A recent report in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal detailed the discovery, genetic characterization and transmissibility of equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H)—a new virus associated with equine serum hepatitis. EqPV-H was discovered when a horse in Nebraska developed clinical signs of liver failure and died approximately two months after receiving prophylactic treatment with tetanus antitoxin.
Source: American Veterinarian, February 6, 2018.
Study results suggest an association between EqPV-H and Theiler’s disease in horses, raising concern for the presence of this virus in equine biologics. Although heat treatment of commercial tetanus antitoxin inactivates heat-labile viruses, animal parvoviruses are highly resistant to heat inactivation, increasing the possibility of EqPV-H transmission through the antitoxin.