Disease diagnosis in horses involves the identification and characterization of illnesses through various diagnostic methods and tools. This process is essential for effective veterinary care and management of equine health. Techniques used in diagnosing diseases in horses include clinical examinations, laboratory tests, imaging modalities such as ultrasonography and radiography, and molecular diagnostics. Blood tests are frequently utilized to assess parameters such as complete blood count and biochemical profiles, which can indicate underlying health issues. Additionally, advancements in genetic testing and biomarker identification have enhanced the ability to detect specific diseases early. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore diagnostic methodologies, their applications, and their impact on equine health management.
Valberg SJ.Optimal function of skeletal muscle is essential for successful athletic performance. Even minor derangements in locomotor muscle function will impact power output, coordination, stamina, and desire to work during exercise. In this review, the presenting clinical signs, differential diagnoses, approach to diagnostic testing and treatment of muscle atrophy and weakness, focal muscle strain, and exertional myopathies are discussed. Exertional myopathies include polysaccharide storage myopathies, recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis, malignant hyperthermia, and myofibrillar myopathy.
AbouEl Ela NA, El-Nesr KA, Ahmed HA, Brooks SA.Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is a fatal genetic disorder and one of the common genetic diseases of the Arabian horse. The genetic mutation responsible for this disease is a five base pair deletion (TCTCA) in the DNA-protein kinase catalytic subunit gene. Severe combined immunodeficiency is a recessive autosomal genetic disorder with 25% chance inheritance of the disease among the progeny of carrier parents. It causes complete absence of certain immune cells, like B and T lymphocytes, leaving foals with immunodeficiency and exposing them to early death within 4 to 6 months. This stud...
Paras KL, George MM, Vidyashankar AN, Kaplan RM.Gastrointestinal nematode parasites are important pathogens of all domesticated livestock species. Fecal egg counts (FEC) are routinely used for evaluating anthelmintic efficacy and for making targeted anthelmintic treatment decisions. Numerous FEC techniques exist and vary in precision and accuracy. These performance characteristics are especially important when performing fecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT). The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy and precision of three commonly used FEC methods and determine if differences existed among livestock species. In this study, ...
Jeawon SS, Katz LM, Galvin NP, Fogarty UM, Duggan VE.Although umbilical cord blood gas analysis is considered the best way to assess in utero oxygenation in human neonates, there is limited evaluation of this method in equine neonatology. Our objectives were to assess the practicality of obtaining umbilical cord blood gas samples in the field and to determine umbilical cord arterial and venous blood gas reference intervals (RI) for healthy, newborn foals. Thoroughbred foals >320 days gestation from healthy mares with uneventful pregnancies at one stud farm were evaluated. All parturitions were observed, with paired umbilical arterial and venous ...
Costa PWLD, Vilela VLR, Feitosa TF.The objective of this study was to determine the parasitological profiles of traction equids from the semi-arid climate of Paraíba (PB) State. We analyzed 96 equids that performed traction work, with no defined breed, males and females, and all older than 24 months. Among the analyzed animals, 51% were donkeys, 41.7% mules, and 7.3% horses. Fecal material and blood were collected for parasitological examination and to determine the packed cell volume (PCV), respectively. The samples were sent to the Veterinary Parasitology Laboratory, Veterinary Hospital - IFPB, Sousa-PB campus, and epidemiol...
Lupo A, Haenni M, Saras E, Gradin J, Madec JY, Börjesson S.A predominance of the bla/IncHI1 plasmid combination in horses has been reported in Czech-Republic, Denmark, and The Netherlands. To clarify a possible specific plasmid epidemiology of bla in horses in a European perspective, a collection of 74 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli recovered from diseased horses in France and Sweden during the period 2009-2014 was investigated in respect of their genetic relatedness, plasmid content, and molecular features. Overall, 80% of E. coli isolates from diseased horses harbored bla on large IncHI1 plasmids with plasmid sequence ty...
Gao JF, Zhang XX, Wang XX, Li Q, Li Y, Xu WW, Gao Y, Wang CR.Parascarosis is caused mainly by parasitic infections with Parascaris equorum and Parascaris univalens, the most common ascarid nematodes, in the small intestine of equines. Parascarosis often causes severe illness and even death in foals and yearlings. In this study, we obtained the complete sequence of the P. equorum mitochondrial (mt) genome and compared its organization and structure with that of P. equorum Japan isolate (nearly complete), and the complete mtDNA sequences of P. univalens Switzerland and USA isolates. The complete mtDNA genome of P. equorum China isolate is 13,899 base pair...
