State of the coagulation system in horses infected with equine influenza virus

The study was carried out in 13 Polish Primitive Horses. Ten of them were s ubjected to stress and infected with equine influenza virus (the mixture of subtype A-equi/1 and A-equi/2). Three horses were left as controls. The co agulation time by Lee and White method and caolin-kephalin and prothrombin times in plasma citrate mere determined with a coagulometer. Concentration of fibrinogen (Quick method) and platelet count (procaine method) were dete rmined as well. The means of the above parameters before and after infectio n in relation to the values in control animals were compared. The results o f the experiment show that the caolin-kephalin and prothrombin times have b een shortened in infected horses, the platelet count has been decreased and the concentration of fibrinogen has been increased. The changes in the coa gulation system were statistically significant. Thus the results of the exp eriment have confirmed the hypothesis that in the course of influenza infec tion disturbances in the coagulation system may occur.