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  Discussion on What is coronavirus?
Author Message
New Member:
tmpk9bru

Posted on Thursday, Mar 26, 2015 - 6:00 pm:

My horse was just recently diagnosed with coronavirus. I noticed about a week ago she became very depressed and quiet. She slowly started to refuse to eat and drink. I started to monitor her temperature and approximately 3 days later she had a high fever of 102.4. The vet came out a drew several vials of blood, fecal sample and then pumped her stomach full of electrolytes by nasal tube. She is now feeling better. There is a second horse on the property that began to show symptoms around the same time but his symptoms are more severe. How do horses get this virus and where does it originate. Is it transmitted through rodents or wildlife or by other horses that may be a carrier?
Member:
dres

Posted on Thursday, Mar 26, 2015 - 7:11 pm:

never heard of it either ..

On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted with spots ..

https://horse-journal.com/article/equine-coronavirus-northeast-12964
Member:
paul303

Posted on Thursday, Mar 26, 2015 - 11:36 pm:

Good question, Tina. With all the tick borne diseases my horses and dogs have picked up in South Jersey, I'll be awaiting Dr.O's answer.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Mar 28, 2015 - 10:38 am:

Hello All,
Equine coronavirus is a newly described cause of gastrointestinal disease in horses. Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that have a predilection for the digestive tract. All of the ones I am aware of are species specific so don't cross over and infect other species and are contracted by the oral route through contact with contaminated ground or foodstuffs.
DrO

Vet Microbiol. 2013 Feb 22;162(1):228-31.
Emerging outbreaks associated with equine coronavirus in adult horses.
Pusterla N1, Mapes S, Wademan C, White A, Ball R, Sapp K, Burns P, Ormond C, Butterworth K, Bartol J, Magdesian KG.

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe clinical, hematological and fecal PCR results from 161 horses involved in outbreaks associated with ECoV. The outbreaks happened at four separate boarding facilities between November 2011 and April 2012 in the States of CA, TX, WI and MA. Following the molecular detection of ECoV in the feces from the initial index cases, the remaining herdmates were closely observed for the development of clinical signs. Fecal samples were collected from sick and healthy horses for the PCR detection of ECoV. All four outbreaks involved primarily adult horses. Fifty-nine horses developed clinical signs with 12-16 sick horses per outbreak. The main clinical signs reported were anorexia, lethargy and fever. Four horses from 3 different outbreaks were euthanized or died due to rapid progression of clinical signs. The cause of death could not be determined with necropsy evaluation in 2 horses, while septicemia secondary to gastrointestinal translocation was suspected in 2 horses. Blood work was available from 10 horses with clinical disease and common hematological abnormalities were leucopenia due to neutropenia and/or lymphopenia. Feces were available for ECoV testing by real-time PCR from 44 and 96 sick and healthy horses, respectively. 38/44 (86%) horses with abnormal clinical signs tested PCR positive for ECoV, while 89/96 (93%) healthy horses tested PCR negative for ECoV. The overall agreement between clinical status and PCR detection of ECoV was 91%. The study results suggest that ECoV is associated with self-limiting clinical and hematological abnormalities in adult horses.
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