Shen Z, Zhang MZ, Stich RW, Mitchell WJ, Zhang S.Anaplasma spp., Ehrlichia spp., Rickettsia spp., and Lyme disease associated Borrelia spp. are the most common tick-borne pathogens reported to infect human beings worldwide and other animals, such as dogs and horses. In the present study, we developed a broad-coverage SYBR Green QPCR panel consisting of four individual assays for the detection and partial differentiation of the aforementioned pathogens. All assays were optimized to the same thermocycling condition and had a detection limit of 10 copies per reaction. The assays remained sensitive when used to test canine and equine blood DNA s...
Parente EJ.Many abnormalities of the upper airway that can inhibit performance are determined on a critical resting endoscopic evaluation. Some dynamic abnormalities can only be seen during an exercising endoscopic evaluation, which should be performed whenever the history of abnormal noise or performance limitations is not completely consistent with the resting endoscopic findings. Head and neck position may play a critical role in the evaluation process and the exact position during performance should be reproduced during the clinical examination to definitively define the abnormality. Treatments and p...
Gutierrez-Nibeyro SD, McCoy AM, Selberg KT.Foot problems are very common causes of lameness in horses. With the recent diagnostic advances to evaluate and treat foot pathology as well as to monitor response to therapy, it is now possible to more accurately evaluate the effectiveness of many of these treatments. This review details some of the recent advances of the most common conservative and surgical treatment options for foot problems in horses, including an overview of evidence on the efficacy to support the use of these treatment options and on factors that may affect prognosis.
Rhodin M, Persson-Sjodin E, Egenvall A, Serra Bragança FM, Pfau T, Roepstorff L, Weishaupt MA, Thomsen MH, van Weeren PR, Hernlund E.The main criteria for lameness assessment in horses are head movement for forelimb lameness and pelvic movement for hindlimb lameness. However, compensatory head nod in horses with primary hindlimb lameness is a well-known phenomenon. This compensatory head nod movement can be easily misinterpreted as a sign of primary ipsilateral forelimb lameness. Therefore, discriminating compensatory asymmetries from primary directly pain-related movement asymmetries is a prerequisite for successful lameness assessment. Objective: To investigate the association between head, withers and pelvis movement asy...
Menzies-Gow NJ, Knowles EJ, Rogers I, Rendle DI.Circulating adiponectin concentrations were lower in ponies with a history of endocrinopathic laminitis and in nonlaminitic ponies that subsequently developed laminitis. The assays used in these studies have been discontinued or are no longer valid. Objective: (1) to determine the validity of immunoturbidimetric (IT) and enzyme linkedimmunosorbent (ELISA) assays for equine total and high molecular weight (HMW) [adiponectin] measurement and (2) to investigate the association between [adiponectin] measured using these assays and endocrinopathic laminitis. Methods: Method validation and cohort st...
Isgren CM, Salem SE, Townsend NB, Timofte D, Maddox TW, Archer DC.There is limited information about bacterial isolates that are present on the equine midline incision during and following exploratory laparotomy. Objective: To investigate the bacterial species cultured from the ventral midline pre-, intra- and post- laparotomy, whether particular bacterial isolates are associated with the development of surgical site infections (SSIs) and to report the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes of these isolates. Methods: Prospective cohort study. Methods: The ventral midline of 31 horses undergoing exploratory laparotomy was sampled for bacterial culture at set ti...
Sun TC, Riggs CM, Cogger N, Wright J, Al-Alawneh JI.Reports of fractures in racehorses have predominantly focused on catastrophic injuries, and there are limited data identifying the location and incidence of fractures that did not result in a fatal outcome. Objective: To describe the nature and the incidence of noncatastrophic and catastrophic fractures in Thoroughbreds racing at the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) over seven racing seasons. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Data of fractures sustained in horses while racing and of race characteristics were extracted from the HKJC Veterinary Management Information System (VMIS) and Ra...
Wilson ME, Holz CL, Kopec AK, Dau JJ, Luyendyk JP, Soboll Hussey G.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is the cause of respiratory disease, abortion storms, and outbreaks of herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM). Infection of the spinal cord is characterised by multifocal regions of virally infected vascular endothelium, associated with vasculitis, thrombosis and haemorrhage that result in ischaemia and organ dysfunction. However, the mechanism of thrombosis in affected horses is unknown. Objective: To evaluate tissue factor (TF) procoagulant activity and thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT) levels in horses following infection with EHV-1. Methods: In vitro and ...
