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.
Kane AJ, Stover SM, Gardner IA, Case JT, Johnson BJ, Read DH, Ardans AA.To evaluate selected shoe characteristics as risk factors for fatal musculoskeletal injury (FMI) and specifically for suspensory apparatus failure (SAF) and cannon bone condylar fracture (CDY) of Thoroughbred racehorses in California. Methods: Case-control study. Methods: Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 201) that died of were euthanatized at California racetracks between August 1992 and July 1994. Methods: Shoe characteristics were compared between case horses affected by FMI (155), SAF (79), and CDY (41) and control horses that died for reasons unrelated to the appendicular musculoskeletal syste...
Bowling AT, Byrns G, Spier S.The pedigree origin of a base pair substitution in the horse muscle sodium channel gene that confers susceptibility to the muscle disease hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) was investigated with a set of 978 Quarter Horses. The horses were chosen at random, based on a collection of blood samples taken between 1989 and 1991 to meet parentage testing requirements, primarily but not exclusively from breeding stallions. The frequency of Quarter Horses positive for the base pair substitution, all heterozygotes, was 4.4%, which corresponds to an allelic frequency of 0.02. All horses positive for...
Goel S, Schumacher J, Lenz SD, Kemppainen BW.Disruption in sphingolipid (SL) metabolism is a biomarker of exposure to fumonisins. The role of altered SL metabolism in the pathogenesis of fumonisin toxicoses is not understood. A 27-d feeding trial in horses compared the toxic effects of 3 strains of Fusarium moniliforme: RRC 415, cultured from corn in MS; AU 2/3, cultured from feed associated with clinical signs of duodenitis-proximal jejunitis (DPJ) in horses in AL; and MRC 826, cultured from corn in South Africa and shown to cause equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM). These were cultured on corn and diluted with clean corn and grain mixe...
Bada R, Mittal KR, Higgins R.A total of 50 Actinobacillus suis isolates were studied for their biochemical and antigenic characteristics. Of them, 40 isolates originated from different tissues of diseased pigs, and the other ten isolates were from horses with respiratory problems. There was no major biochemical difference among equine and porcine A. suis isolates. Results of tube agglutination tests showed that porcines isolates were antigenically homogeneous while equine isolates were heterogeneous.
Hendrickson DA, Wilson DG.Equine surgery continues to benefit from advances in laparoscopic techniques. Descriptions of the normal anatomy of the standing horse and advances in instrumentation have improved our ability to perform laparoscopic surgery in both standing and dorsally recumbent horses. The common uses for laparoscopy are diagnostic laparoscopy, cryptorchidectomy, ovariectomy, and diagnostic thoracoscopy. Other reported uses include inguinal hernia repair, ruptured bladder repair, and ventral colopexy.
Gustchina A, Kervinen J, Powell DJ, Zdanov A, Kay J, Wlodawer A.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), the causative agent of infectious anemia in horses, is a member of the lentiviral family. The virus-encoded proteinase (PR) processes viral polyproteins into functional molecules during replication and it also cleaves viral nucleocapsid protein during infection. The X-ray structure of a complex of the 154G mutant of EIAV PR with the inhibitor HBY-793 was solved at 1.8 A resolution and refined to a crystallographic R-factor of 0.136. The molecule is a dimer in which the monomers are related by a crystallographic twofold axis. Although both the enzyme and t...
Paré J, Carpenter TE, Thurmond MC.To determine whether clustering existed in the spatial or temporal distribution of horses that shed Salmonella krefeld in their feces during hospitalization. Methods: Retrospective analysis of medical records. Methods: 219 horses housed in the intensive care unit of a veterinary medical teaching hospital from October 1991 through May 1992. Methods: Bacteriologic culturing of fecal samples was used to identify horses shedding S krefeld. For affected horses, the scan statistic was used to analyze temporal clustering, and Knox's method was used to analyze temporal-spatial clustering. Results: 20 ...
