Interstitial lung disease associated with Equine Infectious Anemia Virus infection in horses

Abstract

EIA (Equine Infectious Anemia) is a blood-borne disease primarily transmitted by haematophagous insects or needle punctures. Other routes of transmission have been poorly explored. We evaluated the potential of EIAV (Equine Infectious Anemia Virus) to induce pulmonary lesions in naturally infected equids. Lungs from 77 EIAV seropositive horses have been collected in Romania and France. Three types of lesions have been scored on paraffin-embedded lungs: lymphocyte infiltration, bronchiolar inflammation, and thickness of the alveolar septa. Expression of the p26 EIAV capsid (CA) protein has been evaluated by immunostaining. Compared to EIAV-negative horses, 52% of the EIAV-positive horses displayed a mild inflammation around the bronchioles, 22% had a moderate inflammation with inflammatory cells inside the wall and epithelial bronchiolar hyperplasia and 6.5% had a moderate to severe inflammation, with destruction of the bronchiolar epithelium and accumulation of smooth muscle cells within the pulmonary parenchyma. Changes in the thickness of the alveolar septa were also present. Expression of EIAV capsid has been evidenced in macrophages, endothelial as well as in alveolar and bronchiolar epithelial cells, as determined by their morphology and localization. To summarize, we found lesions of interstitial lung disease similar to that observed during other lentiviral infections such as FIV in cats, SRLV in sheep and goats or HIV in children. The presence of EIAV capsid in lung epithelial cells suggests that EIAV might be responsible for the broncho-interstitial damages observed.

Freedom from equine infectious anaemia virus infection in Spanish Purebred horses

“…The transmission of the virus depends on the number and species of vectors, their feeding habits, the population density of horses, the level of viraemia in the host and the amount of blood transferred ( Cook and others 2013 ). Additionally, EIAV may also be passed from a mare to her foal in utero ( Stein and Mott 1942 , Kemen and Coggins 1972 ), iatrogenically by blood transfusions or contaminated needles, surgical instruments and dental floats ( Williams and others 1981 ) and there has been recent evidence of the infection of pulmonary epithelial cells by EIAV suggesting an aerosol transmission ( More and others 2008a ,b , Bolfa and others 2013 ).…”

Infection with equine infectious anemia virus vaccine strain EIAVDLV121 causes no visible histopathological lesions in target organs in association with restricted viral replication and unique cytokine response

“…The pulmonary symptoms associated with SIV infection are closely associated with the increased expression of MCP-1 and CXCL10 in the lungs of rhesus macaques (Qin et al, 2010). EIAV infection also results in interstitial pulmonary pathology similar to that observed in HIV-infected children (Doffman and Miller, 2013), SIV-infected macaques (Qin et al, 2010) and FIV-infected cats (Bolfa et al, 2013;Cadore et al, 1997). In vitro infection of primary monocytes/macrophages also induces the differential expression of several cytokines (e.g., IL-1␣, IL-1␤, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-␣ and TNF-␣) and chemokines (e.g., IL-8, MCP-1, MCP-2, MIP-1␣, MIP-1␤ and IP-10) between the EIAV virulent strain EIAV LN40 and the vaccine strain EIAV DLV121 (Lin et al, 2011).…”

“…CXCL10 has also been shown to be associated with the development of pneumonia and to recruit additional inflammatory cells to the lungs during viral infection (Schaefer et al, 2006;Sui et al, 2005). Interstitial pneumonia has been reported in EIAV-infected horses, similar to SIV-infected macaques and HIV-1-infected humans (Bolfa et al, 2013). Up-regulation of CXCL10 expression coupled with pathological damage implicate the involvement of this chemokine in the development of pneumonia associated with EIAV infection.…”

“…Tissue blocks were sliced into 5 m sections and then stained with standard hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the viral p26 antigen in the tissues according to a published protocol (Bolfa et al, 2013). In the present study, the monoclonal anti-p26 antibody CA26, prepared in this laboratory, was used as the primary antibody and a goat anti-mouse IgG labeled with horseradish peroxidase was used the secondary antibody (Beyotime, China).…”

Outbreak of Equine Infectious Anaemia in Saxony – Case report, epidemiology and possible new eradication strategies

“…über kontaminierte Blut-und Plasmaprodukte, und hat so 2006 in Irland (More et al 2008) und 2012 in Deutschland (LANUV NRW 2012) zu verlustreichen Ausbrüchen geführt. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Ausbruch in Irland wurde außerdem eine mögliche Ansteckung über Aerosol in einem gemeinsamen Luftraum diskutiert, wobei dieser Übertragungsweg durch den Nachweis von EIAV in Lungenepithelzellen gestützt werden konnte (Bolfa et al 2013). Im tierärztlichen Alltag sind insbesondere Nasenschlundsonden, Nasenbremsen, Endoskope und weitere Instrumente mit Blutkontakt als potenzielle Über-tragungswege von Relevanz.…”