Y. Fukunaga et al., VENEREAL INFECTION OF MARES BY EQUINE ARTERITIS VIRUS AND USE OF KILLED VACCINE AGAINST THE INFECTION, Journal of Comparative Pathology, 117(3), 1997, pp. 201-208
Venereal infection with equine arteritis virus (EAV) was established i
n each of seven mares by inoculation via the cervix with 20 ml of vira
l suspension (greater than or equal to 8 x 10(6) plaque-forming units;
PFU), following treatment with prostaglandin and oestradiol. A dose o
f less than or equal to 8 x 10(5) PFU produced infection in only five
of eight mares. Serum neutralizing antibody developed in mares manifes
ting clinical signs of equine viral arteritis (EVA), and a weak antibo
dy was detectable in one apparently healthy mare inoculated with 8 x 1
0(5) PFU. Virus isolation was demonstrated not only in the buffy coat
but also in nasal swabs of infected mares. EAV was isolated frequently
from the body tissues of the mares (killed 10 to 34 days post-inocula
tion) up to day 12, but rarely from the reproductive tissues later tha
n day 12. The virus persisted longest in the splenic and deep inguinal
lymph nodes, followed by the spleen and internal iliac lymph nodes. F
our mares immunized with a killed vaccine for EVA showed no clinical d
isease after venereal challenge with EAV; the virus was recovered from
the buffy coat of three mares and from the nasal swab of one of them,
but not from the remaining animal. (C) 1997 W.B. Saunders Company Lim
ited.