A voluntary upper respiratory biosurveillance program begun in 2012 has found the incidence of equine rhinitis B virus (ERBV) in horses is on the rise in the United States.
ERBV has been found in horses across the globe for the last 50 years. There are three serotypes of ERBV: 1, 2 and 3. Previous studies have shown ERBV detection rates between 1.5 and 30.4 percent using molecular-based or viral isolation methods, and up to 86 percent using serology.
Dr. Chrissie Schneider and colleagues reported that though the clinical relevance of ERBV isn't fully understood, it has been found in horses with clinical signs of respiratory disease, which include a fever, cough, swollen lymph nodes and limbs, nasal discharge, and weak appetite. ERBV is often found with other viral and bacterial pathogens.
Schneider, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Merck Animal Health used data mined from the biosurveillance program, which included 8,684 nasal swabs that were submitted between 2012 and 2023. They found that 441 (5.08 percent) of the samples were positive for ERBV via qPCR testing.
ERBV was detected as a single pathogen in 291 of the 441 cases (65.99 percent) and was a coinfection with at least one other respiratory pathogen in 150 (34.01 percent) of the 441 cases.
Horses that were less than one year old with fever and respiratory symptoms were most likely to test positive for ERBV. Competition horses were also more likely to be affected by the virus. Virus detection is less common in summer months, though the reasons for this are unclear.
The most common coinfections were Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi) and equine influenza virus (EIV).
The study team concluded that clinicians are more likely to see ERBV positive cases than in the past and that an ERBV positive is clinically relevant. Horses that presented with an ERBV infection had fever, nasal and ocular discharge, and a cough. They also determined that an ERBV coinfection does not lengthen the duration of the disease or increase severity of symptoms.
Additional research is needed.
Read more at HorseTalk.
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