Trade Zone - Equine Influenza

Influenza is contagious and can keep a horse out of training and competition for weeks or months; vaccination can prevent or minimize infection
Photo by: Lee Thomas

Equine Influenza
June 10, 2006

By Heather Smith Thomas

Equine influenza is a common respiratory infection. While it affects many horses, it has a low mortality rate; horses generally recover. However, flu can cause your horse physical distress, is highly contagious, and can keep your horse out of training and competition for weeks or months for recovery. There are vaccinations against equine flu, but are all vaccines created equally? For the latest news from researchers on equine influenza, read on.

Dr. David Horohov, an immunologist at the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center, said the virus is similar to that of human influenza. "There are differences that restrict equine influenza to horses and human flu to humans," he explained. "The vaccination approach, however, is the same because the protective immune response is the same.

"To prevent infection from occurring, we need antibodies against the viral proteins, and in particular, antibodies against the hemagglutinin, which is the major surface protein of the virus," Horohov said. "If you have an antibody against that, you can prevent the virus from actually infecting the host. The inactivated vaccines (injected intramuscularly) for both human and equine influenza target the hemagglutinin proteins."

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