Seroprevalence and risk factors of equine influenza virus infection in horses of Khuzestan province

Subject Areas : Veterinary Clinical Pathology

hamid Hashemi Mehrjardi ¹ , MAHDI Pourmahdi Borujeni ² , alireza Ghadrdan Mashhadi ³ , masoudreza Siefi abad shapori ⁴

1 - Graduate of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
3 - Professor, Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
4 - Professor, Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz ,Iran.

Received: 2017-04-10 Accepted : 2017-11-15 Published : 2018-04-21

Keywords: Epidemiology, horse, Khuzestan, Serology, Influenza,

Abstract :

Equine influenza is an acute, infectious and highly contagious respiratory disease with worldwide distribution, high morbidity and low mortality. The disease is caused by H7N7 and H3N8 subtypes of genus A of influenza virus in the horse. The most significant clinical signs of equine influenza are fever, coughing and nasal discharge. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of Equine influenza in horses of Khuzestan province by ELISA assay. Blood samples were randomly collected from 184 horses from Ahvaz, Ramhormoz, Shush, Shushtar, Mahshahr and Abadan cities. Seroprevalence of influenza virus was 7.07% (95% CI: 3.97-10.77). Multivariate logistic regression showed that age, sex, history of respiratory disease, history of leaving the province, body condition score, type of use, herd size and geographical location justify 45 percent of fluctuations in infection. History of leaving the province was the only factor with a significant effect on infection (p<0.05). Relative frequency of positive cases with and without history of leaving the province was 16% and 92%  respectively and odds of infection in horses with history of leaving the province was 20.57 (95% CI: 2.61-161.97) in comparison with horses without history of leaving the province and this factor justifies 21.6% of fluctuations in infection. This survey confirms that influenza virus exists in Khuzestan province and preventive and control measures should be considered by health authorities and horse owners.

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