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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.
Experiences in treatment of epiglottal entrapment using a hook knife per nasum. Thirty eight horses with epiglottal entrapment were examined. In 29 the dorsally displaced mucosa was split axially with a curved hook knife, per nasum. The condition was also treated by subepiglottal mucosal resection (4 horses) and solely by the administration of an anti-inflammatory throat spray (4 horses). All surgical cases were treated with an anti-inflammatory throat spray and parenteral phenylbutazone. Those horses treated via a laryngotomy incision were box rested until the laryngotomy incision healed. The other horses were restricted to walking and trotting exercise for 10 days befor...
Recent developments in elucidating tick vector relationships for anaplasmosis and equine piroplasmosis. This brief review focuses first on several epidemiologically relevant aspects of anaplasmosis, including: (1) the role of male ticks as intrastadial, biological vectors of Anaplasma through interhost transfer; (2) the application of molecular diagnostic assays in assessing tick vector competence and evaluating the role of chronically infected carrier cattle as sources of Anaplasma marginale infection in vector ticks; (3) opportunities provided by a recently developed in vitro tick feeding system in quantitating studies of tick-hemoparasite-host interactions. Lastly, current knowledge of the st...
Differences in a ribosomal DNA sequence of Strongylus species allows identification of single eggs. In the current study, molecular techniques were evaluated for the species identification of individual strongyle eggs. Adult worms of Strongylus edentatus, S. equinus and S. vulgaris were collected at necropsy from horses from Australia and the U.S.A. Genomic DNA was isolated and a ribosomal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) amplified and sequenced using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. The length of the ITS-2 sequence of S. edentatus, S. equinus and S. vulgaris ranged between 217 and 235 nucleotides. Extensive sequence analysis demonstrated a low degree (0-0.9%) of intraspecific variation...
The prevalence of intestinal Salmonella infection in horses submitted for necropsy. Specimens from the ileum, colon and rectum were aseptically collected from 50 consecutive horse carcases submitted for necropsy to the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. These were bacteriologically examined for the presence of Salmonella. Seventeen of these were positive for Salmonella at one or more sites. Serotyping of the isolates revealed a dominance of Salmonella Hayindogo in these horses.
Iridium-192 interstitial brachytherapy for equine periocular tumours: treatment results and prognostic factors in 115 horses. One hundred and fifteen horses with periocular tumours were treated with iridium-192 interstitial brachytherapy. Tumours included squamous cell carcinomas (n = 52) and sarcoids (n = 63). All horses were scheduled to receive 60 Gy (minimal tumour dose) given at a low dose rate (0.034 +/- 0.010 Gy/h). The mean and median follow-up times to last contact or death were 24 and 16 months, respectively. Chronic radiation reactions included palpebral fibrosis (10.4%), cataract (7.8%), keratitis and corneal ulceration (6.9%). Cosmetic changes included permanent epilation (21.7%) and hair dyspigmentation...
Development of PCR assays to detect genetic variation amongst equine herpesvirus-1 isolates as an aid to epidemiological investigation. A search for variable restriction sites has been carried out for equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) in an attempt to develop markers which can be used to group epidemiologically related viruses into groups, and to learn more about the dynamics of EHV-1 disease. Crude viral DNA extracts of EHV-1, prepared by Hirt extraction, were digested with AluI, HaeIII, or RsaI, and Southern blotted following electrophoresis. DNA fingerprints, produced by probing the Southern blots with the EHV-1 EcoR1-I fragment, separated 56 isolates into 16 groups. The variable sites within the EcoR1-I fragment were mapped app...
Antiphagocytic properties of uterine isolates of Streptococcus zooepidemicus and mechanisms of killing in freshly obtained blood of horses. A total of 22 clinical streptococcal isolates, predominantly Streptococcus zooepidemicus, associated with endometritis in horses were tested for their ability to withstand the natural bactericidal properties of freshly obtained blood. During a 3-hour incubation in blood from a single horse, 8 of these isolates survived and grew, the remainder were killed. To determine whether this ability to grow extended to blood of other horses, 5 of these growing isolates were tested for their ability to grow in the blood of 5 additional horses. The same 5 horses were used for each isolate. The isolates gre...
