ELEPHANT ENDOTHELIOTROPIC HERPESVIRUS (EEHV)

About:

• Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHV) is also known as Elephantid betaherpesvirus 1 (ElHV-1).
  
  
• EEHVs is a type of herpesvirus that can cause a highly fatal haemorrhagic disease in young Asian elephants.
  
  
• When EEHV is triggered, the elephant dies of massive internal bleeding and symptoms which are hardly visible. The disease is usually fatal, with a short course of 28-35 hours.
  
  
• EEHV is lethal for young elephants between the ages of one and 12. If a young elephant dies before reproducing, it affects the population of the species as a whole in the concerned geography.
  
  
• There is no true cure for herpesviruses in animals or in humans, because herpes viruses go latent.