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Topic:Diagnosis
Diagnosis in horses involves the systematic identification of diseases and conditions affecting equine health. This process relies on a combination of clinical evaluations, laboratory tests, imaging techniques, and other diagnostic tools to assess the health status of horses. Veterinarians utilize these methods to identify symptoms, determine the underlying causes of health issues, and formulate appropriate treatment plans. Diagnostic procedures in equine medicine can include blood tests, ultrasound, radiography, endoscopy, and more specialized tests such as genetic screening or advanced imaging modalities like MRI and CT scans. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various diagnostic techniques, their applications, and advancements in the field of equine veterinary medicine.
Diagnosis of Borrelia-associated uveitis in two horses. Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease is a tick born spirochetal infection. Clinical signs of Lyme borreliosis are uncommon in horses, but when present they are often vague and nonspecific. In horses, Lyme borreliosis has been implicated in musculoskeletal, neurological, reproductive, and ocular disorders, including uveitis, but definitive diagnosis can be challenging as the causative agent is rarely isolated and serologic tests can be unreliable and do not confirm active disease. Here, we report two cases of equine uveitis associated with B. burgdorferi based on the identi...
Adding the spatial dimension to the social network analysis of an epidemic: investigation of the 2007 outbreak of equine influenza in Australia. Equine influenza is a highly contagious and widespread viral respiratory disease of horses and other equid species, characterised by fever and a harsh dry cough. In 2007, in the first reported outbreak in Australia, the virus spread through the horse populations of two states within 4 months. Most of the geographic spread occurred within the first 10 days and was associated with the movement of infected horses prior to the implementation of movement controls. This study applies social network analysis to describe spread of equine influenza between horse premises infected in the early outbreak ...
Macrophage sub-populations and the lipoxin A4 receptor implicate active inflammation during equine tendon repair. Macrophages (Mφ) orchestrate inflammatory and reparatory processes in injured connective tissues but their role during different phases of tendon healing is not known. We investigated the contribution of different Mφ subsets in an equine model of naturally occurring tendon injury. Post mortem tissues were harvested from normal (uninjured), sub-acute (3-6 weeks post injury) and chronically injured (>3 months post injury) superficial digital flexor tendons. To determine if inflammation was present in injured tendons, Mφ sub-populations were quantified based on surface antigen expression of...
Standing low-field magnetic resonance imaging in horses with chronic foot pain. Conventional imaging modalities can diagnose the source of foot pain in most cases, but have limitations in some horses, which can be overcome by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, there are no reports of the MRI appearance and prevalence of foot lesions of a large series of horses with chronic foot lameness. Methods: In the present study, 79 horses with unilateral or bilateral forelimb lameness because of chronic foot pain underwent standing low-field MRI to make a definitive diagnosis. Results: Of the 79 horses, 74 (94%) had alterations in >1 structure in the lame or lamest ...
An investigation of a recent outbreak of nocardioform placentitis caused abortions in horses. Nocardioform placentitis associated with gram positive branching actinomycetes caused a record number of abortions in mares diagnosed by the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (UKVDL) affecting the 2011 foal crop (2011 foal crop: the cohort of foals conceived during the 2010 breeding season). The goal of the present study is to make a comprehensive analysis of this outbreak in terms of frequencies of the bacteria causing nocardioform placentitis mediated abortions and to investigate the ages of fetuses, abortion months and breeding times. In the present study, characterist...
Chronic laminitis is associated with potential bacterial pathogens in the laminae. A common sequella of chronic laminitis in horses is repeated abscesses with variable lameness and drainage. It is unclear whether the exudate represents the debridement phase of a non-septic inflammatory process involving clearance of laminar tissue damaged during the acute episode of laminitis, or a response to a microbial infection developed by ascent of microbes from the environment to the tissue via the white line. The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility that an undiagnosed microbial infection in laminar tissue is present in laminar tissue collected from chronically lam...
Two-dimensional speckle tracking for quantification of left ventricular circumferential and radial wall motion in horses. The use of two-dimensional speckle tracking (2DST) for quantification of left ventricular (LV) function has recently been described in horses using long-axis images and short-axis images at chordal but not at papillary muscle level. Objective: To compare the feasibility and reliability of 2DST for quantification of circumferential and radial LV function in short-axis images at papillary muscle and chordal level. Methods: Repeated echocardiographic examinations were performed on 10 healthy trotter horses by 2 observers from a right parasternal short-axis view at papillary muscle and chordal lev...