Uzal FA, Woodman MP, Giraudo CG, Robles CA, Doxey DL.'Mal seco' is an almost invariably fatal disease of horses in Argentina and Chile, which resembles grass sickness, a dysautonomia of horses in Europe. The aetiology of mal seco remains unknown. An attempt to reproduce the disease was made by feeding horses with Festuca argentina, a plant considered to be toxic to animals and which was consistently found in the diet of nine horses suffering from mal seco. Three horses were fed with F argentina ad libitum for 28 days. The plant was infected with an endophytic fungus, whose morphological characteristics were in agreement with descriptions of Acre...
Muñoz MC, Doreste F, Ferrer O, González J, Montoya JA.A 16-year-old, male, Hanoverian horse had a three-month history of weight loss, hirsutism and polyuria/polydypsia. Examinations revealed neutrophilia, lymphopenia, hyper glycaemia and abnormalities in hepatic function. A tentative diagnosis of hyperadrenocorticism was made. The results of thyroid-releasing hormone and combined dexamethasone suppression and ACTH stimulation tests suggested the presence of a pituitary adenoma. The horse was treated with pergolide and beneficial clinical and biochemical responses were observed within one to six months.
Daugschies A.Drug resistance of parasites is a worldwide problem of increasing importance in animal production. Considerable information is available on the development of resistance in chicken coccidia and in strongyles of horses, sheep, goats and pigs. A review is given of the development, incidence, and management of drug resistance with emphasis on the situation in Germany.
Hyatt AD, Selleck PW.The ultrastructure of the equine morbillivirus (EMV) which was implicated in the death of one human and fourteen horses in Queensland, Australia during September 1994 and a 36 year old man from Queensland in October 1995 is described. The ultrastructure of the virus and the intracellular virus-specific structures are characteristic for the family Paramyxoviridae. Cytoplasmic nucleocapsids were observed within the infected cells monolayers, endothelial cells (lung) of infected horses and the neurons within the brain of the 36 year old Queensland man. Aggregates of smaller nucleocapsid-like stru...
Schumacher J, Kemper DL, Helman RG, Edwards JL.The incisive bones (premaxillae) and rostral portions of the maxillae of a horse were infected with dermatiaceous fungi causing phaeohyphomycosis. The pre-maxillae were exposed by creating and reflecting labial and palatal mucoperiosteal flaps, and obstetrical wire was used to remove the affected bones. Labial and palatal flaps were apposed in 2 layers, using absorbable sutures. The sutured wound healed without complication. The horse was able to prehend hay and long grass without difficulty, and the owner considered the horse's facial appearance to be nearly normal. This technique may be usef...
Jackson C, de Lahunta A, Divers T, Ainsworth D.We evaluated creatine kinase (CK) activity in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 128 horses with various neurological disorders. No association was found between CSF CK activity and CSF red blood cell count, CSF nucleated cell count, CSF total protein concentration, or serum CK activity. The sensitivity and specificity of CSF CK activity as a diagnostic test for protozoal myelitis in horses (61% and 56%, respectively) was higher than for cervical stenotic myelopathy, degenerative myelopathy, or motor neuron disease, but was considered to be inadequate to be of use diagnostically. Contamination o...
Galey FD, Holstege DM, Plumlee KH, Tor E, Johnson B, Anderson ML, Blanchard PC, Brown F.Since mid-1989, 37 cases of oleander poisoning in livestock have been diagnosed at the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory System. The most frequent source for oleander exposure was plant clippings. Sudden death was the most common presenting complaint. Other signs reported included diarrhea, pulmonary edema, tachycardia, cardiac arrhythmias, colic, and lethargy. In the past, a presumptive diagnosis of oleander poisoning could be based only on matching clinical signs with evidence of consumption of oleander. A new 2 dimensional Thin-layer chromatography analysis of ingesta for oleandri...
Wilson DA, MacFadden KE, Green EM, Crabill M, Frankeny RL, Thorne JG.Trimethoprim-potentiated sulphonamides (TPS) are among the most frequently administered antimicrobials in equine medicine. Anecdotally, TPS has been implicated as a cause of mild to moderate diarrhea in horses. The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence of diarrhea in horses receiving TPS, to characterize the severity of the diarrhea, and to identify any other factors associated with the development of diarrhea. A 2-part study was designed to identify the prevalence of diarrhea associated with TPS in our clinic population. Part I was a case-control retrospective study of 135 reco...
