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.
Aboashia FA, Alatrag F, Elmarimi A.Hematological and biochemical values are widely used in veterinary clinics for disease prognosis, nutritional and therapeutic monitoring, as well as in understanding the disease process in farm animals, including equines. This study aims to assess the alterations in hematological and biochemical parameters in pure Arabian horses infested with internal parasites. Samples of feces and blood were collected from 20 adult mares. Fecal samples were proceeded by flotation test. The blood samples were analyzed for hematological and biochemical parameters to determine their means ± standard error (M Â...
Anwaar F, Ijaz M, Rasheed H, Shah SFA, Haider SAR, Sabir MJ.The purpose of the current study was to investigate the nasal colonization and drug resistance profile of Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) in donkeys (n =63), mules (n = 42), and horses (n = 98). MRSA and VRSA were confirmed based on phenotypic and molecular methods, followed by phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, the association of various animal and management-based risk factors with S. aureus colonization was also evaluated. The presence of nuc gene on polymerase chain reaction showed an overall prevalence of 42.86%...
Kumbhani TR, Raval SH, Parmar RS, Patel JG, Bechara VJ, Sindhi PI, Modh SP.A 6-year-old Marwari mare presented with recurrent vulvar growth. The growth was surgically excised, fixed and processed routinely. Microscopically, neoplasm showed proliferation of epithelial and myoepithelial cells with tubulopapillary pattern. On immunohistochemistry, myoepithelial cells showed strong immunoreactivity with smooth muscle actin alpha and p63. On basis of histopathology and immunohistochemistry, tumour was diagnosed as complex apocrine carcinoma. This case report describes first confirm vulvar complex apocrine carcinoma in equines.
Wong KS, Cheung HW, Szeto CWL, Tsang CYN, Wan TSM, Ho ENM.Illicit administration of transgene into horses is a form of gene doping that has been a key concern in equine sports. The large number of potential performance-enhancing transgenes has demanded a cost-effective and reliable detection method. Multiplex qPCR is a relevant technique, but the cross-talking between fluorophores and high background noise limits the method sensitivity and specificity. This study reports a simpler multiplexing approach by using the same fluorophore for four hydrolysis probes each targeting one of the four transgenes: human growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor 1...
Chalder R, Housby-Skeggs N, Clark C, Pollard D, Hartley C, Blacklock B.There are a growing number of horses, ponies, and donkeys aged 15 years or older in the United Kingdom, yet there have been no studies utilising a complete ophthalmic examination to investigate the prevalence of ophthalmic pathology within this population. Objective: To investigate the prevalence of ophthalmic pathology and associations with signalment, in a convenience sample of geriatric equids in the United Kingdom. Methods: Cross sectional. Methods: Horses, ponies, and donkeys aged 15 years or older based at The Horse Trust charity underwent a full ophthalmic examination including slit...
Tucker ML, Wilson DG, Bergstrom DJ, Carmalt JL.Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has proven useful in the planning of upper airway surgery in humans, where it is used to anticipate the influence of the surgical procedures on post-operative airflow. This technology has only been reported twice in an equine model, with a limited scope of airflow mechanics situations examined. The reported study sought to widen this application to the variety of procedures used to treat equine recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN). The first objective of this study was to generate a CFD model of an box model of ten different equine larynges replicating RLN a...
Kawahisa-Piquini G, Bass L, Pezzanite LM, Moorman VJ.The role of hoof morphology is increasingly recognized as a factor associated with lameness incidence in performance horses. The primary objective was to evaluate effect of training initiation on hoof unevenness in Quarter Horses (n = 42; 29 2-year-olds, 13 3-year-olds) over 6-months (m) in training (m0, m2, m4, and m6). Horses were objectively assessed for lameness (inertial sensor system) and photographs and radiographs of feet were taken. Hoof measurements were taken (palmar/plantar angles, frog base width/length, toe length/angle, heel length/angle, heel/foot width, wall height/angle), a...
Muñoz-Prieto A, Contreras-Aguilar MD, Cerón JJ, Ayala de la Peña I, MartÃn-Cuervo M, Eckersall PD, Holm Henriksen IM, Tecles F, Hansen S.Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) is a highly prevalent disease that affects horses worldwide. Within EGUS, two different forms have been described: equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) and equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD). The associated clinical signs cause detrimental activity performance, reducing the quality of life of animals. Saliva can contain biomarkers for EGUS that could be potentially used as a complementary tool for diagnosis. The objective of this work was to evaluate the measurements of calprotectin (CALP) and aldolase in the saliva of horses as potential biomarkers ...
