Shuni Virus as Cause of Neurologic Disease in Horses

Abstract

To determine which agents cause neurologic disease in horses, we conducted reverse transcription PCR on isolates from of a horse with encephalitis and 111 other horses with acute disease. Shuni virus was found in 7 horses, 5 of which had neurologic signs. Testing for lesser known viruses should be considered for horses with unexplained illness.

Keywords

• Orthobunyavirus
• Shuni virus
• neurological
• horses
• viruses
• South Africa