Jenkins C, Jelocnik M, Micallef ML, Galea F, Taylor-Brown A, Bogema DR, Liu M, O'Rourke B, Chicken C, Carrick J, Polkinghorne A.Chlamydia psittaci is an avian pathogen capable of spill-over infections to humans. A parrot C. psittaci strain was recently detected in an equine reproductive loss case associated with a subsequent cluster of human C. psittaci infections. In this study, we screened for C. psittaci in cases of equine reproductive loss reported in regional New South Wales, Australia during the 2016 foaling season. C. psittaci specific-PCR screening of foetal and placental tissue samples from cases of equine abortion (n = 161) and foals with compromised health status (n = 38) revealed C. psittaci positiv...
Goodrich EL, Mittel LD, Glaser A, Ness SL, Radcliffe RM, Divers TJ.This case report describes an outbreak and novel findings associated with a beta coronavirus (BCoV) infection that occurred on an American Miniature Horse (AMH) breeding farm in upstate New York, in January and February of 2013. Twenty-nine AMH and one donkey were present on the farm when the outbreak occurred. One 10-year-old Quarter Horse mare, stabled at a separate location and owned by an employee of the farm, also tested positive. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the detection of BCoV was performed at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) at Cornell on all faecal samples. ...
Kraus M, Physick-Sheard P, Brito LF, Sargolzaei M, Schenkel FS.Admissions of Standardbred racehorses (Std) to the Ontario Veterinary College Teaching Hospital (OVCTH) for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) began to increase in the early 1990s. The arrhythmia has been shown to have a modest heritability (h2 ≃ 0.15), with some stallions appearing as sires or sires of mares used in breeding (broodmares) of affected horses more frequently than others. The objective of this study was to determine the marginal genetic contributions of ancestors to cohorts of Std affected with AF and their contemporary control groups, and whether these ancestors contribute ...
Smith FL, Watson JL, Spier SJ, Kilcoyne I, Mapes S, Sonder C, Pusterla N.Imported horses that have undergone recent long distance transport might represent a serious risk for spreading infectious respiratory pathogens into populations of horses. Objective: To investigate the frequency of shedding of respiratory pathogens in recently imported horses. Methods: All imported horses with signed owner consent (n = 167) entering a USDA quarantine for contagious equine metritis from October 2014 to June 2016 were enrolled in the study. Methods: Prospective observational study. Enrolled horses had a physical examination performed and nasal secretions collected at the ti...
Hollis AR, Starkey MP.MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that play a pivotal role in diverse cellular processes through post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. The dysregulation of specific microRNAs is associated with disease development and progression. In this review, we summarise how microRNAs modulate gene expression, and explain microRNA nomenclature. We discuss the potential applications of microRNAs in equine disease diagnosis and treatment, in the context of the sum of current knowledge about microRNA expression in normal and diseased equine tissues.
Ortved KF, Begum L, Stefanovski D, Nixon AJ.Following joint trauma, a posttraumatic inflammatory cascade drives degeneration of the joint. We aimed to assess whether transduction of chondrocytes with AAV5 overexpressing the immunomodulatory cytokine IL-10 would have protective effects in pellet cultures stimulated with IL-1β. Chondrocytes were isolated from 3 healthy horses and were transduced with AAV5-IL-10 at a dose of 1 x 105vg/cell. Chondrocyte pellets were formed by centrifugation and were stimulated with IL-1β starting 48 hours following transduction. After 2, 6 and 14 days in culture, supernatants were collected for cytokine a...
Pedersen SK, Cribb AE, Windeyer MC, Read EK, French D, Banse HE.Prevalence of, and risk factors for, equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) are well established. Limited data exists on risk factors for equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD). Objective: To identify management factors associated with EGGD in show jumping Warmbloods in training. A secondary objective was to identify management factors associated with ESGD. Methods: Cross-sectional. Methods: Gastroscopies were performed in horses following a 12-16 h fast. Management questionnaires were collected for each horse. Risk factors were determined using multivariable logistic regression modelling. Re...
