The Associated Press

FINDLAY, Ohio - A suspected viral outbreak over the weekend killed 10 horses in the University of Findlay's student equestrian program, and veterinarians believe about 130 more horses could be infected.

About 130 of the 440 horses in the equestrian program have shown symptoms, which include fever and runny nose.

One horse died on Tuesday. The others died over the weekend.

"We're hoping that the worst is over," Kathryn Kelly, a school spokeswoman, said Tuesday. "We don't know at this point how long we have to deal with this."

University veterinarians believe the horses are dying from an equine strain of the herpes virus, but were waiting for autopsy results.

The virus, which cannot be passed on to humans or other animals, can cause respiratory or neurological disease and kill the animals within hours.

It attacks the brain - causing horses to fall or lie down - before moving on to the respiratory system.

They have quarantined one of the university's two off-campus equestrian complexes where thoroughbreds and show horses are trained and cared for by students and university staff

About 200 students in the equestrian program attended a meeting Monday at the main campus to learn the status of their horses. As instructor Julie Jewett read the names of the dead and dying horses, students cried out mournfully.

Retired veterinarian C.R. Beckett, chairman of the university's trustees, called the deaths "devastating beyond belief and description."