Disease control in horses encompasses the strategies and measures implemented to prevent, manage, and eradicate infectious and non-infectious diseases within equine populations. This field involves the study of pathogen transmission, host-pathogen interactions, and the development of effective vaccination and biosecurity protocols. Disease control also includes monitoring and surveillance of equine health to identify outbreaks and implement timely interventions. Key aspects of disease control in horses involve understanding the epidemiology of equine diseases, improving diagnostic techniques, and enhancing treatment options. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various methodologies, technologies, and practices aimed at controlling diseases in horses, with a focus on improving overall equine health and welfare.
Merlin A, Schneider J, Cazeau G, Sala C, Linster M, Foucher N, Ferry B, Delerue M, Amat JP, Tapprest J.The core of the French equine traceability system is the census database (SIRE) managed by the French horse and riding institute (IFCE). Following the death of an equine, owners are legally obliged to take charge of cadaver removal by contacting a rendering company directly or after registration on the national ATM-équidés ANGEE association (ATM) website, which proposes negotiated prices for removal and recording of the death in the SIRE database. Despite these offers, ATM notes few users. Owners are also legally obliged to return the equine's passport to the IFCE, but only 30-40 % of owners...
Camino E, Pozo P, Dorrego A, Carvajal KA, Buendia A, Gonzalez S, de Juan L, Dominguez L, Cruz-Lopez F.Serological analysis of equine piroplasmosis (EP), caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi, is included in the export testing requirements for most of the countries worldwide, thus involving a high economic impact on equine industry of EP-endemic countries, such as Spain. A total of 3368 serum samples from healthy horses collected prior to export between 2015 and 2018 in Spain were tested for antibodies against T. equi and B. caballi by using a competitive inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). The overall seroprevalence results in Spain revealed that almost a quarter of t...
Zimmerli U, Thür B.Equine infectious anaemia (EIA) is a sporadic viral disease in many countries. Every single case has, however, a dramatic impact: infected animals have to be put down, and quarantine restrictions on horse movements lasting three months lead to substantial economic losses. In Switzerland, the mandatory notification was introduced in 1994 in order to facilitate international traffic. A year later, the "new" Ordinance on epizootics of 1995 classified EIA as a "disease to be eradicated". An infected polo horse in the canton of Argovia in summer 2017 thus represented Switzerland's first official ca...
Lohmann KL, James CR, Higgins SN, Howden KJ, Epp T.This retrospective study describes the detection of equine infectious anemia (EIA) during Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) disease investigations in Canada, examines aspects of importance for disease control, and evaluates potential animal-level risk factors for EIA in high-risk horses. Based on review of all EIA-positive samples and all samples collected during disease investigations (N = 4553) over a 4-year period (2009 to 2012), 409 EIA cases were detected. Horse owners with EIA cases owned between 1 and 60 affected animals, and 49 horses seroconverted during a disease investigation p...
Marín-López A, Barreiro-Piñeiro N, Utrilla-Trigo S, Barriales D, Benavente J, Nogales A, Martínez-Costas J, Ortego J, Calvo-Pinilla E.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an insect-borne pathogen that causes acute disease in horses and other equids. In an effort to improve the safety of currently available vaccines and to acquire new knowledge about the determinants of AHSV immunogenicity, new generation vaccines are being developed. In this work we have generated and tested a novel immunization approach comprised of nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of AHSV serotype 4 (AHSV-4) incorporated into avian reovirus muNS protein microspheres (MS-NS1) and/or expressed using recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector (MVA-NS1)....
Khalili M, Sakhaee E, Bagheri Amiri F, Safat AA, Afshar D, Esmaeili S.Leptospirosis is a neglected infectious zoonotic disease that affects domestic animals and wildlife as well as humans. Although leptospirosis is known as an endemic disease in Iran, there is no accurate information on the overall prevalence of this disease in humans and animals. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the seroprevalence of leptospirosis among human and domestic and wild animals in Iran. A systematic review of English and Persian articles (since 1998 to December 2017) was conducted using Google Scholar, Medline/PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of ...