Dorneles EMS, Santana JA, Costa ACTRB, Junqueira DG, Heinemann MB, Lage AP.Brucellosis in equines, including horses, donkeys, and mules, is characterized by abscesses in tendons, bursae, and joints. Reproductive disorders, which are common in other animals, are rare in both males and females. Joint breeding of horses, cattle, and pigs was found as the main risk factor for equine brucellosis, with the transmission from equines to cattle or among equines possible, although unlikely. Hence, evaluation of the disease in equines can be considered an indirect indicator of the effectiveness of brucellosis control measures employed for other domestic species. Generally, the ...
Ramin A, Abdollahpour G, Hosseinzadeh A, Azizzadeh F, Ramin P, Klalili Y, Sanajo D, Iran Nezhad S.Leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease, is characterized by fever, jaundice, abortion and hemo-globinuria. It is widespread and the determination of the dominant serotype in the animal species of each region accelerates the control and prevention program. 862 blood samples were prepared from ruminants and equines. Serum antibody of leptospira serovars were determined based on gender and age parameters. Sera were examined by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) with six live serotypes. The overall prevalence was 22.30%, with the highest (37.00%) and the lowest (6.60%) in Holsteins and mules, respect...
Sugiyama F, Takahashi Y, Nomura M, Ebisuda Y, Mukai K, Yoshida T.We investigated the risk factors for epistaxis in Japanese flat races over a 20-year period. The veterinary records of horses identified as having epistaxis by endoscopy on the race day, and the official racing records of all flat races from April to September between 2001 and 2020, were reviewed. The racecourses (n = 10), surface type, surface condition, race class, race distance, race year, sex, age, two training centers, ambient temperature, and body weight on race days were assessed using multivariable logistic regression (p < 0.05). Of 475,709 race starts, 616 (1.30 cases per 1000 starts;...
Grimwood K, Lancaster B, Handel I.Accurate measurement of equine body weight is important for evaluating medication dosages and feed quantities. Different methods exist for measuring body weight, including weigh tapes (WT), though accuracy varies. Measurements could be affected by external variables, such as time of day, human error, or uneven surfaces, and also horse-based variables, such as height and body condition score (BCS). The aim of this study was to investigate how different horse-based variables affect WT reading. A retrospective analysis was performed using anonymised data from feed company nutrition consultations ...
Afonso AC, Sousa M, Pinto AR, Cotovio M, Simões M, Saavedra MJ.As in human medicine, in veterinary medicine, chronic wounds are often related to polymicrobial infections and the presence of a biofilm, which compromises the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches. In this study, a Lusitano mare presented a 21-day-old chronic wound that was only being treated with an antiseptic. A swab sample was collected, and three isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and one of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated. S. aureus did not show resistance to a panel of antibiotics. However, the P. aeruginosa isolate showed a resistance profile to carbapenems and fluoroquinolones, ...
Zakia LS, Gomez DE, Caddey BB, Boerlin P, Surette MG, Arroyo LG.Next generation sequencing has demonstrated that alpha diversity of the fecal microbiota is significantly altered in horses with typhlocolitis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the bacterial composition of the cecum content of horses with and without typhlocolitis through direct and culture-enriched 16S gene sequencing of six healthy horses and six horses with acute typhlocolitis; a case-control study design. Cecal content was collected after euthanasia. An aliquot was used for direct 16S gene sequencing. Another was serially diluted with brain heart infusion (BHI) and plated onto f...
Gołyński M, Metyk M, Ciszewska J, Szczepanik MP, Fitch G, Bęczkowski PM.Homocysteine is an endogenous, non-protein sulfuric amino acid, an intermediate metabolite formed by the methionine transmethylation reaction. Its elevated serum concentration in humans, hyperhomocysteinemia, is a sensitive indicator and a risk factor for coagulation disorders, cardiovascular diseases and dementia. However, the role of homocysteine in veterinary species has not been unequivocally established. Although some research has been conducted in dogs, cats, cattle and pigs, relatively few studies on homocysteine have been conducted in horses. So far, it has been established in this spe...