The reappearance of strongyle eggs in faeces of horses treated with pyrantel embonate. The reappearance of strongyle eggs in the faeces of horses treated with pyrantel embonate was studied. The horses (103) were divided in 11 groups on 8 different farms. The efficacy of pyrantel embonate against strongyles, based on egg count reduction tests, was 99.8%. Mean weekly egg counts performed between week 2 and week 9 after treatment showed that 5 weeks after treatment the egg output passed the 90% reduction level. It is concluded that strategic treatments of horses with pyrantel embonate for the prevention of strongylosis should be administered with intervals of 6 weeks.
Epidemiological risk factors associated with a diagnosis of clinical cyathostomiasis in the horse. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess epidemiological risk factors associated with the diagnosis of cyathostomiasis in 87 cases of chronic diarrhoea in the horse. Age, season and the period since last receiving anthelmintics were identified as important risk factors using chi-square and two-sample t test analyses, whereas access to grazing, shared grazing with other horses and recurrence of signs were only weakly associated with a diagnosis of cyathostomiasis. Multivariate analysis of the parameters using logistic regression was performed. The final model included age, season and tim...
Endoscopy of the upper respiratory tract during treadmill exercise: a clinical study of 100 horses. Endoscopy of the upper respiratory tract was performed in 100 horses during high speed treadmill exercise. Reasons for endoscopy were a history of an abnormal noise during exercise in 75 horses, poor performance in 17 horses and to evaluate the results of upper respiratory tract surgery in 8 horses. Of the 75 horses with a history of an abnormal noise during exercise the cause was determined in 67 (89%). Endoscopic abnormalities were detected at rest in 40 of these 75 horses (53%). In these 40 horses, a similar diagnosis as to the cause of the abnormal noise was made at rest and during exercis...
Spontaneous equine pulmonary granular cell tumors: morphologic, histochemical, and immunohistochemical characterization. Spontaneous equine pulmonary granular cell tumors were diagnosed in six mature horses at slaughter. These tumors were grossly recognized as multiple (5/6) or single (1/6) creamy white, firm nodules. The tumors, located adjacent to bronchi and bronchioles, often invaded airways, resulting in partial to complete occlusion of the lumina. Neoplastic cells were rounded to polyhedral with numerous eosinophilic cytoplasmic granules that reacted uniformly positive with S-100 and neuron-specific enolase antibodies and multifocally with glial fibrillary acidic protein antibodies. These cells were negati...
Development of a colic severity score for predicting the outcome of equine colic. Thirty-two physical examination and laboratory variables were recorded during examination of 165 horses admitted for acute abdominal disease. Univariate analyses were performed to determine which of the variables were significantly different between horses that lived or died. Stepwise logistic regression was performed to identify variables with the best predictive value. Four variables (heart rate, peritoneal fluid total protein concentration, blood lactate concentration, and abnormal mucous membrane) remained significant when entered into the model. Histograms for each significant variable we...
Evaluation of Directigen Flu A assay for detection of influenza antigen in nasal secretions of horses. The Directigen Flu A assay (Becton Dickinson, Microbiology Systems, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) is a commercially available immunoassay designed for rapid in vitro recognition of influenza A nucleoprotein. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this assay for detection of influenza virus in nasal secretions of naturally infected horses. The assay was shown to react with representative strains of influenza virus which cause disease in horses and did not react with nasal secretions from uninfected horses kept in isolation. Between 33% and 45% of nasal secretions specimens obtained from clin...
Large colon impaction in horses: 147 cases (1985-1991). Medical records from all horses with large colon impaction admitted between 1985 and 1991 were examined. Large colon impaction was diagnosed in 147 of 1,100 (13.4%) horses with colic. One hundred thirty horses were admitted for further evaluation of acute onset of abdominal pain after having been examined and treated by referring veterinarians, and 17 horses that were hospitalized for unrelated medical problems developed large colon impaction. Female horses (92/147; 62.6%) were more commonly affected than males. The age ranged from 1 to 29 years (median, 7.1 years). Mean duration of clinical s...