Mair TS, Dyson SJ, Fraser JA, Edwards GB, Hillyer MH, Love S.The case records of 23 horses and one donkey affected by hypertrophic osteopathy (HO) (Marie's disease) were reviewed. All affected animals presented with limb swellings, which were bilaterally symmetrical and usually involved both fore- and hindlimbs. Associated signs included stiffness/lameness and weight loss. Radiological features included periosteal new bone formation over the diaphyses and metaphyses of affected bones. The metacarpal and metatarsal bones were most frequently affected. Articular surfaces remained free of disease. Seventeen animals were destroyed on humane grounds, 3 horse...
Guglick MA, MacAllister CG, Breazile JE.An 18-month-old Quarter Horse gelding was examined because of weight loss and dysphagia of 1 month's duration. Clinical signs included lethargy, dehydration, ptyalism, and probable aspiration pneumonia. Severe dyspnea and cyanosis were evident after mild exercise. Endoscopy revealed laryngospasm and pharyngospasm. Because clinical signs and endoscopic findings were suggestive of hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HPP), acetazolamide treatment was instituted. Marked improvement was observed within 48 hours. The horse was determined to be homozygous for HPP. It is likely that this horse's dysphagi...
Vullo V, Mastroianni CM, Lichtner M, Mengoni F, Chiappini E, D'Agostino C, Delia S.Thirty healthy blood donors, 15 workers from horse-breeding farms, 69 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative persons at risk for HIV infection, 125 HIV-infected subjects without Rhodococcus equi infection, and nine HIV-infected patients with Rhodococcus equi pneumonia were evaluated in order to detect serum antibodies to Rhodococcus equi precipitate-soluble antigen by an enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Whereas EIA values for healthy donors, horse farm workers, individuals at risk for HIV infection, and HIV-positive subjects without Rhodococcus equi infection were comparable, HIV-infected patien...
Kirberger RM, Gottschalk RD, Guthrie AJ.Twelve horses were injected intra-articularly into the metacarpophalangeal joint and extra-articularly in the region of the lateral palmar digital nerve with 1 ml air and local anaesthetic to simulate gas accidentally introduced during regional anaesthesia. Half the horses underwent limited exercise after which all horses were radiographed at 15 and 45 min and then every 24 h until all evidence of gas had disappeared. Intra-articular gas appeared as gas capped radiolucencies (GCR) in the proximal aspect of the joint. Extra-articular gas appeared as linear radiolucencies (LR) which initially te...
Hudson LC, Weinstock D, Jordan T, Bold-Fletcher NO.Twelve naive and nine test-vaccinated horses which developed clinical signs of rabies as a result of the required protocol of a vaccine trial were prospectively observed. Nineteen of the 21 cases were confirmed positive for rabies infection of the brain by fluorescent antibody test. The two horses with negative results had ganglioneuritis of the trigeminal ganglion or lymphocytic perivascular cuffing in the brain stem in addition to clinical signs. Average incubation period was 12.3 days and average morbidity was 5.5 days. Naive animals had significantly shorter incubation and morbidity period...
Maher JK, Tresnan DB, Deacon S, Hannah L, Antczak DF.Down-regulation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes by trophoblast cells is considered to be a primary mechanism preventing maternal immune rejection of the fetal-placental unit in mammalian pregnancy by rendering these cells, which form the primary barrier between mother and fetus, relatively non-antigenic. In situ hybridization with probes encoding human and horse MHC class I genes was used to characterize the pattern of MHC class I mRNA expression in the various forms of horse trophoblast. Strong hybridization signals were observed in the invasive trophoblast cells of chorionic ...
McGowan CM, Menzies-Gow NJ, McDiarmid AM, Patterson-Kane JC.This paper describes four cases of equine polysaccharide storage myopathy which were confirmed by histological examination of muscle biopsy specimens. The horses were of mixed breeding, with warmblood and thoroughbred dominating. They all had recurrent episodes of rhabdomyolysis, indicated by clinical signs and increased plasma levels of muscle enzymes. They were managed conservatively and have continued athletic careers despite their disease.
