IEF co-sponsored an EEHV workshop Sept. 27-29, 2005. The international delegates - pathologists, epidemiologists, virologists, microbiologists, veterinarians and elephant management experts - unanimously agreed that EEHV is a serious threat to all populations of Asian elephants and that the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of EEHV is a high priority for the international elephant community. EEHV infects the microvascular endothelial cells of the heart, liver and tongue. Viral-induced endothelial injury leads to critical hemorrhages with death attributed to cardiac failure. A substantial proportion of reproductive failures and young elephant deaths have been attributed to EEHV, continually impeding efforts to maintain a self-sustaining captive Asian elephant population. In Europe, losses are reported as 25% of its newborn Asian elephant population due to EEHV and 20% of Asian elephants under the age of ten are lost to EEHV in North America. Multiple elephant mortalities attributed to EEHV have been reported to have occurred on the continent of Asia since 1995. Though there have been no massive outbreaks in Asia, the virus's impact may now be exacerbated by the increased fragmentation of elephant populations and their skewed sex ratios.

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