Hu Z, Guo K, Du C, Sun J, Naletoski I, Chu X, Lin Y, Wang X, Barrandeguy M, Samuel M, Wang W, Lau PI, Wernery U, Raghavan R, Wang X.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is an important viral disease characterized by persistent infection in equids worldwide. Most EIA cases are life-long virus carriers with low antibody reactions and without the appearance of clinical symptoms. A serological test with high sensitivity and specificity is required to detect inapparent infection. In this study, a B-cell common epitope-based blocking ELISA (bELISA) was developed using a monoclonal antibody together with the EIAV p26 protein labelled with HRP. The test has been evaluated against the standard and with field serum samples globally. This ...
Kamyingkird K, Choocherd S, Chimnoi W, Klinkaew N, Kengradomkij C, Phoosangwalthong P, Thammasonthijarern N, Pattanatanang K, Inpankaew T, Phasuk J....African horse sickness (AHS) was reported as an outbreak in Thailand in 2020. Hematophagous insects from the genus Culicoides are the suspected vector responsible for AHS transmission. Horses in Hua Hin district, Prachuab Khiri Khan province, Thailand, were affected and died from AHS in 2020. However, the potential Culicoides species and its host preference blood meal in the affected areas are unknown. To investigate the potential vectors of AHS, Culicoides were collected using ultraviolet light traps placed near horse stables. Six horse farms, including five farms with AHS history and one far...
Söderroos D, Ignell R, Haubro Andersen P, Bergvall K, Riihimäki M.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) associated with biting midges is a common allergic skin disease in horses, reducing the welfare of affected horses. This study investigated the effect of IBH on animal welfare and behaviour and assessed a new prophylactic insect repellent. In total, 30 horses were recruited for a prospective cross-over and case-control study. Clinical signs of IBH, inflammatory markers in skin biopsies and behavioural data (direct observations, motion index) were scored longitudinally during two consecutive summers. No differences were observed in the total number of itching...
Ryan CA, Giguère S, Morresey PR.A plasma biomarker such as ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL-1) to distinguish neonatal encephalopathy (NE) from other disorders and provide prognostic information would be useful for equine practitioners. In this prospective study, plasma UCHL-1 was measured in 331 hospitalized foals ≤4 days of age. Clinical diagnoses of neonatal encephalopathy only (NE group, n = 77), sepsis only (Sepsis group, n = 34), concurrent sepsis and NE (NE+Sepsis group, n = 85), or neither sepsis nor NE (Other group, n = 101) were made by the attending veterinarian. Plasma UCHL-1 concentration...
Bookbinder LC, Mani R, Carr EA.Contemporary data reflecting local pathogens and their antibiograms is necessary to select empirical antimicrobial therapy for equine neonates. Objective: Describe bacterial isolates associated with equine neonatal infection and their antibiograms in the Midwestern United States. An increase in gram-positive infection and antibiotic resistance compared to previous literature was expected. Methods: Data from 149 fluid samples from 133 foals <30 days of age submitted for bacterial culture between January 2007 and December 2018. Methods: A retrospective evaluation of equine neonatal fluid cu...
Di Pietro R, Arroyo LG, Leclere M, Costa M.Bacterial imbalances are observed in intestinal diseases and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been used to restore the intestinal microbiota of horses. However, there is evidence that the current methods proposed for FMT in horses have limited efficacy. The objective of this study was to concentrate the bacteria present in the donor stool by centrifugation, and to test the effect in horses with antibiotic-induced dysbiosis. One healthy 11-year-old horse was selected as a fecal donor and 9 horses were given trimethoprim sulfadiazine (TMS) for 5 days to induce dysbiosis. Horses receive...
Mo PM, Picard J, Gummow B.Fungi are ubiquitous in the environment and part of the commensal microflora on the conjunctiva of equine eyes. North Queensland, being tropical, presents an ideal environment for fungi growth. When the cornea is injured, fungi can invade the corneal stroma, resulting in keratomycosis. The objectives of this study were to determine the fungal species specific to the eyes of horses in the Townsville region; to investigate the potential risk factors associated with the presence of fungi; and to test their susceptibility to antifungals to create an empirical guide for treatment. The eyes of forty...
