Rossdales Laboratories detects first cases of Equine Coronavirus infection in the UK
Posted: 7th December 2017
Category: Equine Health, Laboratory Tests, Lab News, Tests and Diseases
A number of our vets (including Rossdales Laboratories pathologist Jill Bryan, pictured) recently attended the European College of Equine Internal Medicine congress in Budapest, where they presented the first positive cases of Equine Coronavirus infection in horses in the United Kingdom.
Over the past five years Equine Coronavirus has been increasingly reported as a cause of disease in individual animals and groups of adult horses in North America and Asia. The main clinical signs associated with infection in adult horses are anorexia, lethargy and fever, with diarrhoea and mild colic signs present in a smaller number of cases. Most horses recover with supportive care and serious complications are rare. The virus has previously been reported to be present in the USA, Japan and France.
The true incidence of the disease in the UK is not known, but initial screening by our laboratory suggest it is likely to be relatively uncommon. However, in horses with compatible clinical signs, testing can help investigate this possible cause. The virus is detected by quantitative PCR testing on faecal samples. Rossdales Laboratories is the only laboratory in the UK offering this test, and it can be combined with our other panel of tests to screen for infectious causes of intestinal disease in horses.
Reference: 10th Annual ECEIM congress abstracts (JVIM, in press):
DETECTION OF EQUINE CORONAVIRUS IN HORSES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Jill Bryan, Celia Marr, Catriona MacKenzie, Tim Mair, Monica Da Costa, Nicola Pusterla, Samantha Barnum, Alastair Foote
Jill Bryan, Monica Da Costa, Alastair Foote - Rossdales Laboratories, Newmarket, UK
Celia Marr, Catriona Mackenzie - Rossdales Equine Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Newmarket, UK
Tim Mair - Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic, Maidstone, UK
Samantha Barnum - University of California, Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, Davis, USA
Back to news & events