New EHV-1 variant identified.

Letters are not peer-reviewed, unless stated Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is an important threat to the equine industry worldwide. EHV-1 infection can induce respiratory disease, abortion in mares, neonatal death of foals and myeloencephalopathy (EHM). The reasons for the development of different forms of the disease remain largely unknown, but are likely to involve factors such as virus pathogenicity, environmental conditions, host immunity and genetic background. A potential explanation was reported which identified that different ORF30 (DNA polymerase subunit) genotypes were significantly associated with different forms of disease.1 Subsequently, EHV-1 strains were often generally categorised as …