Anti-collagen antibodies and immune complexes in equine joint diseases. An investigation was made into the possible contribution of autoimmune mechanisms to equine arthropathies. Serum and synovial fluid (SF) immune complexes and anti-collagen Type II antibodies were measured, by ELISA, in groups of horses with naturally occurring osteoarthritis (OA), osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), bone fracture, traumatised joints, synovitis, infected joints and non-diseased (control) joints. Significantly raised anti-collagen Type II antibodies were found in osteoarthritic (P < 0.02) and traumatised joint synovial fluids (P < 0.01) compared with the control, where ten of...
Identification of the causative agent of granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Swedish dogs and horses by direct solid phase sequencing of PCR products from the 16S rRNA gene. Seven Swedish isolates of Ehrlichia species from the blood of four dogs and three horses with clinical granulocytic ehrlichiosis, were identified by direct solid phase DNA sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products from the 16S rRNA gene. The amplified DNA fragments were produced with primers complementary to the universal regions, U1, U2, U5 and U8 of the 16S rRNA molecule. Identical sequences were obtained from all seven isolates. This nucleotide sequence was similar to the sequences deposited in GenBank for Ehrlichia phagocytophila and E equi. The sequence of the Swedish ehrlich...
Influence of stochastic events on the phenotypic variation of common white leg markings in the Arabian horse: implications for various genetic disorders in humans. One method of assessing the influence of stochastic events on phenotypic variation is to study morphological differences in paired limbs of the same individual. These limbs have identical genotypes and similar intra-uterine environments and are analogous to monozygotic twins. Common white leg markings have a multifactorial mode of inheritance in the Arabian horse. Asymmetry occurs frequently for these markings. Using computerized registration records obtained from the Arabian Horse Registry of America, Inc., the types of markings were quantified in the left foreleg and left hind leg of bay and...
Clinical pathology and hemostatic abnormalities in experimental African horsesickness. Infection of naive North American horses with 10(4) cell culture infectious doses (CCID50) of virulence variants of African horsesickness virus (AHSV), designated AHSV/4SP, AHSV/9PI, and AHSV/4PI, reproduced three classical forms of African horsesickness: acute (pulmonary), subacute (cardiac), and febrile, respectively. Distinct clinicopathologic and hemostatic abnormalities were associated with each form of disease. Hemostatic abnormalities included increased concentration of fibrin degradation products and prolongation of prothrombin, activated partial thromboplastin, and thrombin clotting t...
Enhanced sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies in a variant of equine infectious anemia virus is linked to amino acid substitutions in the surface unit envelope glycoprotein. Serial passage of the prototype (PR) cell-adapted Wyoming strain of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) in fetal donkey dermal (FDD) rather than fetal horse (designated fetal equine kidney [FEK]) cell cultures resulted in the generation of a variant virus strain which produced accelerated cytopathic effects in FDD cells and was 100- to 1,000-fold more sensitive to neutralizing antibodies than its parent. This neutralization-sensitive variant was designated the FDD strain. Although there were differences in glycosylation between the PR and FDD strains, passage of the FDD virus in FEK cells di...
The equine endometrial cup reaction: a review. The function of eCG in equine pregnancy is far from clear but it has become evident that eCG has little or no FSH activity in the horse and is therefore probably not responsible for the secondary ovulations. eCG does have luteotrophic activity and it could play a role in the resurgence of the primary corpus luteum (1,7,44). Some evidence exists that the receptor population on the equine gonads is heterogenous in a way that makes it possible to distinguish eCG from eLH, resulting in different post-receptor effects (7). There is also evidence that eCG itself is heterogenous, both in glycosylatio...
Distribution of inspired gas to each lung in the anaesthetised horse and influence of body shape. The distribution of inspired gas to each lung, time constants of the lungs and parameters of gas exchange were studied in 2 groups of horses (mean bwt 606 kg), anaesthetised using thiopentone and chloral hydrate and breathing room air. One group (n = 4) had a downward curved abdominal contour (round-bellied) and the other group (n = 4) had an upward curved abdominal contour (flat-bellied). An equal distribution of inspired gas between the lungs existed in both groups in dorsal recumbency. Flat-bellied horses maintained this equal distribution in lateral recumbency whereas in round-bellied hors...
