Equine herpes virus 2 infection in horse populations in Poland

The prevalence of Equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2) infections in the horse populations in Poland was investigated. Peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) of 139 horses were tested. The animals were divided into four groups: clinically healthy horses, horses suffering from respiratory disorders, mares with a recent abortion and horses with diagnosed ataxia. Thirty-four virus isolates were obtained from leukocytes of the tested animals by cocultivation with equine dermal cells and were identified as EHV-2 by PCR using primers for the gB gene of EHV-2 and/or primers for the sequence located upstream of the gene homologous to the equine interleukin 10 (IL-10) gene. These results indicate that EHV-2 is prevalent in horse populations in Poland. As the virus was most frequently isolated from horses with respiratory disorders its etiological importance may be considered.