Equine viral arteritis

Equine viral arteritis is an infrequently encountered contagious viral disease of equids that has assumed increased veterinary medical and economic significance since the 1984 epidemic in Thoroughbreds in Kentucky. The most important consequences of this infection are abortion in the mare and establishment of the carrier state in the stallion. Equine arteritis virus becomes localized in the reproductive tract of a relatively high percentage of infected stallions which serve as very efficient transmitters of the infection through direct or indirect venereal contact with susceptible mares. The long-term persistently infected stallion appears to play a major epidemiologic role in the dissemination and perpetuation of the virus in horse populations throughout the world. Aspects of the pathogenesis, immunity, and epidemiology of equine arteritis virus are discussed in relation to current methods for the diagnosis, treatment, and control of this disease.