Description of the Clinical Findings Associated With the Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease in Cattle From Northwestern Spain During the Emergence

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is an emerging disease in Europe since it was first introduced in 2022 in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The disease is traditionally considered less severe in cattle, but outbreaks have appeared with increasing frequency in the last decades. The outbreak in Spain coursed with numerous cattle farms reporting clinical disease. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the incidence of clinical disease in cattle farms from NW Spain and describe the clinical signs and their frequency. We investigated 29 cattle farms that reported EHD and estimated an incidence of farms with clinical signs of 6.2% (<i>n</i>=467) in the study area (range: 2.3%-33.3%). The mean incidence of clinical signs, mortality, and lethality rates were 8.9%, 1.7%, and 23.0%, respectively. Interestingly, mortality and lethality were significantly higher in dairy cattle than in beef (OR of 3.0 and 4.4, respectively). Oral lesions, dysphagia, and hoof problems were common clinical signs found in the study. Among all, the presence of tongue edema, dehydration, and dyspnea was associated with higher lethality rates. These results highlight a significant impact of EHD during the emergency. In fact, it must be noted that our data are based on passive surveillance, so true incidences are likely to be higher. The clinical signs and epidemiologic characteristics reported in this paper may contribute to understanding the clinical implications of the disease in cattle and help anticipate the effects of EHD virus (EHDV) introduction into naïve regions.