Vokes J, Lovett A, Sykes B.Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is a term that has been used since 1999, initially being used to describe all gastric mucosal disease in horses. Since this time, the identification of two distinct main disease entities of the equine gastric mucosa have been described under the umbrella of EGUS; these are Equine Squamous Gastric Disease (ESGD) and Equine Glandular Gastric Disease (EGGD). In 2015 the European College of Equine Internal Medicine (ECEIM) released a consensus statement defining these disease entities. This document highlighted the lack of evidence surrounding EGGD compared to ...
Vereecke N, Vandekerckhove A, Theuns S, Haesebrouck F, Boyen F.Actinobacillus equuli is mostly associated with disease in horses and is most widely known as the causative agent of sleepy foal disease. Even though existing phenotypic tools such as biochemical tests, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) can be used to identify members of the Actinobacillus genus, these methods struggle to differentiate between certain species and do not allow strain, virulence, and antimicrobial susceptibility typing. Hence, we performed in-depth analysis of 24 equine Actinobacillus isolate...
Nts'aoana ME, Molapo S, Kompi P, Phalatsi M.Parasitic infection is one of the major problems in equines which negatively influence their health. It hinders working performance of equines. This study was conducted to evaluate donkey owners' knowledge and control measures on prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites (GIPs) in three agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Maseru district. A total of 144 donkey owners were selected for individual interviews through a stratified random sampling. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to analyze data. The significance (p <0.05) of different AEZs was tested using a post-hoc cell-wise ad...
Moss A, Leise B, Hackett E.Laminitis is a complex and debilitating disease of horses. Numerous predisposing factors contribute to laminitis development, however the exact pathogenesis remains undetermined. Serum T4, cortisol, and histamine are components of the innate stress response and could play a causative or contributory role. Stress hormone concentrations in laminitis are largely unknown. Objective: To evaluate parameters associated with stress response in horses with laminitis, and compare these to healthy horses and horses with gastrointestinal (GI) disease. Methods: Thirty-eight adult horses presenting for non-...
Phelps S, Chong D, McKenzie E, Kiupel M, Gorman E.Clinical disease caused by infection with Listeria monocytogenes is rare in adult horses, and there is a paucity of ante-mortem clinicopathologic changes for this species reported in the literature. Confirmatory diagnosis is difficult and often requires post-mortem sampling of the brainstem. This report details a case of meningoencephalitis caused by Listeria monocytogenes in an adult American quarter horse gelding presenting with central neurologic signs. Pre-mortem analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid revealed a mononuclear, primarily lymphocytic, pleocytosis, which is a reported finding in o...
Bergmann W, Vernooij JCM, Grinwis GCM, Gröne A.Osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD) of articular process joints (APJs) is involved in cervical vertebral compressive myelopathy (CVM). Biomechanical forces, important in development of OCD, depend on joint conformation. Oval and flat APJ surfaces are considered normal. Objective: To identify and grade gross shape variation of cervical and cranial thoracic APJ surfaces and determine association with histological evidence of osteochondrosis. Methods: Case series. Methods: Eight hundred and four cervical and cranial thoracic APJ surfaces of 30 foals were evaluated for shape(s) and grades, and were co...
Garvey M, Suárez NM, Kerr K, Hector R, Moloney-Quinn L, Arkins S, Davison AJ, Cullinane A.Equid herpesvirus 8 (EHV-8), formerly known as asinine herpesvirus 3, is an alphaherpesvirus that is closely related to equid herpesviruses 1 and 9 (EHV-1 and EHV-9). The pathogenesis of EHV-8 is relatively little studied and to date has only been associated with respiratory disease in donkeys in Australia and horses in China. A single EHV-8 genome sequence has been generated for strain Wh in China, but is apparently incomplete and contains frameshifts in two genes. In this study, the complete genome sequences of four EHV-8 strains isolated in Ireland between 2003 and 2015 were determined by I...
Risseti RM, Zastempowska E, Twarużek M, Lassa H, Pantoja JCF, de Vargas APC, Guerra ST, Bolaños CAD, de Paula CL, Alves AC, Colhado BS....Trueperella pyogenes is an opportunistic pathogen that causes diverse pyogenic infections in livestock. The genes that encode the exotoxin pyolysin (plo) and other putative factors that promote adhesion of pathogen to host cells (fimbriae fimA, fimC, fimE, fimG, neuraminidases nanH, nanP, and collagen-binding protein cbpA) have been associated with virulence, particularly in mastitis and uterus infections of dairy cows. However, the role of these virulence markers in the pathogenicity of the agent in domestic animals infections still is incompletely understood. The genes plo, fimA, fimC, fimE,...
