the case would suggest the horse may have initially received a low infectious dose of the virus that eventually led to the horse succumbing to the disease, after an unusually protracted illness,” he said. “What’s different about this case is that the horse initially tested negative for Hendra virus after losing weight for two weeks and presenting with a sore mouth. It was given medication and the horse started recuperating while in quarantine on the farm.

“A week later the horse deteriorated rapidly and died a few days later,” he continued. “A nasal swab taken from the carcass a week after the horse died returned a positive test for Hendra virus. Further testing of tissue samples indicated that the horse had mounted an immune response to the virus

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
311 votes · 311 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!