This virus comes in two forms: EHV-1 and EHV-4
Both of these can cause respiratory disease and type 1 can cause abortions and neurologic disease as well.
This is a highly contagious virus, so when it appears in a barn or group of horses sharing a pasture, it is important that isolation and quarantine measures are instituted immediately!
The USDA has a good link to more info on this. The American Association of Equine Practitioners also has some great info at:
http://www.aaep.org/ehv.htm
Recently, Cornell's Veterinary Hospital had a few confirmed cases. At a New Jersey farm, one horse died and a few others became ill with the virus. After this story broke, they updated it to include another farm.
What is going on here? Well, the problem is that since the incubation period can be a week or longer, an infected horse can be moved to another facility before clinical signs appear, spreading the disease amongst farm. In addition, humans caring for the horses or barn can spread this disease among the horses as well.
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