Respiratory disease is common in horses of all ages and types and can have a variety of different causes including infectious pathogens such bacteria or viruses or non-infectious causes such as allergies. Some of the more common infectious diseases in horses in the UK that cause respiratory disease include strangles, equine influenza and equine herpes virus. The most common non-infectious respiratory disease is equine asthma. Equine asthma is a relatively new term used to encompass a variety of inflammatory respiratory conditions that are caused by environmental allergens including those previously known as recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) and inflammatory airway disease (IAD).
RVC - Respiratory Disease Fact File
Surveillance of Equine Strangles