New equine herpesvirus type-1 findings from a research collaboration between George Allen, PhD, professor in the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center in Lexington, and Nicholas Davis-Poynter, PhD, head of equine infectious diseases at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England, have been released. They consented to a lay press release of the results of “the ongoing and as yet unpublished research on neurological strains of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1).” Their work was funded by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, Horserace Betting Levy Board of UK, and Home of Rest for Horses of UK.

Allen writes, “We have developed methods to identify genetic differences between strains of EHV-1 circulating in the field. Isolates of EHV-1 recovered from over 100 outbreaks of abortigenic (abortion-causing) or neurologic disease in several countries around the world over the past 40 years have been examined. Some of the strains are unique to North America and others to the European continent