Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label algeria

First serological #evidence of equine #coronavirus and #SARS-CoV-2 in #horses in North #Africa

  Abstract Viral diseases cause significant economic losses within the equine population. Horses are susceptible to equine coronavirus (ECoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), although only ECoV has been associated to clinical disease . The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time in Algeria , the seroprevalence of ECoV and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and the prevalence of ECoV infection in horses . In 2022, a total of 299 serum samples was collected from horses aged 1 to 27 years . Serological analysis for the presence of ECoV and SARS-CoV-2 was performed using a validated in-house and a commercially available ELISA, respectively. In addition, fecal samples of these animals were tested for the presence of ECoV RNA by RT-qPCR . SARS-CoV-2-ELISA positive sera with high S/P ratios and negative samples close to the doubtful threshold were retested using a virus neutralization test ( VNT ). The seroprevalence of ECoV and SARS-CoV-2 in the teste...