Abstract
Equine serum hepatitis (i.e., Theiler’s disease) is a serious and often life-threatening disease of unknown etiology that affects horses. A horse in Nebraska, USA, with serum hepatitis died 65 days after treatment with equine-origin tetanus antitoxin. We identified an unknown parvovirus in serum and liver of the dead horse and in the administered antitoxin. The equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) shares <50% protein identity with its phylogenetic relatives of the genus Copiparvovirus. Next, we experimentally infected 2 horses using a tetanus antitoxin contaminated with EqPV-H. Viremia developed, the horses seroconverted, and acute hepatitis developed that was confirmed by clinical, biochemical, and histopathologic testing. We also determined that EqPV-H is an endemic infection because, in a cohort of 100 clinically normal adult horses, 13 were viremic and 15 were seropositive. We identified a new virus associated with equine serum hepatitis and confirmed its pathogenicity and transmissibility through contaminated biological products.
Highlights
Equine serum hepatitis (i.e., Theiler’s disease) is a serious and often life-threatening disease of unknown etiology that affects horses
We identified a new parvovirus in the serum and liver of a horse that died in Nebraska, USA; the virus was present in the tetanus antitoxin administered to the horse 65 days before disease onset
We describe the discovery of EqPVH, its complete genome, infection prevalence, and virus transmission by inoculation of a commercial equine serum product resulting in hepatitis, thereby confirming equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) association with equine hepatitis
Summary
Equine serum hepatitis (i.e., Theiler’s disease) is a serious and often life-threatening disease of unknown etiology that affects horses. We identified an unknown parvovirus in serum and liver of the dead horse and in the administered antitoxin. We identified a new virus associated with equine serum hepatitis and confirmed its pathogenicity and transmissibility through contaminated biological products. Equine serum hepatitis (i.e., Theiler’s disease or idiopathic acute hepatitis) is a serious and often life-threatening disease of horses that was first described in 1919 in South Africa by Sir Arnold Theiler. We identified a new parvovirus in the serum and liver of a horse that died in Nebraska, USA; the virus was present in the tetanus antitoxin administered to the horse 65 days before disease onset. We describe the discovery of EqPVH, its complete genome, infection prevalence, and virus transmission by inoculation of a commercial equine serum product resulting in hepatitis, thereby confirming EqPV-H association with equine hepatitis
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