Forteau L, Dumont B, Sallé G, Bigot G, Fleurance G.Strongyle infection is an important issue in horse breeding. It impairs horse health and performance, with young horses being the most sensitive. Strongyle control has long relied on the systematic use of chemical treatments. However, expanding anthelmintic resistance among strongyles calls for alternative options. Mixed grazing is assumed to reduce strongyle load on the pasture as the result of a dilution effect. This has been shown in small ruminants grazing with cattle, but the putative benefits of co-grazing between horses and cattle have not yet been evaluated. Here, we conducted field su...
Fougerolle S, Fortier C, Legrand L, Jourdan M, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Pronost S, Paillot R.Every year, several epizooties of equine influenza (EI) are reported worldwide. However, no EI case has been identified in France between 2015 and late 2018, despite an effective field surveillance of the pathogen and the disease. Vaccination against equine influenza virus (EIV) remains to this day one of the most effective methods to prevent or limit EI outbreaks and the lack of detection of the pathogen could be linked to vaccination coverage. The aim of this study was to evaluate EI immunity and vaccine coverage in France through a large-scale serological study. A total of 3004 archived sur...
Aziz KJ, Al-Barwary LTO.Equine piroplasmosis is a major tick-borne disease that can lead to serious health problems and economic losses in horse industry. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of and in different species of Equus namely (Horse, mule, donkey and pony) by Giemsa stained blood films and competitive ELISA. Methods: This study was conducted at various geographic areas of Erbil governorate. A total of 349 blood samples from equine (209 horses, 62 mule, 57 donkey and 21 ponies) were collected to estimate the prevalence rate of and by using Giemsa stained blood smear and competitive ELISA. ...
Schnabel CL, Babasyan S, Rollins A, Freer H, Wimer CL, Perkins GA, Raza F, Osterrieder N, Wagner B.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) outbreaks continue to occur despite widely used vaccination. Therefore, development of EHV-1 vaccines providing improved immunity and protection is ongoing. Here, an open reading frame 2 deletion mutant of the neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain Ab4 (Ab4ΔORF2) was tested as a vaccine candidate. Three groups of horses ( = 8 each) were infected intranasally with Ab4ΔORF2 or the parent Ab4 virus or were kept as noninfected controls. Horses infected with Ab4ΔORF2 had reduced fever and nasal virus shedding compared to those infected with Ab4 but mounted similar ada...
The UK has never experienced an outbreak of African horse sickness but, as Matthew Robin of the Fyrnwy Equine Clinic explains, there is still a risk of a case occurring.
Budiono NG, Satrija F, Ridwan Y, Handharyani E, Murtini S.Schistosomiasis is endemic in Indonesia and is found in three remote areas in Central Sulawesi Province. Non-human mammals serve as reservoir hosts, meaning the disease is zoonotic. The previous schistosomiasis studies in animals from the Lindu Subdistrict did not determine which domestic animal species can serve as the primary source of transmission. No animals have been treated in Indonesia to control the disease; therefore, the parasite's life cycle is not blocked entirely. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and identify the risk factors associated with, infection in animals, and...
Li X, Ni HB, Ren WX, Jiang J, Gong QL, Zhang XX.Toxoplasmosis, one of the most common zoonoses worldwide, is caused by Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii can infect almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Horses are an intermediate host of T. gondii, representing a potential risk for humans. To determine the T. gondii seroprevalence in horses worldwide, a global meta-analysis was conducted. A total of 35 publications were obtained by searching the PubMed, ScienceDirect, Chinese Web of knowledge (CNKI) and Wanfang databases. A total of 12,354 horses were assessed, of which 1580 were positive for T. gondii. The pooled overall seroprevale...
