Center of Elephant and Wildlife Research, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Department of Food Animal Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 5;14(7):e0219288. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219288. eCollection 2019.
The elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) has been a known cause of death of young elephants in Thailand for over a decade. In this study, we report on the demography, disease characteristics and mortality of 58 elephants with confirmed EEHV hemorrhagic disease between January 2006 and August 2018 using retrospective data subjected to survival analysis. Median age of EEHV presentation was 29 months, and the mortality rate was 68.97% with a median survival time of 36 h. Most EEHV cases occurred in the north of Thailand, the region where most of the country's captive elephants reside. The hazard ratio analysis identified application of medical procedures and antiviral medications as being significant factors correlated to the risk of death. Our results indicate a need to focus EEHV monitoring efforts on young elephants and to follow current protocols that advise starting treatments before clinical signs appear.
大象内皮疱疹病毒（EEHV）已在泰国导致十余年的幼象死亡。本研究回顾性分析了 2006 年 1 月至 2018 年 8 月间 58 例确诊为 EEHV 出血性疾病大象的数据，这些大象的特征包括人口统计学、疾病特征和死亡率。EEHV 表现的中位年龄为 29 个月，死亡率为 68.97%，中位存活时间为 36 小时。大多数 EEHV 病例发生在泰国北部，该国大部分圈养大象都生活在这个地区。危害比分析确定应用医疗程序和抗病毒药物是与死亡风险相关的重要因素。我们的结果表明，有必要将 EEHV 监测工作重点放在幼象身上，并遵循目前的建议，即在出现临床症状之前开始治疗。