Flynn C, Forster HV, Pan LG, Bisgard GE.The objective of this study was to determine the role of hilar nerve (lung vagal) afferents in the hyperpnea of exercise. Ten ponies were studied before and 2-4 wk and 3-12 mo after sectioning only the hilar branches of the vagus nerves (HND). After HND, lung volume feedback to the medullary centers was attenuated as indicated in the anesthetized state by 1) attenuation or absence of the Hering-Breuer inflation reflex (P less than 0.01) and 2) attenuation of the lengthened inspiratory time (TI) when the airway was occluded at end expiration (P less than 0.01). Moreover, after HND in the awake ...
Pezzanite LM, Hackett ES, McCready E, Easley JT.Bilateral sinus disease is relatively uncommon in horses, accounting for 3%-4.5% of horses with sinonasal disease, but may require bilateral paranasal surgery for complete resolution. Complications and recurrence following bilateral sinusotomy have not been reported or compared to those following unilateral procedures. To describe clinical features and outcomes in horses undergoing standing single, caudally based bilateral frontonasal sinusotomy compared to unilateral frontonasal surgery. Records of horses (n = 37) undergoing surgical treatment for sinus disease (five bilateral, 32 unilatera...
Wang L, Tong G, Liu H, Yang Z, Qiu H, Kong X, Wang M.Proviral DNA was extracted from donkey leukocyte infected with Chinese donkey leukocyte attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (DLA-EIAV), and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from a horse infected with the virulent EIAV strain Liaoning (EIAV L). The entire proviral DNA from both viruses was cloned and sequenced. The lengths of complete genomic sequences of DLA-EIAV and EIAV L provirus were 8266 bp and 8235 bp, respectively. Sequence comparison indicated that DLA-EIAV shares 97.0% and 97.5% in sequence homology with EIAV L and donkey-adapted EIAV (DA-EIAV), respectively. Lots of variation...
Parente EJ, Martin BB, Tulleners EP.Many disorders of the upper respiratory tract which cause severe
respiratory compromise and poor performance have been
described in the equine athlete (Williams et al. 1990; Morris 1991;
King et al. 1994). Until recently, the diagnosis of upper respiratory
tract dysfunction was based on observations made during resting
endoscopic examination; and conclusions regarding the extent and
exact nature of the dysfunction during exercise were often
inaccurate. This report describes 2 horses presented to the George
D. Widener Hospital in which no significant abnormalities were
noted during res...
Rola J, Socha W, Zmudzinski JF.Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of ORFs 5, 6 and 7 of EAV during persistent infection in the stallion of the Malopolska breed were analysed in the study. A total of 11 blood and semen samples were collected between 2004 and 2011. The titre of specific EAV antibodies in this carrier stallion was maintained at a high level throughout the study and was equal approximately 1:128. The sequence analysis of ORF5 showed 16 variable sites including 12 with synonymous substitutions and 4 with non-synonymous substitutions. The degree of nucleotide sequence identity among the strains ranged from 98.92...
Pascoe RR.The death of a 60-day-old foal due to massive haemorrhage associated with erosion of the left umbilical artery into the left ureter is reported. Surgical repair attempts are described together with post-mortem findings.
Kuwano A, Niwa H, Arai K.To establish a new system to isolate keratolytic bacteria from the hoof wall cavity () of a racehorse, we invented the horn powder agar-translucency (HoPAT) test and horn zymography (HZ). Using routine bacteriological techniques and these methods, we isolated five strains of keratolytic soil bacteria, which were then identified by means of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing analysis. The findings from the study on the horse suggested that Brevibacterium luteolum played the main role in the local fragility of the hoof, eventually forming a in coordination with four other strains of kerat...
Freeman DE, Naylor JM.An indwelling stomach tube was placed through a cervical esophagostomy in 5 clinically normal horses and in 3 horses requiring artificial alimentation. In all but one case, surgery was performed on conscious horses following tranquilization and infiltration of the surgical sites with a local anesthetic. Six horses were fed liquid rations through the indwelling tubes, which were left in place from 3 to 26 days. After the tubes were removed, the stomas healed rapidly and with minimal complications. Cervical esophagostomy proved to be a safe, easy, and effective method for the provision of extrao...