Hildebrandt M.The advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) landscape is entirely different from classical drug development. Academia has been the major source of ATMP development, and academic hospitals act as trial sites for the clinical testing of ATMPs, including early academic-led trials as well as industry-sponsored trials that pursue the full developmental pathway to market authorization. The recent breakthrough developments in some ATMPs, such as genetically engineered immune cells, have confronted academic hospitals with a substantial amount of public demand, competitive pressure, and costs. At t...
Álvarez-Narváez S, Giguère S, Anastasi E, Hearn J, Scortti M, Vázquez-Boland JA.Antibiotic use has been linked to changes in the population structure of human pathogens and the clonal expansion of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains among healthcare- and community-acquired infections. Here we present a compelling example in a veterinary pathogen, , the causative agent of a severe pulmonary infection affecting foals worldwide. We show that the (46) gene responsible for emerging macrolide resistance among equine isolates in the United States is part of a 6.9-kb transposable element, Tn, actively mobilized by an IS family transposase. Tn is carried on an 87-kb conjugative pla...
Yao C.The kinetoplastid protozoan Leishmania spp. cause leishmaniasis, which clinically exhibit mainly as a cutaneous, mucocutanous or visceral form depending upon the parasite species in humans. The disease is widespread geographically, leading to 20 000 annual deaths. Here, leishmaniases in both humans and animals, reservoirs and sand fly vectors on the Caribbean islands are reviewed. Autochthonous human infections by Leishmania spp. were found in the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as Trinidad and Tobago; canine infections were found in St. Kitts and Grenada; and equine infe...
Spence KL, Cardwell JM, Slater J, Rosanowski SM.The potential for an exotic disease incursion is a significant concern for the United Kingdom (UK) equine industry. Horse owners' perceptions of, and attitudes towards, exotic diseases can influence decisions to adopt disease preparedness strategies. The objectives of this study were to describe horse owners' 1) perceptions of the term 'exotic disease', and 2) attitudes towards their risk of being affected by an exotic disease. In order to address these objectives, qualitative content analysis was undertaken on data collected using two open-ended survey questions. Results: Horse owners (n =...
Blanco-Lobo P, Rodriguez L, Reedy S, Oladunni FS, Nogales A, Murcia PR, Chambers TM, Martinez-Sobrido L.Vaccination remains the most effective approach for preventing and controlling equine influenza virus (EIV) in horses. However, the ongoing evolution of EIV has increased the genetic and antigenic differences between currently available vaccines and circulating strains, resulting in suboptimal vaccine efficacy. As recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the inclusion of representative strains from clade 1 and clade 2 Florida sublineages of EIV in vaccines may maximize the protection against presently circulating viral strains. In this study, we used reverse genetics tech...
Mhadhbi M, Sassi A.Infection of equids by Leishmania (L.) parasites was previously described in both the Old and New World, particularly in Central and South America. Equine cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is caused by the Leishmania species, L. Viannia (V.) braziliensis and L. infantum, previously identified in humans and other parasite hosts living in the same geographic endemic areas. Sporadic autochthonous clinical cases, with no travel history, were documented in several countries including Germany, Portugal, Spain, Texas and Brazil; L. infantum and L. (Mundinia) martiniquensis were the infectious species....
Rickards KJ, Thiemann AK.Donkeys suffer from the same respiratory diseases as horses; however, owing to their nonathletic nature many conditions can present in a more advanced state before becoming clinically apparent. Anatomically, their respiratory tract is similar to the horse, with certain species-specific differences that are important to be aware of. Often donkeys do not receive the same level of routine care as horses, so many are not vaccinated against respiratory pathogens such as influenza or herpesviruses. Donkeys can act as a reservoir for certain infectious and parasitic respiratory diseases and the inter...
Browne C, Medlock JM.Last summer saw an unusually high number of cases of West Nile fever in horses and people in south and south-east Europe, but it is too early to tell if this was a one-off increase or a sign of things to come. Here, , , and discuss the various West Nile fever surveillance and control mechanisms in place in the UK.
