The First Detection of Equine Coronavirus in Adult Horses and Foals in Ireland

Nemoto, Manabu; Schofield, Warren; Cullinane, Ann

Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is a positive-stranded RNA virus and belongs to the species Betacoronavirus 1 in the genus Betacoronavirus [1, 2] . The clinical signs associated with ECoV infection during outbreaks in the USA [3] and Japan [4] [5] [6] were fever, anorexia, lethargy and diarrhoea. The same clinical signs were also recorded in an experimental challenge study using Japanese draft horses [7] . The main transmission route is considered to be faecal-oral [7] and ECoV is usually detected in faecal samples. However, the molecular detection of ECoV in faeces from horses with diarrhoea, does not prove causation. Coronaviruses can cause both enteric and respiratory disease in many avian and mammalian species but ECoV is less likely to be found in respiratory secretions than in faeces [8, 9] .