SEROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EQUINE RINONEUMONITIS AND EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA VIRUSES

Objective. To determine the level of serological association between equine herpes virus 1 and 4 (EHV-1 and EHV-4) and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) in horses from five municipalities of Meta department (Colombia). Materials and methods. A seroepidemiological survey was performed on 68 equines from the municipalities of San Martín, Guamal, Restrepo, Cumaral and Paratebueno. To evaluate antibodies against HVE-1 and HVE-4, specific indirect ELISA was used to detect the presence of antibodies directed against the glycoprotein G of HVE-1 and HVE-4 (Svanovir ™ EHV1/EHV4-Ab ELISA); to detect antibodies against VAIE the agar gel immunodifusion of Coggins was used. Results. There was no reactivity to HVE-1; however, the percentage seropositive was of 94.12% (64/68) and 13.2% (9/68) for EHV-4 and EIAV respectively. The percentage of co-infected HVE-4 and EIA was 13.23% (9/68). When results were broken down by municipality, 27.9% (19/68) of reactivity was in the municipality of Restrepo, 26.5% (18/68) in Cumaral, 14.7% (10/68) in Paratebueno, 14.7% (10/68) in Guamal, and 10.3% (7/68) in San Martin. The percentage of reactors to EIAV by municipality was Cumaral 5.88% (4/68), Restrepo 4.4% (3/68), Guamal 1.47% (1/68) and San Martin 1.47% (1/68). Conclusion. The high percentage of co-infection between EHV-4 and EIAV suggests an important interaction effect, because the immunosupressor effect of EIAV could facilitate reactivation of the latent state of EHV-4.