Laumen E, Doherr MG, Gerber V.The horse owner assessed respiratory signs index (HOARSI-1-4, healthy, mildly, moderately and severely affected, respectively) is based on owner-reported clinical history and has been used for the investigation of recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) genetics utilising large sample sizes. Reliable phenotype identification is of paramount importance in genetic studies. Owner reports of respiratory signs have shown good repeatability, but the agreement of HOARSI with an in-depth examination of the lower respiratory tract has not been investigated. Objective: To determine the correlation of HOARSI ...
Nichols AEC, Settlage RE, Werre SR, Dahlgren LA.Tendinopathies are common and difficult to resolve due to the formation of scar tissue that reduces the mechanical integrity of the tissue, leading to frequent reinjury. Tenocytes respond to both excessive loading and unloading by producing pro-inflammatory mediators, suggesting that these cells are actively involved in the development of tendon degeneration. The transcription factor scleraxis (Scx) is required for the development of force-transmitting tendon during development and for mechanically stimulated tenogenesis of stem cells, but its function in adult tenocytes is less well-defined. ...
Borroto-Esoda K, Boone LR.The endogenous reverse transcriptase reaction of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has been studied, and conditions allowing synthesis of full-length minus-strand DNA have been determined. In contrast to results reported for other retroviruses, synthesis of EIAV full-length minus-strand DNA was not impaired by high concentrations of Nonidet P-40, a nonionic detergent used to make the virion envelope permeable. All components of the reaction were titrated for maximum synthesis of complete minus strands, and a time course under the standardized conditions was determined. Minor subgenomic ban...
Corrin T, Ackford R, Mascarenhas M, Greig J, Waddell LA. Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a mosquito-borne virus that is primarily found in North America and the Caribbean. Over the past decade there has been an increase in virus activity, including large outbreaks in human and horse populations. Predicted climate change is expected to affect the range of mosquitoes including vectors of EEEV, which may alter disease risk posing a public health concern. A scoping review (ScR) was conducted to identify and characterize the global evidence on EEEV. A thorough search was conducted in relevant bibliographic databases and government websites....
Zaayman D, Human S, Venter M.In recent years, West Nile virus has been responsible for outbreaks in regions where it has not previously been found. Five genetic lineages with specific geographic distributions exist. Recent outbreaks of WNV associated with the introduction of lineage 1 strains into the western hemisphere, together with the emergence of lineage 2 WNV in Central Europe, has highlighted the potential for spread of pathogenic WNV strains beyond their expected geographical boundaries. Therefore, genotyping of WNV strains may have important applications in surveillance and epidemiology. We report here the develo...
Barrachina L, Cequier A, Romero A, Vitoria A, Zaragoza P, Vázquez FJ, Rodellar C.Antibody production after allogeneic administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could impact their clinical application. Proinflammatory priming of MSCs can potentiate their regulatory ability in vivo but increased expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) might augment their immunogenicity, potentially leading to immune memory thus limiting repeated allogeneic administration. This study aimed at evaluating the production of cytotoxic allo-antibodies directed against donor's ELA (equine leukocyte antigen) in mismatched and halfmatched horses receiving repeated intraarticular ad...
Curik I, Druml T, Seltenhammer M, Sundström E, Pielberg GR, Andersson L, Sölkner J.The dominant phenotype of greying with age in horses, caused by a 4.6-kb duplication in intron 6 of STX17, is associated with a high incidence of melanoma and vitiligo-like skin depigmentation. However, the progressive greying and the incidence of melanoma, vitiligo-like depigmentation, and amount of speckling in these horses do not follow a simple inheritance pattern. To understand their inheritance, we analysed the melanoma grade, grey level, vitiligo grade, and speckling grade of 1,119 Grey horses (7,146 measurements) measured in six countries over a 9-year period. We estimated narrow sense...
Hinney B, Wirtherle NC, Kyule M, Miethe N, Zessin KH, Clausen PH.The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of helminths in the horse population of the state of Brandenburg, Germany. One hundred and twenty-six horse farms in the state were selected by randomised stratified sampling. In total, 1,407 horses across all farms were examined coproscopically. The experimental unit was the horse farm: a farm was considered infected when at least one horse on the farm investigated was positive for helminth eggs. Animal details such as age, breed and sex were collected for all study horses and analysed for risk of infection. Risk was defined as horses ...