Third eyelid dermoid in a horse. An 8-year-old Gypsy Vanner gelding presented to the University of Florida Ophthalmology service for the evaluation of chronic, recurrent corneal ulcers behind the third eyelid of the right eye. On ophthalmic examination, a cluster of aberrant hairs was identified growing along the margin of the third eyelid. This portion of third eyelid was surgically excised, and histopathology identified the haired tissue as a dermoid. Chronic keratitis secondary to a third eyelid dermoid was diagnosed, and excision appeared curative at 6 months post-operative follow-up.
Isolation and identification of Mycobacterium avium subspecies silvaticum from a horse. Routine cultivation methods are able to distinguish between isolates of the Mycobacterium avium and the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. However, molecular tools are needed to further identify the several subspecies in the M. avium complex, especially for the subspecies avium and silvaticum. A rapid technique using HhaI restriction digestion of a 349 bp amplification product of the 85B antigen (α-antigen) gene was used for the identification of M. avium subsp. silvaticum in a three-year-old gelding presenting with caseous, necrotizing, granulomatous lesions. The result was confirmed by seq...
Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in equids from Southern Spain. Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii were determined in serum samples from 616 equids (454 horses, 80 mules and 82 donkeys) in a cross-sectional study of 420 herds in Andalusia (Southern Spain), the region with the highest number of equids in Spain. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 10.8% horses, 15.0% mules and 25.6% donkeys by using the modified agglutination test (MAT) at a cut-off of 1:25. Herd seroprevalence for horses, mules and donkeys was 14.7% (48/327), 23.9% (11/46) and 34.0% (16/47), respectively, and 75 herds (17.8%) had at least one seropositive animal. Significant differences in T...
Whole-genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis of a Quarter Horse mare. The catalog of genetic variants in the horse genome originates from a few select animals, the majority originating from the Thoroughbred mare used for the equine genome sequencing project. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDELs), and copy number variants (CNVs) in the genome of an individual Quarter Horse mare sequenced by next-generation sequencing. Results: Using massively parallel paired-end sequencing, we generated 59.6 Gb of DNA sequence from a Quarter Horse mare resulting in an...
Outbreak of equine piroplasmosis in Florida. A 7-year-old Quarter Horse gelding was hospitalized in Ocala, Fla, because of lethargy, fever, anorexia, and swelling of distal aspects of the limbs. A tentative diagnosis of equine piroplasmosis (EP) was made on the basis of examination of a blood smear. The case was reported to the Florida State Veterinarian, and infection with Babesia equi was confirmed. The subsequent investigation included quarantine and testing of potentially exposed horses for B equi and Babesia caballi infections, tick surveillance, and owner-agent interviews. Results: 210 horses on 25 premises were tested for infectio...
Meningitis and meningoencephalomyelitis in horses: 28 cases (1985-2010). To describe clinical and clinicopathologic findings and outcome of horses with meningitis and meningoencephalomyelitis. Methods: Retrospective case series. Methods: 28 horses. Methods: Medical records of horses admitted to the hospital during a 25-year period were reviewed. Horses with a definitive diagnosis of meningitis or meningoencephalomyelitis were included in this study. Information extracted from the medical records included signalment, history, reason for admission, clinical signs, results of clinicopathologic testing and diagnostic procedures, treatment, outcome, and necropsy finding...
Comparison of ultrasound-guided vs. ‘blind’ techniques for intra-synovial injections of the shoulder area in horses: scapulohumeral joint, bicipital and infraspinatus bursae. Diagnosis and treatment of pathologies involving synovial structures in the shoulder region are technically difficult. Ultrasound-guided (UG) injection techniques have been shown to be highly accurate, safe and reliable for various structures in human and equine patients. Objective: To develop easy-to-use and reliable UG injection techniques for the infraspinatus bursa (IB), bicipital bursa (BB) and scapulohumeral joint (SHJ) and to compare them with conventional 'blind' methods. Methods: Eight pairs of equine shoulders were positioned on a computed-tomography (CT) table with left and right sh...
