Rotavirus

Equine Rotavirus (ERV) is a cause of diarrhea in horses up to 6 months of age, and it is one of the most common causes of foal diarrhea in horse breeding centers worldwide. Rotaviral diarrhea is caused by a double-stranded RNA, non-enveloped virus of the family Reoviridae, genus Rotavirus. Disease severity is greatest in neonatal foals and generally lessens with increasing age, although this depends on the infectious dose of virus and immunological status. Until 2021, Rotavirus Group A (ERVA) was considered the only group infective to horses; however, Rotavirus Group B (ERVB) has since been identified in outbreaks of neonatal foal diarrhea. Due to their extremely contagious nature, rotavirus infections rarely occur as an individual case and are more frequently seen as a rapidly spreading diarrhea outbreak in naïve foal populations.