Equine herpes virus type 1 (EHV-1) and 4 (EHV-4) infections in horses and donkeys in northeastern Turkey

The herpesviruses infections in equides are caused by five different serotypes of viruses, belonging to family Herpesviridae. The goal of this study was to conduct a seroepidemiological investigation of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV1) and type 4 (EHV4) in horses and donkeys raised in two provinces and their villages in northeastern Turkey. A total of 666 sles from 423 horses and 243 donkeys that were not immunized against these infections were tested with ELISA. While 52.48% of tested horse sera was foundto carry specific antibodies to EHV1, 83.69% of these serums were found to carry specific antibodies to EHV4. 51. Eightyfive percent of analyzed donkey sles tested positive for EHV1 and 64.20% of these sles tested positive for EHV4 antibodies. When the horse and donkey sles were evaluated together, 52.25% were seropositive for EHV1 and 76.58% were seropositive for EHV4. This study showed that EHV1 and EHV4 infections are quite common in the horses and donkeys being raised in theareas where the study was carried out. In addition, since the area where the study was carried out in the borders of Armenia and Georgia, the high level of seropositive results for these infections leads to the conclusion that we should consider the risk of diseases spreading to neighboring countries. This is the first study to serologically identify EHV1 and EHV4 infections in donkeys raised in Turkey.