A rapid method for the diagnosis of equine virus abortion

Smears and imprints were made from the liver of 27 equine fetuses, believed to have aborted as a result of Equine Virus Abortion (EVA) infection. Several different fixatives and staining techniques were employed for the demonstration of typical intra-nuclear inclusion bodies in these preparations, and the following conclusions were reached. Methanol proved to be the best fixative and Pappenheim's panoptic method was the best staining technique, giving good contrast and definition of the inclusion bodies. Cytological methods provided a simple and rapid means of diagnosis, but histological sections provided evidence of lesions which was most useful when inclusion bodies were very difficult to find. However, cytological methods proved better than histological sections for the demonstration of EVA intranuclear inclusion bodies.