A contagious horse virus has been found in several places in the country.
It forces horses into quarantine and puts an end to visitors in the stables.
– I understand that people are worried because it can be a mild cold virus, but it can also lead to serious consequences, says Gittan Gröndahl state veterinarian at the Norwegian Veterinary Medical Institute.
Cases of the highly contagious Herpes virus EHV-1, which affects horses, have been discovered in several places in the country. The virus is related to the herpes virus that can give people cold sores. Most horses are affected at some point in their lives, but usually only get a fever and catch a cold.
Horses can also suffer from a neurological form of the virus – something that in the worst case can lead to death. However, those cases are rare, but they happen every year, says Gittan Gröndahl, state veterinarian at the State Veterinary Medical Institute.
– They get blood clots in the spinal cord and become paralyzed in one way or another. It can get so serious that they can’t get up and it’s very unpleasant when it happens, she says.
May lead to miscarriage
The virus has been confirmed at two stables in Gothenburg and one in Östergötland. In Gothenburg, a field riding club has had to have its horses quarantined after the virus outbreak.
– So far it has only been the mild symptoms, no one has developed neurological ones. We hope that we will get away gently that way, says the riding club’s operations manager Erica Lundqvist GP.
If a horse with a foal in the stomach is affected, it can lead to a miscarriage. Therefore, the virus is also called the abortion virus.
– It can happen without any previous symptoms. Suddenly they just miscarried. It is therefore important to protect pregnant horses from the virus.
Trembling for the horse world
During 2019, the virus spread at several riding clubs in Sweden and international competitions. Several horses died and about twenty horses contracted the nervous disease caused by the virus. Gittan Gröndahl describes it as a “shudder for the entire horse world.”
– Healthy horses went from being able to compete one day to being paralyzed a few days later. It wasn’t fun, she says.
The infection spreads through the air as well as via objects and people. People themselves do not get sick, but they can act as carriers and transfer the virus from one horse to another. Gröndahl compares the infection to covid-19.
– It is very contagious inside a stable. It is a respiratory virus.