Cursino AE, Vilela APP, Franco-Luiz APM, de Oliveira JG, Nogueira MF, Júnior JPA, de Aguiar DM, Kroon EG.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) has a worldwide distribution, and is widespread in Brazil. The Brazilian Pantanal presents with high prevalence comprising equine performance and indirectly the livestock industry, since the horses are used for cattle management. Although EIA is routinely diagnosed by the agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID), this serological assay has some limitations, so PCR-based detection methods have the potential to overcome these limitations and act as complementary tests to those currently used. Considering the limited number of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) seque...
van Rijn PA, Maris-Veldhuis MA, Boonstra J, van Gennip RGP.African Horse Sickness Virus (AHSV) (Orbivirus genus, Reoviridae family) causes high mortality in naïve domestic horses with enormous economic and socio-emotional impact. There are nine AHSV serotypes showing limited cross neutralization. AHSV is transmitted by competent species of Culicoides biting midges. AHS is a serious threat beyond the African continent as endemic Culicoides species in moderate climates transmit the closely related prototype bluetongue virus. There is a desperate need for safe and efficacious vaccines, while DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated) vaccines would...
Kamr AM, Dembek KA, Hildreth BE, Morresey PR, Rathgeber RA, Burns TA, Zaghawa AA, Toribio RE.Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) and klotho are key regulators of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) synthesis as well as phosphorus and calcium homeostasis; however, information on the FGF-23/klotho axis in healthy and hospitalised foals is lacking. Objective: The aims of this study were to measure serum FGF-23 and klotho concentrations and determine their association with serum phosphorus, total calcium (TCa), vitamin D metabolite [25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2 D], PTH, and aldosterone concentrations, disease severity, and mortality in hospitalised foals. Methods: Prospective, multicentre, cro...
Bertin FR, Ruffin-Taylor D, Stewart AJ.Systemic inflammation is a cause of insulin dysregulation in many species, but the insulin and glucose dynamics in adult horses diagnosed with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) are poorly documented. Objective: In SIRS in horses, insulin and glucose dynamics will be altered and associated with survival. Methods: Adult horses diagnosed with SIRS admitted to a referral hospital. Methods: Prospective study enrolling horses diagnosed with SIRS in which serum insulin and glucose concentrations were measured. Horses were grouped by outcome (survival, hyperinsulinemia, and hyperglycemia)...
Buhl R, Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Klein BZ, Hougaard KM, Ravn KB, Loft-Andersen AV, Fenner MF, Pipper C, Jespersen T.Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia affecting performance in horses. However, no previous studies have quantified the performance reduction in horses suffering from AF. Objective: To quantify the effect of AF on maximum velocity (Vmax ), maximum heart rate (HRmax ), heart rate recovery (T100 ), hematologic parameters and development of abnormal QRS complexes. Methods: Nine Standardbred trotters. Methods: Two-arm controlled trial. Six horses had AF induced by means of a pacemaker and 3 served as sham-operated controls. All horses were subjected to an exercise test to fatigue ...
Winter JC, Sponder G, Merle R, Aschenbach JR, Gehlen H.Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is a worldwide disease in horses that parallels human diabetes mellitus type 2. In both diseases, patients show an altered peripheral insulin sensitivity as a key feature. In humans, multiple studies have demonstrated the beneficial effect of magnesium supplementation on insulin sensitivity. However, serum magnesium levels vary and are therefore not a reliable indicator of the patients' magnesium status. Determining the intracellular free magnesium concentration appears to be a more sensitive diagnostic indicator. In this study, the free intracellular magnesium ...
Schauvliege S, Binetti A, Duchateau L, van Dijk JJ, Gasthuys F.To evaluate the cardiorespiratory effects of a 7° reverse Trendelenburg position (RTP) in anaesthetized horses. Methods: Randomized, non-blinded clinical trial. Methods: A total of 125 horses undergoing elective surgery in dorsal recumbency. Methods: Horses were allocated to one of three weight classes and assigned to be positioned either on a horizontal table or on a table in 7° RTP, according to a randomized block design. In all horses, anaesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in oxygen and a constant rate infusion of romifidine. All horses were mechanically ventilated throughout anaesth...
Quiney LE, Ireland JL, Dyson SJ.Skeletal scintigraphy is an established imaging modality, however, its validity as a diagnostic test in lame or poorly performing sports horses has not been determined. The objective of this retrospective cross-sectional analytical study was to determine the accuracy of skeletal scintigraphy as an indiscriminate screening test in sports horses. All sports horses that underwent scintigraphic examination between March 2008 and December 2014 for which a definitive diagnosis was reached were included. Examinations were evaluated blindly. Characteristics of increased radiopharmaceutical uptake were...