Arun S, Neubauer H, Gürel A, Ayyildiz G, Kusçu B, Yesildere T, Meyer H, Hermanns W.In the course of an epidemiological study of glanders on a number of Turkish islands in the Sea of Marmara, 1128 horses were examined by using the intracutaneous mallein test. Thirty-five (3-1 per cent) developed an increase in rectal temperature and a swelling at the point of injection. Ten of these horses were killed and glanders was confirmed in five cases by the presence of lesions and by the immunohistological demonstration of the causative agent, Burkholderia mallei. Clinical and pathological findings indicated that in all cases the infection was restricted to the mucous membrane of the ...
Al Jassim RA, Scott PT, Trebbin AL, Trott D, Pollitt CC.Seventy-two lactic acid producing bacterial isolates (excluding streptococci) were cultured from the gastrointestinal tract of six horses. Two of the horses were orally dosed with raftilose to induce lactic acidosis and laminitis while the remaining four were maintained on a roughage diet. Near complete 16S rDNA was amplified by PCR from the genomic DNA of each isolate. Following RFLP analysis with the restriction enzymes MboI, HhaI and HinfI, the PCR products from the 18 isolates that produced L- and/or D-lactate were subsequently cloned and sequenced. DNA sequence analysis indicated that the...
Kitamoto N, Ramig RF, Matson DO, Estes MK.The production of viral antigen after infection of MA104, HepG2 (derived from human liver), and CaCo-2 (derived from human colon) cells with various cultivatable human and animal rotavirus strains was compared using immunofluorescence tests. All rotavirus strains examined expressed antigen in CaCo-2 cells and MA104 cells, but only some virus strains, namely, SA11-Cl3 (simian), RRV (simian), CU-1 (canine), and Ty1 (turkey), produced antigen in numbers of infected HepG2 cells comparable to infections in MA104 and CaCo-2 cells. Fl-14 (equine), OSU (porcine), NCDV (bovine), and Ch2 (chicken) strai...
Steagall WK, Robek MD, Perry ST, Fuller FJ, Payne SL.The retrovirus equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) encodes a dUTPase situated between reverse transcriptase and integrase. We have described the inability of EIAV with a 270-bp dUTPase deletion, delta DU EIAV, to replicate to wild-type (WT) levels in equine macrophages (D. S. Threadgill, W. K. Steagall, M. T. Flaherty, F. J. Fuller, S. T. Perry, K. E. Rushlow, S. F. J. LeGrice, and S. L. Payne, J. Virol. 67, 2592-2600, 1993). Here we describe the construction of a second dUTPase-deficient virus (DUD71E) containing a single amino acid substitution in dUTPase. delta DU and DUD71E replicate to ...
Hayes HM, Priester WA, Pendergrass TW.From 11 North American veterinary university hospitals and clinics, 248 animals were a confirmed diagnosis of nervous-tissue tumor were identified; 7 tumors were found in cattle, 28 in horses, 14 in cats, 199 in dogs, and none in other species. Tumors were divided for analysis into three categories-glial, meningeal, and peripheral nerve. In cattle and horses, all tumors involved peripheral nerves, the risk of which, in horses, reached a plateau at 4-6 years of age and remained constant thereafter. In cats, the tumors were equally distributed among the three tumor categories whereas, in dogs, t...
Mealey RH, Zhang B, Leib SR, Littke MH, McGuire TC.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a lentivirus that causes persistent infections in horses. We hypothesized that high-avidity CTL specific for nonvariable epitopes might be associated with low viral load and minimal disease in EIAV-infected horses. To test this hypothesis, memory CTL (CTLm) responses were analyzed in two infected horses with high plasma viral loads and recurrent disease (progressors), and in two infected horses with low-to-undetectable viral loads and mild disease (nonprogressors). High-avidity CTLm in one progressor recognized an envelope gp90 epitope, and the data doc...
Sharma R, Livesey MR, Wyllie DJ, Proudfoot C, Whitelaw CB, Hay DC, Donadeu FX.Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) offer unprecedented biomedical potential not only in relation to humans but also companion animals, particularly the horse. Despite this, attempts to generate bona fide equine embryonic stem cells have been unsuccessful. A very limited number of induced PSC lines have so far been generated from equine fibroblasts but their potential for directed differentiation into clinically relevant tissues has not been explored. In this study, we used retroviral vectors to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with comparatively high efficiency from equine keratinocy...
