Epidemiological investigation of equine herpesvirus in large-scale donkey farms in Liaocheng area and its effect on immunity and antioxidant capacity

Abstract

Abstract Background Equine herpesvirus (EHV) may cause respiratory, reproductive and neurological diseases in equine animals, including donkeys, of which EHV type 1 (EHV-1) and EHV-4 are the main pathogens. To investigate the prevalence of EHV in donkeys in the Liaocheng area (an important donkey breeding areas in China), and the effect of EHV infection on immunity and antioxidant capacity in donkeys.the epidemiological investigation of EHV was proceed by detected the EHV-1 and EHV-4 in 230 donkey serum collected from 27 large-scale donkey farms, and the serum samples of 10 normal (without EHV-infected) and 10 EHV-infected donkeys with similar age were used to detect the immune and antioxidant related indexs. Result The results showed that 62.96% (17/27) of farms were positive for EHV, and the total positive rate of EHV was 12.61% (29/230) with 7.82% (18/230) for EHV-1, 9.57% (22/230) for EHV-4 .Conclusion: Moreover, The differences of EHV infection among different regions in Liaocheng were not significant (P > 0.05), but the highest positive rate was found in Dong'e County (21.28%,10/47). The highest positive rate of EHV-1/4 was 21.18% (18/85) in adult donkeys aged 1–4 years, which was significantly different from other age groups (P < 0.05). The difference in seasons was not significant (P > 0.05), but the highest positive rate was 19.61% (10/51) in winter. Furthermore, EHV infection increased the levels of the immune related indexs IgA, IgG, IgM and IL-6, inhibited the activities of SOD and T-AOC, and improve the activities of GSH-PX and content of MDA. Consclusions: These results indicated that EHV infection is prevalent in large-scale donkey farms in the Liaocheng area, and EHV infection could interfere immune, cause inflammation and oxidative stress, which facilitate early warning of EHV epidemic risk.