Ye C, Yan W, McDonough PL, McDonough SP, Mohamed H, Divers TJ, Chang YF, Yang Z.Leptospirosis, caused by Leptospira spp., is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in the world. We tested four recombinant proteins of Leptospira interrogans, namely, rLipL21, rLoa22, rLipL32, and rLigACon4-8, to evaluate their potential for use as antigens for the diagnosis of equine leptospirosis. We employed equine sera (n = 130) that were microscopic agglutination test (MAT) negative and sera (n = 176) that were MAT positive for the 5 serovars that most commonly cause equine leptospirosis. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA compared to MAT were 82.39% and 86.15%, respectively, fo...
Laus F, Gialletti R, Bazzano M, Laghi L, Dini F, Marchegiani A.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of lameness in sport horses with a significant economic impact. The prevention of OA is crucial since no effective treatment is available. This study aimed to apply untargeted metabolomic analysis to investigate the differences in synovial fluid (SF) composition between healthy and OA-affected joints in horses. SF collected from healthy (n.8) and OA (n.11) horses was analyzed using H-NMR analysis. Metabolomic analysis allowed 55 different metabolites to be identified and quantified in SF samples. Nineteen metabolites were found to be differently concentrat...
Cooper LG, Caffe G, Cerutti J, Nielsen MK, Anziani OS.Macrocyclic lactones are the most widely used drugs for the control of gastrointestinal nematodes of horses in Argentina. Ivermectin and moxidectin are used as broad spectrum anthelmintics and although there are several international reports on the resistance of Parascaris spp., the resistance status of the local nematode population is largely unknow. This report informs a case of suboptimal efficacy to both drugs to control Parascaris spp in foals in central Argentina. In February 2018, routine fecal parasite egg counts showed a moderate-high number of Parascaris spp eggs (mean = 680 eggs p...
Bugno M, Słota E, Kościelny M.Five hundred young horses of the following breeds: Thoroughbred, Silesian, Malopolska, Wielkopolska, Polish Konik, Hutsul, Shetland Pony, Half-bred Anglo-Arabian, Noble Half-bred, Fjord and crosses were cytogenetically investigated. Chromosome preparations obtained after lymphocyte culture were analysed using conventional Giemsa staining and CBG-banding methods. In the case of abnormalities GTG-banding as well as FISH technique were applied. In ten mares different karyotypic abnormalities were diagnosed. One mare showed chromosome chimerism (64,XX/64,XY), eight had sex chromosomal aneuploidy (...
Quinlivan M, Cook RF, Cullinane A.In 2006, an outbreak of equine infectious anaemia (EIA) occurred in Ireland. The initial source of the outbreak is believed to have been contaminated plasma imported from Italy. This paper presents the nucleotide sequence of the gag gene of the virus identified in Ireland (EIAV(Ire)), the first for a European strain of EIAV. Comparison of the gag gene with North American and Asian strains of the virus showed that the gag gene is less well conserved than previously believed, and that EIAV strains can have similar phenotypes despite considerable variations in genotype. On the basis of the deduce...
Thirion-Delalande C, Guillot J, Jensen HE, Crespeau FL, Bernex F.A 6-year-old female pony died after 2 days of prostration. Clinical signs included hyperthermia and abnormal pulmonary auscultation sounds. Necropsy revealed diffuse severe necrohaemorrhagic colitis and splenitis, multiple visceral ecchymoses, petechial haemorrhages in the brain and lungs. Microscopical examination showed acute necrohaemorrhagic colitis, encephalitis, pneumonia and splenitis associated with fibrinoid vasculitis, thrombosis and fungal hyphae within and around vessels. Immunohistologically, concomitant aspergillosis (caused by Aspergillus fumigatus) and mucormycosis (causde by A...
Rossdale PD, Ousey JC, Cottrill CM, Chavatte P, Allen WR, McGladdery AJ.Between 1985 and 1990, 25 Thoroughbred mares were classified as having an abnormal pregnancy on the basis of precocious signs of impending parturition. Throughout the remainder of their pregnancies, plasma progestagen and mammary secretion calcium concentrations were monitored. After parturition, evidence of placental pathology was recorded and their foals were assessed with regard to adrenocortical function and behaviour. Seven pony mares were used to establish a model of placental pathology and, following induced placental separation, were subjected to the same protocol. Control animals cons...
