Equine adenovirus 1 (EAdV1) is among the most common and major causes of virus-induced respiratory disease in horses and occurs worldwide. Except acute upper respiratory disease with nasal discharge, conjunctivitis, and bronchopneumonia virus can cause infection of gastrointestinal tract. EAdV1 was also reported as a potential cause of abortion in mares. The incidence of infection, however, differs considerably among the populations and age groups of horses. Insofar we haven't had any evidence of presence and distribution of equine adenoviral infection in Croatia. Regarding on the breeding conditions horses in Croatia could be divided into two significantly different populations. First population is sporting and leisure horses that are represented in our study by the horses from hippodrome Zagreb. Second population is free-range horses that are breeding in area Lonjsko polje. Those populations haven’ t had any contact and they represent distinct epidemiological populations. Therefore, to investigate presence of equine adenoviral infection in Croatia we made serological testing of 100 sera from each representative populations with haemagglutination inhibition assay (HI). Results demonstrated high seroprevalence of equine adenoviral antibodies in both tested populations. In population of sporting and leisure horses seroprevalence were 66% with titre range from 1:8 to 1:512. Seroprevalence of equine adenoviral antibodies in population of free-range horses were 55% with titre range from 1:8 to 1:256. Those results confirmed, for the first time, presence of equine adenoviral infection in Croatia. Furthermore results of high seroprevalence in both populations from different areas showed that equine adenovirus is wide distributed in Croatia.

Veterinarska medicina