Tuorinsky EV, Machtinger ET.House flies can have negative consequences on the welfare of horses and other equids. Fly repellents in the form of on-animal sprays, wipes, or spot-ons are the most commonly used fly control method for horses. Many products are available, but repellent efficacy and duration of effectiveness may influence repellent choice by horse owners. A better understanding of the efficacy of common fly repellent products will help guide repellent selection to reduce fly pressure on horses. To evaluate commercially available repellents, house fly behavioral inhibition after application of three products ma...
Bosco-Lauth AM, Bowen RA.West Nile virus (WNV) (Flaviviridae: Flavivirus) was discovered in Africa more than 80 yr ago and became recognized as an avian pathogen and a cause of neurologic disease in horses largely during periodic incursions into Europe. Introduction of WNV into North America stimulated great anxiety, particularly in the equine industry, but also for pet owners and livestock producers concerned about the effect of WNV on other domestic animals. Numerous subsequent studies of naturally occurring and experimentally induced disease greatly expanded our understanding of the host range and clinical conseque...
Camino E, Dorrego A, Carvajal KA, Buendia-Andres A, de Juan L, Dominguez L, Cruz-Lopez F.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a tick-borne protozoan disease caused by Theileria equi and/or Babesia caballi. Clinical signs (fever, pale mucosal membranes, jaundice), anemia and hyperbilirubinemia have been associated with the disease. EP is widespread, has a significant economic impact on the equine industry and remains endemic in Spain. This study was carried out with samples belonging to 140 horses residing in Spain and showing common clinical signs of EP. A blood smear microscopic examination and a comparison between the different results obtained by competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent...
Tzelos T, Morgan ER, Easton S, Hodgkinson JE, Matthews JB.Interval treatment control programmes used widely in equine helminth control have favoured the development of anthelmintic resistance worldwide. Best practice guidelines have been designed to address resistance and include the requirement for improved pasture hygiene to break helminth transmission cycles, along with anthelmintic application informed by the results of diagnostic tests to reduce selection pressure for resistance. Using an online questionnaire, this study examined uptake of measures recommended in these guidelines by UK horse owners. The survey comprised 58 questions spanning gra...
Yazdansetad S, Mosavari N, Tadayon K, Mehregan I.Burkholderia mallei is the leading cause of glanders, a highly transmittable and an OIE-notifiable disease of equidae. Despite the importance of B. mallei, little is known about serodiagnosis of glanders. The present study aimed to develop an immunoblotting assay based on whole-cell proteome of B. mallei to enable accurate serodiagnosis of glanders. Methods: Three farm horses were subcutaneously immunized with a crude suspension (106 cfu/ml) of heat-inactivated B. mallei formulated with incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) to achieve a hyperimmune sera panel. The immunization was done for 1, 14 ...
Dennis SJ, Meyers AE, Hitzeroth II, Rybicki EP.African horse sickness is a devastating disease that causes great suffering and many fatalities amongst horses in sub-Saharan Africa. It is caused by nine different serotypes of the orbivirus African horse sickness virus (AHSV) and it is spread by Culicoid midges. The disease has significant economic consequences for the equine industry both in southern Africa and increasingly further afield as the geographic distribution of the midge vector broadens with global warming and climate change. Live attenuated vaccines (LAV) have been used with relative success for many decades but carry the risk o...
Tyrrell JD, Qurollo BA, Tornquist SJ, Schlaich KG, Kelsey J, Chandrashekar R, Breitschwerdt EB.Certain vector-borne organisms serve as etiological agents of equine disease. After previously identifying a new Ehrlichia species in horses from Mérida, we aimed to determine the infection frequency and screen for a wide range of vector-borne organisms from 93 tick-exposed, Ehrlichia seropositive horses in this region. PCR assays were performed to identify infection by organisms within the following genera: Anaplasma, Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia, Leishmania, Mycoplasma, Neorickettsia, Rickettsia and Theileria. Overall, 90/93 horses (96.8%) were infected with one or more vector-borne organ...