Moore BR, Reed SM, Biller DS, Kohn CW, Weisbrode SE.Magnification of cervical radiographs prevents accurate interpretation of vertebral canal absolute minimum sagittal diameter (MSD) values and application of the established MSD values for diagnosis of cervical stenotic myelopathy (CSM). Variability in MSD determination in human beings, owing to radiographic magnification, is minimized by assessing a ratio of the vertebral canal diameter to the sagittal width of the vertebral body. This relative measurement technique improves the accuracy of diagnosis of cervical spinal stenosis in human beings. The MSD of the vertebral canal was determined in ...
Mungall BA, Kyaw-Tanner M, Pollitt CC.Utilizing an in vitro laminitis explant model, we have investigated how bacterial broth cultures and purified bacterial proteases activate matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and alter structural integrity of cultured equine lamellar hoof explants. Four Gram-positive Streptococcus spp. and three Gram-negative bacteria all induced a dose-dependent activation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and caused lamellar explants to separate. MMP activation was deemed to have occurred if a specific MMP inhibitor, batimastat, blocked MMP activity and prevented lamellar separation. Thermolysin and streptococcal pyrogenic ex...
Böse R, Daemen K.Babesia caballi-infected or normal equine erythrocytes were solubilized in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) buffer and analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting. Antigens were allowed to react with sera from horses experimentally or field-infected with B. caballi and with sera from non-infected horses. Major babesial antigens recognized by immune sera had apparent mol. wts of 141, 112, 70, 50, 48, 34, and 30 kDa. The polypeptides at 50 and 48 kDa were recognized earliest and throughout infection, but also weakly by 3/100 equine sera tested negative and 1/33...
Wright IM, McMahon PJ.The paper describes a series of cases with longitudinal tears in the superficial or deep digital flexor tendons within the digital flexor tendon sheath. This appears to be a previously unreported condition. Twenty cases are described, one horse was affected bilaterally. Nineteen defects involved the deep digital flexor tendon and in 2 horses the manica flexoria of the superficial digital flexor tendon was torn. All affected horses were lame and there was marked distension of the digital flexor tendon sheaths. Ultrasonography revealed nonspecific signs of chronic tenosynovitis but not the cause...
Marti E, Gerber H, Lazary S.The horses studied were of the Swiss Warmblood breed and most were ELA-typed to assess a possible association of dermal hypersensitivity to insect bites with the major histocompatibility complex. Firstly, the occurrence of the condition was examined in 304 half-siblings sired by six stallions (A to F). Fourteen cases of dermal hypersensitivity were recognized and all were in the 153 offspring of Stallions C, E and F. Most animals of this group were also investigated for chronic hypersensitivity bronchitis: none of the sires displayed clinical signs of dermal hypersensitivity, but Stallions D, ...
Dugat T, Zanella G, Véran L, Lesage C, Girault G, Durand B, Lagrée AC, Boulouis HJ, Haddad N.Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the causative agent of tick-borne fever, a disease with high economic impact for domestic ruminants in Europe. Epidemiological cycles of this species are complex, and involve different ecotypes circulating in various host species. To date, these epidemiological cycles are poorly understood, especially in Europe, as European reservoir hosts (i.e. vertebrate hosts enabling long-term maintenance of the bacterium in the ecosystem), of the bacterium have not yet been clearly identified. In this study, our objective was to explore the presence, the prevalence, and the ge...
Bergero D, Nery J.The concept 'liver disease' includes several pathological conditions affecting liver's functions. It can either consist of a temporary impaired functioning of the liver and/or it can progress to its failure. The purpose of this review is to update the knowledge on hepatobiliary diseases and in particular on equine hyperlipaemia. Hepatobiliary disease's aetiology, clinical signs, diagnosis and nutritional management are thus described in the first part of the review the second part being devoted to hyperlypaemia's lipid metabolism, epidemiology, clinical signs, post-mortem observations and nutr...
Erhard MH, Luft C, Remler HP, Stangassinger M.To measure the immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration in colostrum, milk and serum samples, a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detection system was developed. The system provided high reproducibility and sensitivity for routine diagnostic purposes. The period of fluctuating serum concentrations of IgG was monitored in new-born foals and their mares for a period of 6 weeks postnatum and postpartum, respectively. All foals received colostrum from their mares. The mean IgG concentration in the precolostral mare serum was approximately 19.0 mg/ml and decreased significantly to 13.8...