[Effect of distribution of eggs of strongyles and Parascaris equorum in faecal samples of horses on detection with a combined sedimentation-flotation method]. Results of parasitological examination of faecal aliquots may vary between diagnostic laboratories. To examine whether inhomogeneous distribution of worm eggs in faecal samples is responsible for this observation, horse faeces provided for routine diagnosis of helminth infection were examined. Distribution of worm eggs was assessed by examining aliquots taken from different locations of the faecal sample by a combined sedimentation-flotation method (KSFV). In addition, it was tested, whether the homogenization of a larger amount (minimum of 40 g) of faeces before performing KSFV improved repro...
[Examination of horses with acute colic: clinical and legal aspects]. The article provides hands-on advice and scientific background information regarding the management of the equine acute colic patient. It summarizes essential information on the patient's history, clinical examination, and legal aspects. The scope of the history is based on the clinical appearance of the patient. In horses with violent and barely controllable signs of pain, it is limited to colic-associated information such as onset, course and severity of colic signs, and the last time of defecation, as well as prior therapeutic intervention. In these patients, the clinical examination is foc...
Nasal shedding of equine herpesvirus-1 from horses in an outbreak of equine herpes myeloencephalopathy in Western Canada. There is little information on the duration of nasal shedding of EHV-1 from horses with naturally occurring equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM). Objective: To evaluate the duration of nasal shedding of EHV-1 in horses affected by EHM. Methods: One hundred and four horses naturally exposed to EHV-1, 20 of which had clinical signs of EHM. Methods: All horses on affected premises were monitored. Those horses developing EHM were sampled in a longitudinal outbreak investigation. Nasal swabs were collected daily from 16 of 20 horses affected by EHM. A qPCR was performed on 98 of 246 nasal s...
Gambling on putative biomarkers of osteoarthritis and osteochondrosis by equine synovial fluid proteomics. Osteoarthritis (OA) and osteochondrosis (OC) are two of the main challenges in orthopedics, whose definitive diagnosis is usually based on radiographic/arthroscopic evidences. Their early diagnosis should allow preventive or timely therapeutic actions, which are generally precluded from the poor relationships occurring between symptomatologic and radiographic evidences. These limitations should be overcome by improving the knowledge on articular tissue metabolism and on molecular factors regulating its normal homeostasis, also identifying novel OA and OC biomarkers suitable for their earlier d...
Isolation of Cronobacter spp. (formerly Enterobacter sakazakii) from nostrils of healthy stable horse–short communication. Cronobacter spp. belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is a motile (peritricha) Gram-negative non-spore forming bacterium. At present, Enterobacter sakazakii is reported as a Cronobacter spp. species with 16 biogroups. It is a ubiquitous organism whose isolation used to be associated with a contaminated powdered infant formula and feed for neonates and infants. Information about the Cronobacter spp. species incidence in the environment, its potential dissemination and its vectors, is very limited. The authors have documented incidence of Cronobacter spp. in the nostril mucous membrane o...
EcPV-2 is transcriptionally active in equine SCC but only rarely detectable in swabs and semen from healthy horses. Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are malignant tumours arising from keratinocytes. In horses, there is increasing evidence for Equus caballus papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV-2) being causally involved in SCC development. However, only little is known regarding intralesional transcription of the virus, and sparse information on the incidence of EcPV-2 infection in healthy equids is available so far. Using RT-PCR, total mRNA from 8 EcPV-2 DNA-positive and 1 EcPV-2 negative SCC/SCC precursor lesions was screened for the presence of EcPV-2 E6 and E1 transcripts. Using PCR, we tested 193 sample specimens...
Mass spectral measurements of the apoHDL in horse (Equus caballus) cerebrospinal fluid. As a continuation of our proteogenomic studies of equine apolipoproteins, we have obtained molecular masses for several of the apolipoproteins associated with the HDL in horse cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Using electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), we report on values for apolipoproteins, A-I and A-II, as well as acylated apoA-I. In comparison with our previously published data on equine plasma apolipoproteins, there appears to be a higher percentage of acylated apoA-I in the CSF than in plasma. As was the case in plasma, apoA-II circulates as a homodimer. These studies also reveal...