Boden LA, Parkin TD, Yates J, Mellor D, Kao RR.Robust demographic information is important to understanding the risk of introduction and spread of exotic diseases as well as the development of effective disease control strategies, but is often based on datasets collected for other purposes. Thus, it is important to validate, or at least cross-reference these datasets to other sources to assess whether they are being used appropriately. The aim of this study was to use horse location data collected from different contributing industry sectors ("Stakeholder horse data") to calibrate the spatial distribution of horses as indicated by owner lo...
Duchesne R, Castagnet S, Maillard K, Petry S, Cattoir V, Giard JC, Leon A.This study aimed to analyse antimicrobial susceptibility evolution of equine pathogens isolated from clinical samples from 2006-2016. A collection of 25 813 bacterial isolates was studied, clustered according to their origins (respiratory tract, cutaneous, genital and other), and analysed for their antimicrobial susceptibility using the disk diffusion method. The most frequently isolated pathogens were group C Streptococci (27.6%), Escherichia coli (20.0%), Staphylococcus aureus (7.8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.0%), Enterobacter spp. (3.4%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (2.4%), and Rhodococcus equi ...
Hao L, Yuan D, Li S, Jia T, Guo L, Hou W, Lu Z, Mo X, Yin J, Yang A, Zheng W, Li R.Theileria species, with a broad geographic distribution, infect a wide range of both domestic and wild animals and are transmitted by ixodid ticks. Currently, there is no comprehensive report regarding the distribution of Theileria spp. in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, especially in Ganze Tibetan autonomous prefecture (153,700 km) and Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture (84,242 km) of Sichuan province, China. In this study, we collected blood samples from yaks (n = 144) (Bos grunniens), Tibetan sheep (n = 92), and Tibet horses (n = 142) in Ganze and Ngawa.Theileria sinen...
Hill V, Koch RT, Bialosuknia SM, Ngo K, Zink SD, Koetzner CA, Maffei JG, Dupuis AP, Backenson PB, Oliver J, Bransfield AB, Misencik MJ, Petruff TA....Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) causes a rare but severe disease in horses and humans and is maintained in an enzootic transmission cycle between songbirds and Culiseta melanura mosquitoes. In 2019, the largest EEEV outbreak in the United States for more than 50 years occurred, centered in the Northeast. To explore the dynamics of the outbreak, we sequenced 80 isolates of EEEV and combined them with existing genomic data. We found that, similar to previous years, cases were driven by multiple independent but short-lived virus introductions into the Northeast from Florida. Once in the ...
Van Metre DC, Barkey DQ, Salman MD, Morley PS.To develop a syndromic surveillance system based on visual inspection from outside the livestock pens that could be used for detection of disease among livestock entering an auction market. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: All livestock (beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and pigs) entering a single auction market in Colorado during 30 business days. Procedures-Livestock were enumerated and visually inspected for clinical signs of disease by a veterinarian outside the pens, and clinical signs that were observed were categorized into 12 disease syndromes. Frequency of clinical...
Bonura F, Mangiaracina L, Filizzolo C, Bonura C, Martella V, Ciarlet M, Giammanco GM, De Grazia S.Sicily was the first Italian region to introduce rotavirus (RV) vaccination with the monovalent G1P[8] vaccine Rotarix® in May 2012. In this study, the seasonal distribution and molecular characterization of RV strains detected over 19 years were compared to understand the effect of Rotarix® on the evolutionary dynamics of human RVs. A total of 7846 stool samples collected from children < 5 years of age, hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis, were tested for RV detection and genotyping. Since 2013, vaccine coverage has progressively increased, while the RV prevalence decreased from 36.1...
McGregor BL, Rozo-Lopez P, Davis TM, Drolet BS.Vesicular stomatitis (VS) is a reportable viral disease which affects horses, cattle, and pigs in the Americas. Outbreaks of vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey serotype (VSV-NJ) in the United States typically occur on a 5-10-year cycle, usually affecting western and southwestern states. In 2019-2020, an outbreak of VSV Indiana serotype (VSV-IN) extended eastward into the states of Kansas and Missouri for the first time in several decades, leading to 101 confirmed premises in Kansas and 37 confirmed premises in Missouri. In order to investigate which vector species contributed to the outbrea...