Traub R, Wade S, Read C, Thompson A, Mohammed H.Giardia isolates from eight horses from New York State (NY), USA and two horses from Western Australia (WA) were genetically characterized at the SSU-rDNA and triose-phosphate isomerase (TPI) genes. Phylogenetic analysis of the TPI gene provided strong support for the placement of both isolates of Giardia from horses in WA and a single isolate from a horse in NY within the assemblage AI genotype of G. duodenalis. Another two isolates from horses in NY placed within the assemblage AII genotype of G. duodenalis. Phylogenetic analysis of the TPI gene also provided strong bootstrap support for the...
Dunowska M, Holloway SA, Wilks CR, Meers J.Seventeen New Zealand isolates of equine herpesvirus 5 (EHV-5) were compared to the Australian prototype strain. PCR primers were designed to amplify EHV-5 glycoprotein B (gB) gene, and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) was used to detect differences between cloned PCR products. EHV-5 isolates from different horses showed a high degree of heterogeneity. However, EHV-5 isolates from individual horses remained homogeneous when examined over a period of time or isolated from different sites. A single EHV-5 gB RFLP profile was detected in isolates from each individual horse but one. ...
Rendle DI, Litchfield E, Heller J, Hughes KJ.There is little published information on whether measurement of plasma ACTH concentration at a single timepoint is a repeatable indicator of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). Objective: To determine whether ultradian or circadian fluctuations in ACTH production influence plasma ACTH concentration in normal horses and horses with PPID. Methods: Prospective observational study. Methods: Plasma ACTH concentration in 8 non-PPID horses and 8 horses with PPID was measured at 08.00, 11.00, 14.00 and 17.00 h on 5 nonconsecutive days within a 3 week period. In addition, at 08.30 h on one da...
Hawkins JF, Bowman KF, Roberts MC, Cowen P.Peritonitis was diagnosed in 67 horses between 1985 and 1990: 14 horses developed septic peritonitis after intestinal rupture, 25 horses developed peritonitis after abdominal surgery, and 28 horses had peritonitis not associated with intestinal rupture or abdominal surgery. Forty of 67 horses (59.7%) did not survive. Nonsurvivors had higher heart rates (P = 0.01), RBC count (P = 0.039), serum creatinine concentration (P = 0.036), PCV (P = 0.007), and anion gap (P = 0.005); lower venous blood pH (P = 0.002); and a greater number of bacterial species cultured from peritoneal fluid samples (P = 0...
Dabareiner RM, Cohen ND, Carter GK, Nunn S, Moyer W.To identify types of musculoskeletal problems associated with lameness or poor performance in horses used for barrel racing. Methods: Retrospective case series. Methods: 118 horses. Methods: Medical records were reviewed for information on signalment, history, physical and lameness examination findings, diagnostic tests performed, diagnosis, and treatment. Results: Most horses were examined because of lameness (n = 72 [61%]) rather than poor performance (46 [39%]), but owner complaint was not significantly associated with age or body weight of the horse. The most common performance change was ...
Sebastian MM, Bernard WV, Riddle TW, Latimer CR, Fitzgerald TD, Harrison LR.An epidemic of early fetal loss (EFL), late fetal loss (LFL), fibrinous pericarditis, and unilateral uveitis which occurred during the spring of 2001, are together now known as the mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS). A similar epidemic with less intensity was reported during the same period of time from southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Tennessee. The same syndrome with lesser intensity recurred in 2002. The estimated economic loss from the syndrome in 2001 and 2002 together was approximately $500 million. Both EFL and LFL were characterized by the absence of specific clinical signs in abo...
Cardwell JM, Wood JL, Smith KC, Newton JR.Rates of airway inflammation in young racehorses decrease with time but it is not clear whether this is associated with increasing age or time exposed to the training environment. The structure of the British National Hunt (NH) population allowed closer examination of this relationship. Objective: To compare rates of inflammatory airway disease diagnosed by tracheal sampling (trIAD), and its components, in NH racehorses by age and training history and with published rates in young racehorses. Methods: A prospective, longitudinal study was conducted on 5 NH yards over 2 years. Period sample pre...
