Prevalence of neutralizing antibodies to Equine rhinitis A and B virus in horses and man

G. Kriegshäuser*, A. Deutz, E. Kuechler, T. Skern, H. Lussy, N. Nowotny

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Equine rhinitis viruses (ERVs) are the causative agents of mild to severe upper respiratory infections in horses worldwide. Immunologically, four serotypes of ERVs have been identified. Equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV) and Equine rhinitis B virus 1 (ERBV1) are the most frequent serotypes in Europe. Both viruses have a broad host range in cultured cells with ERAV being able to infect humans. Since there is neither information on the seroprevalence of ERAV and ERBV1 in Austria nor on the zoonotic potential of ERBV1, we investigated 200 horse and 137 veterinary sera for the presence of neutralizing antibodies relating to ERAV and ERBV1. One hundred and eighty (90%) and 173 (86%) horse sera neutralized ERAV and ERBV1, respectively. In contrast, only four (2.7%) and five (3.6%) human sera showed weak neutralizing activity to ERAV and ERBV1, respectively. These results indicate that ERAV and ERBV1 are widespread in the Austrian horse population; however, the risk of acquiring zoonotic infection among veterinarians appears low.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)293-296
Number of pages4
JournalVeterinary Microbiology
Volume106
Issue number3-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 10 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Equine rhinitis virus
  • Neutralization
  • Seroprevalence
  • Zoonotic infection

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • General Veterinary

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