Healey K, Lawlor C, Knox MR, Chambers M, Lamb J, Groves P.A series of placebo-controlled trials were conducted in horses, cattle and goats in different seasons and bioclimatic regions of New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, to evaluate the ability of BioWorma®, a feed supplement containing the spores of Duddingtonia flagrans IAH 1297, to reduce the larval development of parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) and their subsequent migration from faeces onto the surrounding pasture. In each trial, faeces were collected from animals harbouring a burden of nematode parasites following a period of supplementation with a placebo and again after s...
Pusterla N, James K, Barnum S, Bain F, Barnett DC, Chappell D, Gaughan E, Craig B, Schneider C, Vaala W.A voluntary biosurveillance program was established in 2008 in order to determine the shedding frequency and prevalence factors for common respiratory pathogens associated with acute onset of fever and/or respiratory signs in equids from the USA. Over a period of 13 years, a total of 10,296 equids were enrolled in the program and nasal secretions were analyzed for the qPCR detection of equine influenza virus (EIV), equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), EHV-4, equine rhinitis A and B virus (ERVs), and subspecies (). Single infections with respiratory pathogens were detected in 21.1% of the submission...
Sellon DC.The ability of EIAV to persistently infect horses in the face of a profound immune response by the host makes it a potentially devastating disease for the horse population of the United States. Its ability to evade host immune defenses by lying dormant in apparently healthy animals and by rapidly changing its antigenic determinants is proving to be a major obstacle to vaccine development. Because most infected horses appear clinically normal and a large proportion of horses in this country remain untested, the virus is not likely to be eradicated in the near future. Yet, for the same reason, b...
Loncaric I, Cabal Rosel A, Szostak MP, Licka T, Allerberger F, Ruppitsch W, Spergser J.The aim of the present study was to investigate the diversity of broad-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant spp. isolated from horses in Austria that originated from diseased horses. A total of seven non-repetitive cefotaxime-resistant sp. isolates were obtained during diagnostic activities from autumn 2012 to October 2019. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed. The isolates were genotyped by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Four out of seven isolates were identified as , two as and one as . All isolates displayed a multi-drug resistant phenotype. The detection of resistance genes r...
Schneider S, Pfister K, Becher AM, Scheuerle MC.As a consequence of the increasing levels of anthelmintic resistance in cyathostomes, new strategies for equine parasite control are being implemented. To assess the potential risks of these, the occurrence of strongyles was evaluated in a group of 1887 horses. The distribution of fecal egg counts (FECs), the frequency of anthelmintic drug use, and the deworming intervals were also analyzed. Between June 2012 and May 2013, 1887 fecal samples from either selectively or strategically dewormed horses were collected at 195 horse farms all over Germany and analyzed quantitatively with a modified Mc...
Perryman LE, McGuire TC, Crawford TB.Sixty-six cases of combined immunodeficiency (CID) in foals were studied to determine the most prevalent causes of infection and death. Lesions of the respiratory system were observed in 59 of the foals and were attributable to infection with equine adenovirus. Pneumocystis carinii, and bacteria. Significant lesions were also observed in liver, pancreas, intestines, heart, and kidneys. Maintenance of foals with CID for experimental purposes is directed at the prevention and control of these secondary infections. Adenovirus can be controlled by administration of horse plasma containing high tit...
Stratford CH, Lester HE, Morgan ER, Pickles KJ, Relf V, McGorum BC, Matthews JB.Anthelmintic resistance in equine gastrointestinal nematodes is a threat to equine health and welfare. Detailed knowledge of anthelmintic use and parasite control methods is a prerequisite to identification of potential risk factors for resistance. Objective: To identify parasite control practices employed by equine owners in Scotland and investigate management factors associated with anthelmintic resistance. Methods: Questionnaire study of equine parasite control in Scotland. Methods: Questionnaires were available electronically, distributed at a conference and mailed to clients. Key areas ex...