Degroote RL, Hauck SM, Kremmer E, Amann B, Ueffing M, Deeg CA.The molecular mechanism which enables activated immune cells to cross the blood-retinal barrier in spontaneous autoimmune uveitis is yet to be unraveled. Equine recurrent uveitis is the only spontaneous animal model allowing us to investigate the autoimmune mediated transformation of leukocytes in the course of this sight threatening disease. Hypothesizing that peripheral blood immune cells change their protein expression pattern in spontaneous autoimmune uveitis, we used DIGE to detect proteins with altered abundance comparing peripheral immune cells of healthy and ERU diseased horses. Among ...
Liuti T, Reardon R, Dixon PM.Disorders affecting the equine maxillary cheek teeth and paranasal sinuses are relatively common, but limited objective information is available on the dimensions and relationships of these structures in horses of different ages. The aims of this study were to assess age-related changes in the positioning and anatomical relationships of the individual maxillary cheek teeth with the infraorbital canal and maxillary septum and the volumes of the individual sinus compartments. CT and gross examination were performed on 60 normal equine cadaver heads that were aged by their dentition. The intrasin...
Hedges JF, Balasuriya UB, Ahmad S, Timoney PJ, McCollum WH, Yilma T, MacLachlan NJ.Indirect enzyme linked immunosorbant assays (ELISAs) utilizing the three major structural proteins (M, N, and G(L)) of equine arteritis virus (EAV) expressed from recombinant baculoviruses were developed. A large panel of sera collected from uninfected horses, and from animals experimentally and naturally infected with EAV or vaccinated with the modified live virus vaccine against equine viral arteritis, were used to characterize the humoral immune response of horses to the three major EAV structural proteins. The data suggest that the M protein was the major target of the equine antibody resp...
Beech J, McFarlane D, Lindborg S, Sojka JE, Boston RC.To compare endogenous ACTH and α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) concentrations after administration of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and to compare ACTH concentrations after TRH administration with those following domperidone administration in healthy horses and horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). Methods: Prospective case series. Methods: 69 clinically normal horses and 47 horses with or suspected to have PPID. Methods: ACTH concentrations were measured during 108 TRH stimulation tests in 88 horses, and α-MSH concentrations were measured during 56 TRH st...
Kawcak CE, McIlwraith CW.The results of arthroscopic surgery in the treatment of osteochondral fragmentation of the proximodorsal aspect of the first phalanx and the influence of other fetlock joint lesions on prognosis were evaluated in 336 horses. Horses were classified as: 1) returning to previous use at the same or higher class of performance; 2) returning to previous use (regardless of class of performance); or 3) failing to return to previous use. Ninety-six horses (29%) had fragmentation alone; 140 horses (42%) had fragmentation and additional fetlock lesions, and 100 horses (29%) underwent concurrent carpal ar...
Mosing M, Böhm SH, Rasis A, Hoosgood G, Auer U, Tusman G, Bettschart-Wolfensberger R, Schramel JP.The arterial to end-tidal CO difference (PCO) and alveolar dead space fraction (VDalv = PCO/PaCO), are used to estimate Enghoff's "pulmonary dead space" (V/Q), a factor which is also influenced by venous admixture and other pulmonary perfusion abnormalities and thus is not just a measure of dead space as the name suggests. The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate which factors influence these CO indices in anesthetized spontaneously breathing horses. Six healthy adult horses were anesthetized in dorsal recumbency breathing spontaneously for 3 h. Data to calculate the CO indices...
Tietje S, Becker M, Böckenhoff G.The rapid development of software and technology now allows a large amount of diagnostic information to be obtained from a computed tomographic examination. This imaging technique can also be usefully applied to the horse, given appropriate premises and a custom built table for accurate positioning. Computed tomography of the skull has considerable advantages over other techniques, as structures are viewed without superimposition. Fifteen cases are used to demonstrate how through high image quality (precise detail, reduction in artefacts) and objective measurement of density, various pathologi...
Back H, Kendall A, Grandón R, Ullman K, Treiberg-Berndtsson L, Ståhl K, Pringle J.A standardbred gelding with a history of 10 days pyrexia and lethargy was referred to the Equine Hospital at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.The horse had tachypnea with increased respiratory effort and was in thin body condition. Laboratory findings included leukocytosis, hyperfibrinogenemia and hypoxemia. Thoracic radiographs showed signs of pneumonia with a multifocal nodular pattern, which in combination with lung biopsy findings indicated Equine Multinodular Pulmonary Fibrosis (EMPF). EMPF is a recently described disease in adult horses with clinical s...