Frampton AR, Uchida H, von Einem J, Goins WF, Grandi P, Cohen JB, Osterrieder N, Glorioso JC.To initiate infection, equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) attaches to heparan sulfate on cell surfaces and then interacts with a putative glycoprotein D receptor(s). After attachment, virus entry occurs either by direct fusion of the virus envelope with the plasma membrane or via endocytosis followed by fusion between the virus envelope and an endosomal membrane. Upon fusion, de-enveloped virus particles are deposited into the cytoplasm and travel to the nucleus for viral replication. In this report, we examined the mechanism of EHV-1 intracellular trafficking and investigated the ability of EH...
Bode L, Reckwald P, Severus WE, Stoyloff R, Ferszt R, Dietrich DE, Ludwig H.Borna disease virus (BDV), a unique genetically highly conserved RNA virus (Bornaviridae; Mononegavirales), preferentially targets neurons of limbic structures causing behavioral abnormalities in animals. Markers and virus in patients with affective disorders and schizophrenia have raised worldwide interest. A persistent infection was suggestive from follow-up studies, but inconstant detectability weakened a possible linkage.This study for the first time discloses that detection gaps are caused by BDV-specific circulating immune complexes (CIC), and their interplay with free antibodies and pla...
Heim A, Passos LM, Ribeiro MF, Costa-Júnior LM, Bastos CV, Cabral DD, Hirzmann J, Pfister K.Blood samples were collected from 487 adult horses, including 83 pregnant mares, at a slaughterhouse located in Araguari, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. For each blood sample, the packed cell volume (PCV) was determined, and Giemsa-stained smears were microscopically examined for the presence of hemoparasites. The plasma was examined by the indirect fluorescent antibody test for detection of antibodies against Babesia caballi and Theileria equi. In addition, DNA was extracted and analyzed by a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), specific for B. caballi and T. equi. Products of PC...
Ward TL, Valberg SJ, Adelson DL, Abbey CA, Binns MM, Mickelson JR.Comparative biochemical and histopathological evidence suggests that a deficiency in the glycogen branching enzyme, encoded by the GBE1 gene, is responsible for a recently identified recessive fatal fetal and neonatal glycogen storage disease (GSD) in American Quarter Horses termed GSD IV. We have now derived the complete GBE1 cDNA sequences for control horses and affected foals, and identified a C to A substitution at base 102 that results in a tyrosine (Y) to stop (X) mutation in codon 34 of exon 1. All 11 affected foals were homozygous for the X34 allele, their 11 available dams and sires w...
Dorn CR, Priester WA.Four hundred sixty-nine oral-pharyngeal malignancies diagnosed in dogs, cats, horses, and cattle and submitted to the Viterinary Medical Data Program between March 1, 1964, and Dec 31, 1974, were analyzed. Of these cases, 84% were in dogs. The most frequent oral-pharyngeal cancer in dogs was melanoma; in cats and horses, it was squamous cell carcinoma. In dogs, the risk of developing melanoma increased more with age than did the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma and fibrosarcoma. Male dogs had significantly greater risk of developing fibrosarcomas and melanomas than did female dogs. T...
McKinney CA, Bedenice D, Pacheco AP, Oliveira BCM, Paradis MR, Mazan M, Widmer G.Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) is empirically implemented in horses with colitis to facilitate resolution of diarrhea. The purpose of this study was to assess FMT as a clinical treatment and modulator of fecal microbiota in hospitalized horses with colitis. A total of 22 horses with moderate to severe diarrhea, consistent with a diagnosis of colitis, were enrolled at two referral hospitals (L1: n = 12; L2: n = 10). FMT was performed in all 12 patients on 3 consecutive days at L1, while treatment at L2 consisted of standard care without FMT. Manure was collected once daily for 4 days fro...
Pusterla N, David Wilson W, Madigan JE, Ferraro GL.Equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM), although a relatively uncommon manifestation of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection, can cause devastating losses on individual farms or boarding stables. Although outbreaks of EHM have been recognized for centuries in domestic horse populations, many aspects of this disease remained poorly characterized. In recent years, an improved understanding of EHM has emerged from experimental studies and from data collected during field outbreaks at riding schools, racetracks and veterinary hospitals throughout North America and Europe. These outbreaks have h...
