A cause of systemic illness, respiratory disease, and abortion, equine arteritis virus can persist in and be shed by stallions long after clinical signs have disappeared. Studies are underway to evaluate vaccination of sexually immature colts in the hope of preventing establishment of the carrier state in these animals. Equine infectious anemia , a disease of horses caused by an AIDS-like virus, is being studied by Gluck Center researchers at the molecular level. There is no vaccine to protect horses, which remain persistently infected with the virus, but ongoing studies at the Gluck Center could lead to the development of a genetically engineered vaccine against the disease and improved diagnostic test systems. Rotavirus is a leading cause of diarrhea in foals, some of which become critically ill.
Outbreaks are on the rise worldwide.
Treatment, care and disinfection procedures involved in outbreaks are costly. Researchers are striving to determine the mechanisms involved in stimulating the horse's natural immunity to these bacterial infections. Leptospirosis is associated with abortion, stillbirth, and neonatal infection in horses. Scientists discovered that mares shed the leptospires in their urine up to 13 weeks after abortion. Research is ongoing to determine which species of wildlife are long-term reservoirs of the organism on affected farms.