Re-emergence of H3N8 Equine Influenza A virus in Chile, 2018.

A new outbreak of equine Influenza A virus (IAV) was reported in Chile in January 2018, 6 years after its last report in 2012. Equine IAV was detected by rtRT-PCR, followed by virus isolation and full genome sequencing. Genetic characterization of equine IAV classified the virus within clade 1 of the Florida sublineage. Although this is the same sublineage that caused an outbreak in Chile in 2012, the virus has a high similarity to other cocirculating viruses that were recently identified in Europe and Asia. The Chilean 2018 equine influenza (EI) outbreak was caused by an H3N8 strain circulating globally that spread through horse movements.