Schemann K, Firestone SM, Taylor MR, Toribio JA, Ward MP, Dhand NK.Following the first ever equine influenza outbreak in Australia in 2007, a study was conducted involving 200 horse owners and managers to determine their perceptions about effectiveness of biosecurity measures and the factors associated with these perceptions. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with horse owners/managers to obtain information about their perceptions of the effectiveness of biosecurity practices, their sources of information about infection control during the outbreak and their horse industry involvement. Two outcome variables were created from horse owners' responses to a ...
Traversa D, Klei TR, Iorio R, Paoletti B, Lia RP, Otranto D, Sparagano OA, Giangaspero A.In the present survey, 276 horses bred on 16 farms located in central and southern Italy were investigated for the presence of drug resistant cyathostomes by a Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT). Sixteen to 20 animals were selected on each farm and randomly assigned to one of four equally sized treatment groups. Groups were treated with fenbendazole, pyrantel pamoate, ivermectin or moxidectin. Resistance to fenbendazole was declared on six farms (37.5%) and suspected in two farms (12.5%), with FECR values ranging from 41% to 88.3%. Resistance to pyrantel was found in two farms (12.5%) and ...
Aguilar CM, Fernández E, de Fernández R, Deane LM.During an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a locality (Las Rosas, Cojedes State, Venezuela) previously non-endemic, 12.9% of humans, 7% of dogs and 21.4% of donkeys (Equus asinus) had lesions with parasites. The agent in the three hosts was identified as Leishmania braziliensis, subspecies braziliensis at least in man and donkey. The probable vector was Lutzomyia panamensis. No infection was found in a small sample of wild mammals examined. The outbreak was apparently linked with the importation of donkeys with ulcers, from endemic areas. The authors call attention to the fact that not o...
Miller RI.Treatment of equine phycomycosis with a vaccine derived from ultrasonicated hyphae of Hyphomyces destruens was attempted in 30 cases of clinical hyphomycosis, 10 cases of hyphomycosis following unsuccessful surgery and 5 cases of basidiobolomycosis. Approximately 53% of animals with clinical hyphomycosis were cured after vaccination, while a further 33% clinically improved. All horses with hyphomycosis treated within 2 weeks of unsuccessful surgery were cured. There was no response to vaccination with a Hyphomyces preparation in horses with basidiobolomyucosis, while surgery alone resulted in ...
Tillotson K, Savage CJ, Salman MD, Gentry-Weeks CR, Rice D, Fedorka-Cray PJ, Hendrickson DA, Jones RL, Nelson W, Traub-Dargatz JL.During the past 11 years, there have been numerous reports of outbreaks of salmonellosis involving horses in veterinary teaching hospitals. Some of these outbreaks have been associated with Salmonella serotypes not commonly associated with infection of horses. Salmonella infantis is among the more common Salmonella serotypes isolated from human beings, and is an important pathogen in the broiler chicken industry. However, it was not commonly isolated from horses or cattle on a national basis between 1993 and 1995. In this report, we describe an outbreak of S infantis infection among large anim...
Davis J, Garner MG, East IJ.In 2007, an incursion of equine influenza (EI) occurred in Australia. Accurate maps of property boundaries were used to examine the pattern and mechanism of local spread of EI. This study focussed on a cluster of infected premises (IPs) at Park Ridge, a peri-urban suburb 26 km south of Brisbane, Queensland. The cluster recorded 437 IPs and 81% of these were not contiguous to a previously IP. The mean distance from each new IP to the closest previous IP was 0.85 +/- 1.50 km with a range of 0.01-12.94 km. Eighty-two percent of new IPs were within 1 km of a previous IP. The spatial mean for each ...
