Seroprevalence of viral agents in vaquejada horses

Abstract

In order to investigate the prevalence of viral diseases in vaquejada horses, samples were collected from Quarter Horse and Paint Horse breeds (males and females, aged between 2 and 15 years) from rural and urban areas of Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil were collected. The number of samples collected and tested varied with the techniques used: 132 serum samples were tested for vesicular stomatitis (VS) and equine viral arteritis (EVA), 118 for western and eastern equine encephalomyelitis (WEE/EEE), 114 for equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1), and 61 for equine influenza (EI). The techniques used varied according to the disease studied: tests for VS (Ribeirão and Alagoas strains), EVA, EHV-1, and WEE/EEE were performed using the seroneutralization technique in Vero cell cultures, while the test for for EI type-2 (H3N8) was performed using the hemagglutination inhibition technique. The following results were obtained: 39 (29.55%) and 6 (4.54%) VS-positive horses (n=132) harbored the Alagoas and Ribeirão strains, respectively; no animal tested positive for EVA (n=132); 11.01% (n=13) and 0.84% (n=1) animals tested positive for EEE and WEE (total n=118), respectively; and 22 out of 114 (19.29%) horses tested positive for EHV-1. The history of respiratory and reproductive diseases was statistically significantly (p = 0.02) related to the presence of antibodies against EHV-1. This is the first report of the seroprevalence of viral diseases in vaquejada horses in Rio Grande do Norte.