Association between inflammatory airway disease of horses and exposure to respiratory viruses: a case control study.

Background: Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) in horses, similar to asthma in humans, is a common cause of chronic poor respiratory health and exercise intolerance due to airway inflammation and exaggerated airway constrictive responses. Human rhinovirus is an important trigger for the development of asthma; a similar role for viral respiratory disease in equine IAD has not been established yet.

Methods: In a case-control study, horses with IAD (n = 24) were compared to control animals from comparable stabling environments (n = 14).