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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Isolation and genetic analysis of Japanese encephalitis virus from a diseased horse in Japan.

Journal:
The Journal of veterinary medical science
Year:
2006
Authors:
Yamanaka, Takashi et al.
Affiliation:
Equine Research Institute · Japan
Species:
horse

Plain-English summary

A half-bred horse in Japan that had not been vaccinated developed Japanese encephalitis, a serious viral infection. The horse showed signs of unsteady movement, a fever, and was eating less than usual, and unfortunately, it died. Scientists were able to isolate the virus from the horse's brain and confirmed it was the Japanese encephalitis virus using specific testing methods. They found that this particular strain belonged to a group called genotype I, which had not been reported in horses before. Sadly, the outcome was fatal for this horse.

Abstract

Japanese encephalitis (JE) developed in an unvaccinated half-bred horse kept in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. The animal showed ataxia with pyrexia and low appetite, and ultimately died. A viral strain was isolated from the cerebrum of the horse and was identified as JE virus (JEV) by RT-PCR using JEV specific primers. The isolated JEV was classified into genotype I by nucleotide sequence analysis of the viral envelope gene. We believe that this is the first report of the genotype I strain being isolated from a horse.

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Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16598178/