Disease management in horses encompasses the strategies and practices employed to prevent, control, and treat diseases affecting equine populations. This field involves understanding the etiology, transmission, and clinical presentation of various equine diseases, as well as implementing biosecurity measures and therapeutic interventions. Common diseases in horses include equine influenza, strangles, and equine herpesvirus. Effective disease management relies on accurate diagnosis, vaccination protocols, and the use of antimicrobials and other treatments. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, challenges, and advancements in managing diseases in equine health.
Findlay GM, Maccallum FO.(1) Among 3,100 persons immunized against yellow fever with virus and immune serum over a period of five years, 89 cases of jaundice have been traced.(2) The symptoms are those of a hepatitis and closely resemble those produced by common infective hepatic jaundice, cases of which have frequently been noted as occurring in the same areas.(3) The average period between the time of inoculation and the development of hepatitis is between two and three months.(4) Attention is directed to the occurrence of hepatitis in horses, usually two to three months after immunization against the viruses of hor...
Amoss HL, Marsh P.Experiments were made for the purpose of testing the reaction of protection against infection as a measure of potency of antimeningococcic serum. The results of the experiments were extremely variable and bore no relation to the quality of the sera as determined by the period of immunization of the horses from which they were obtained, or the indications of efficiency based upon their employment in human cases of epidemic meningitis. The results also failed entirely to conform to the agglutination titer of the sera tested and to be affected by the different type forms of the meningococci. We r...
Smith T.The foregoing and earlier data taken together demonstrate that an active immunity lasting several years can be produced in guinea-pigs, by the injection of toxin-antitoxin mixtures which have no recognizable harmful effect either immediate or remote. They also show, what might have been anticipated, that under the same conditions mixtures which produce local lesions and which, therefore, contain an excess of toxin produce a much higher degree of immunity than the neutral mixtures, and that an excess of antitoxin reduces the possibility of producing an active immunity, and may extinguish it alt...
Kaikkonen R, Niinistö K, Lindholm T, Raekallio M.Ingestion of geosediment (further referred as sand) may cause weight loss, diarrhea and acute or recurrent colic in horses. Our aim was to compare the efficacy of three treatment protocols in clearing colonic sand accumulations in clinical patients. This retrospective clinical study consisted of 1097 horses and ponies, which were radiographed for the presence of colonic sand. Horses included to the study (n = 246) were displaying areas of sand in the radiographs of ≥75 cm2 and were treated medically monitoring the response with radiographs. The horses were assigned into three groups base...
Ledermann W.With the apparition of the crazy cows disease at the end of twentieth century, great was the temptation for denominate "crazy horses disease" an ancient enzootic encephalo-myelitis, known from the 17th century and now named "Borna disease" in 1970, because severe outbreaks affecting horses in this city of Germany since 1885. But the sickness was not a prion disease but a viral one, causing also encephalopathy in several other animal species. After seventy years of investigation, the finding of the virus in human patients with psychiatric pathology in the eighties gave an incentive to work hard...
Rodriguez M, Hooghuis H, Castaño M.The aetiology, pathogenesis and epizootiology of African horse sickness (AHS) are reviewed with special reference to recent outbreaks in the Iberian peninsula. AHS is a highly fatal insect-borne viral disease of Equidae. It is caused by an Orbivirus (family Reoviridae) and nine serotypes are recognised. Outbreaks occurred in central Spain in 1987 and in southern regions of the Iberian peninsula in 1988, 1989 and 1990. All were associated with serotype 4 of the virus, whereas other occurrences of AHS outside Africa have all been caused by serotype 9. The clinical picture in the outbreaks was ma...
Elata A, Galon EM, Moumouni PFA, Ybanez RHD, Mossaad E, Salces CB, Bajenting GP, Ybanez AP, Xuan X, Inoue N, Suganuma K.Animal trypanosomosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases significantly affecting the Philippine economy. It is considered by the government to be the second most important disease of livestock after fasciolosis. A PCR-based molecular survey for trypanosomes in different animals in Bohol, Philippines, was performed to assess the prevalence of trypanosomosis in the area during the rainy and dry season. Methods: A total of 269 blood samples were collected in two batches in rainy and dry season from different animal species in Ubay Stock Farm in Ubay, Bohol, the Philippines, including...