Venter GJ, Koekemoer JJ, Paweska JT.Confirmed outbreaks of African horse sickness (AHS) occurred in the surveillance zone of the Western Cape in 1999 and 2004, both of which led to a two-year suspension on the export of horses. Light trap surveys in the outbreak areas showed that known vector competent Culicoides species, notably C. imicola, were abundant and present in numbers equal to those in the traditional AHS endemic areas. Isolations of AHS virus serotypes 1 and 7, equine encephalosis virus, and bluetongue virus from field-collected C. imicola in the surveillance zone demonstrated that this species was highly competent an...
Chénier S, Côté G, Vanderstock J, Macieira S, Laperle A, Hélie P.Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) was diagnosed in 19 horses and a flock of emus in the province of Quebec in fall 2008. The EEE virus caused unusual gross lesions in the central nervous system of one horse. This disease is not usually present in Quebec and the relation between the outbreak and favorable environmental conditions that summer are discussed. Une éclosion d’encéphalomyélite équine de l’Est (ÉÉE) s’est produite chez 19 chevaux et dans un troupeau d’émeus au Québec à l’automne de 2008. Un cheval présentait une lésion macroscopique anormale dans le système...
Crans WJ, McNelly J, Schulze TL, Main A.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEE) was isolated from the salt marsh mosquito, Aedes sollicitans, collected from coastal areas of New Jersey on 3 occasions during the late summer and fall of 1982. The isolations were made at a time when local Culiseta melanura were either undergoing a population increase or exhibiting high levels of EEE virus. Although no human cases were reported during the epizootic period, the data lend support to the hypothesis that Ae. sollicitans is capable of functioning as an epidemic vector in the coastal areas of New Jersey where human cases of EEE have been most...
Barba M, Fairbanks EL, Daly JM.Members of several different virus families cause equine viral encephalitis, the majority of which are arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) with zoonotic potential. The clinical signs caused are rarely pathognomonic; therefore, a clinical diagnosis is usually presumptive according to the geographical region. However, recent decades have seen expansion of the geographical range and emergence in new regions of numerous viral diseases. In this context, this review presents an overview of the prevalence and distribution of the main viral causes of equine encephalitis and discusses their impact an...
Fougerolle S, Fortier C, Legrand L, Jourdan M, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Pronost S, Paillot R.Every year, several epizooties of equine influenza (EI) are reported worldwide. However, no EI case has been identified in France between 2015 and late 2018, despite an effective field surveillance of the pathogen and the disease. Vaccination against equine influenza virus (EIV) remains to this day one of the most effective methods to prevent or limit EI outbreaks and the lack of detection of the pathogen could be linked to vaccination coverage. The aim of this study was to evaluate EI immunity and vaccine coverage in France through a large-scale serological study. A total of 3004 archived sur...
Herd RP.Seasonal rises in mean faecal egg output were observed in grazing ponies in spring (578 eggs per gram) and in summer (930 epg) on 30 April and 2 September, respectively, in untreated ponies. Pasture infectivity reached a peak of 18,486 third stage larvae (L3)/kg on 17 September, two weeks after peak egg counts, coincidental with abundant September rainfall (103.0 mm). Differentiation of infective larvae from pasture showed the cyathostomes (small strongyles) to be predominant, but Trichostrongylus axei assumed major importance from late August to October. The large strongyles were rarely detec...
Dennis SJ, O'Kennedy MM, Rutkowska D, Tsekoa T, Lourens CW, Hitzeroth II, Meyers AE, Rybicki EP.African horse sickness (AHS) is caused by multiple serotypes of the dsRNA AHSV and is a major scourge of domestic equids in Africa. While there are well established commercial live attenuated vaccines produced in South Africa, risks associated with these have encouraged attempts to develop new and safer recombinant vaccines. Previously, we reported on the immunogenicity of a plant-produced AHS serotype 5 virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine, which stimulated high titres of AHS serotype 5-specific neutralizing antibodies in guinea pigs. Here, we report a similar response to the vaccine in horses. ...
