Epidemiological Aspects of Equid Herpesvirus-Associated Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) Outbreaks.

Abstract

Equid Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a multifactorial disease following an EHV-1 infection in Equidae. We investigated a total of 589 horses on 13 premises in Europe in search of risk factors for the development of EHM. We found that fever (< 0.001), increasing age (= 0.032), and female sex (= 0.042) were risk factors for EHM in a logistic mixed model. Some breeds had a decreased risk to develop EHM compared to others (Shetland and Welsh ponies;= 0.017;= 0.031), and fewer EHV-1-vaccinated horses were affected by EHM compared to unvaccinated horses (= 0.02). Data evaluation was complex due to high variability between outbreaks with regards to construction and environment; viral characteristics and the virus's transmissibility were affected by operational management. This study confirms earlier suspected host-specific risk factors, and our data support the benefit of high vaccine coverage at high-traffic boarding facilities.