Equine influenza diagnosis: Sample collection and transport

Thomas M. Chambers, Stephanie E. Reedy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

In horses, presumptive diagnosis of equine influenza is commonly made on the basis of clinical signs. This alone is insufficient for confirmation of equine influenza, because other equine infectious respiratory diseases can in some degree have similar clinical presentations. Surveillance and control of equine influenza also necessitate detection of subclinical cases. Effective diagnosis of equine influenza virus infection is critically dependent on obtaining adequate specimens of virus-containing respiratory secretions for testing. These specimens are also valuable as sources for isolation of virus strains for antigenic characterization and potential inclusion in vaccines. Both nasal swabs and nasopharyngeal swabs are employed with horses. These differ little in their invasiveness, but nasopharyngeal swabs typically yield more virus than nasal swabs and are superior diagnostic specimens. Methods for obtaining nasopharyngeal swab specimens are described.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMethods in Molecular Biology
Pages361-367
Number of pages7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020

Publication series

NameMethods in Molecular Biology
Volume2123
ISSN (Print)1064-3745
ISSN (Electronic)1940-6029

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2020.

Keywords

  • Equine influenza
  • Nasal swab
  • Nasopharyngeal swab

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

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