Blighted Spring in Austria

A deadly virus attacks the famed Lipizzaner horses

They are known the world over for their ability to prance and dance with haughty grace and to leap like ballet stars. General George Patton was so charmed by their pirouettes that he ordered his troops in Austria to rescue the great snow-white horses from advancing Soviet forces at the close of World War II. Today the Lipizzaners face a new enemy: a deadly virus of the herpes family. The disease has not hit the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, the showcase for the horses, but by the end of last week it had killed seven mares and 27 foals at the Piber stud farm, 150 miles south of the city. The outbreak is one of the most severe in the history of the disease.

Herpes (Greek for a creeping, inflammatory illness) has become notorious in the U.S. because of the type called herpes simplex, which is passed among humans by sexual contact. The name, however, covers some 50 viral infections that afflict animals. The equine variety is transmitted not by mating but by coughing or sniffling and can be "carried" by a seemingly well animal, just as the virus can reside in some humans with no visible ill effects.

The outbreak of equine herpes I in Austria began in mid-February when a number of horses started coughing. By March, many of the mares were aborting their foals. Miscarriages are a common effect of herpes, but the next phase of the disease is not. The unusually virulent form of the virus slowly killed the seven mares by paralyzing their nervous systems. Mourns Heinrich Lehrner, head of the Piber stud farm: "Every one of the horses that have died was like a member of a big family to me."

Unlike humans, horses can be inoculated against herpes, which has broken out in recent years in Britain, Germany and the U.S. Of the 36 pregnant mares at the Piber farm, 22 were vaccinated at the first signs of the outbreak and survived, although they all lost their foals.

No one knows for sure why the Lipizzaners were hit so hard by a disease that is usually not life-threatening. Dr. Erwin Rothensteiner, a veterinarian with the Austrian government, suggests that the stud-farm horses may have inadequate defenses against the virus because they have been isolated and inbred over the years.

The Austrians believe there is little chance that the disease will spread to the famed troupe in Vienna since all contact with Piber has been cut off. Although the epidemic will reduce the number of Lipizzaners to be trained for show in future years, it is unlikely to threaten the group's existence. The remaining horses at the stud farm have been quarantined, and breeding plans have not been altered. And at Lipizzaner farms elsewhere in Europe, there is no sign, so far, of herpes. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.