2000 Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 29-33
Eight local, nondescript adult donkeys, sero-negative to EHV-1, were experimentally infected in two different experiments with EHV-1 of horse origin to study the establishment of viral infection in donkeys along with four pony mares as the control. The virus persisted up to 7 days along with clinical manifestations in pony mares in both the experiments. The virus was also detected by PCR from the spleen of one of the pony mares, but both virus isolation and PCR studies carried out on nasal discharges, peripheral blood lymphocytes and tissues of the animals sacrificed at the end of the experiment, negated the presence of EHV-1 in donkeys. The infectivity and viability of EHV-1 used as the inoculum in both donkey and pony mares was confirmed by isolation of EHV-1and detection of its DNA by PCR from the nasal swabs of pony mares. The use of dexamethasone as an immunosuppresant, failed to indicate the establishment of EHV-1 infection in the donkeys as the virus could not be revived, isolated and detected in PCR studies.