Barrett RS, Wiethoelter A, Halpin K.To elucidate veterinarians' and horse owners' perceptions towards the use of Hendra virus (HeV) antibody titre testing and how it influences veterinary advice. Methods: Six semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with veterinarians who have submitted samples for HeV antibody titre testing. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed to identify and report common themes within the data. Results: Veterinarians are predominantly using the titre tests as an alternative to vaccination due to clients' fear of vaccine reactions. The high cost of titre testing, the difficul...
Blackmore TM, Dugdale A, Argo CM, Curtis G, Pinloche E, Harris PA, Worgan HJ, Girdwood SE, Dougal K, Newbold CJ, McEwan NR.The horse, as a hindgut fermenter, is reliant on its intestinal bacterial population for efficient diet utilisation. However, sudden disturbance of this population can result in severe colic or laminitis, both of which may require euthanasia. This study therefore aimed to determine the temporal stability of the bacterial population of faecal samples from six ponies maintained on a formulated high fibre diet. Bacterial 16S rRNA terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analyses of 10 faecal samples collected from 6 ponies at regular intervals over 72 hour trial periods identifie...
Wild TF.Paramyxoviruses have been implicated in both animal and human infections. Some viruses, such as Morbilliviruses are responsible for large-scale epidemics. However, there are limited observations of these viruses crossing the host species barrier in nature. In 1994, in Australia a fatal infection in horses and humans was identified to be caused by a new Paramyxovirus, Hendra virus (HeV), and in 1998 in Malaysia, a closely related virus, Nipah virus (NiV) was responsible for fatal infections in pigs and humans. These two viruses were sufficiently different from previously described Paramyxovirus...
Dieckmann HG, Costa LRR, Martínez-López B, Madigan JE.To describe an animal health database used to facilitate effective disaster response and retrospective analysis of data concerning animals other than cats and dogs affected by the 2018 California Camp Fire. Methods: Veterinary medical entries (n = 206) for evacuated or rescued animals (151) of various species, including avian, bovine, camelid, caprine, equine, ovine, and porcine species, temporarily housed at the Butte County fairgrounds in Gridley, Calif. Methods: Case data were collected via a standardized form by volunteers with the University of California-Davis Veterinary Emergency Respon...
Elvander M, Persson B, Sternberg Lewerin S.As in most European countries, anthrax was common in Swedish livestock during the centuries leading up to the mid-twentieth century. After 1957, the disease was regarded as practically extinct. However, in the past 7 years, three outbreaks have caused public alarm because of the risk of environmental contamination. Properly buried carcasses should present little risk of spore contamination, and instructions were in place to ensure this since the 1890s. However, as has been demonstrated in recent outbreaks, carcasses were not always adequately buried and viable spores may remain in some sites....
Adeyefa CA, McCauley JW, Tomori O.The complete amino acid sequences of the hemagglutinin (HA) glycoprotein of three equine-2 influenza viruses from tropical Africa are presented in comparison with that of a well characterized European equine-2 virus (Suffolk/89) and a consensus sequence from the database. The sequences of the tropical African viruses were deduced from the complete nucleotide sequences of their HA genes reported earlier. Mutational changes in the nucleotide sequences resulted in amino acid changes in the HA which led to the introduction of a new asparagine-linked (N-linked) glycosylation site in two viruses. Th...
Hadian SA, Rezayatmand R.The economic impact of acute respiratory disease pandemics has yet to be specifically systematically reviewed. The aim of this scoping review is to identify and classify the economic impacts and its values and ranges. Unassigned: We conducted a literature search across three key databases using an extensive list of keywords. Then, we included studies which explored direct and indirect costs as well as broader economic impact associated with different nine acute respiratory diseases, i.e., pandemic and seasonal influenza, avian influenza, equine influenza, swine influenza, severe acute respirat...
Jenkins E, Backwell AL, Bellaw J, Colpitts J, Liboiron A, McRuer D, Medill S, Parker S, Shury T, Smith M, Tschritter C, Wagner B, Poissant J....Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada hosts one of few natural populations of feral horses (Equus caballus) never exposed to anthelmintics. Coproculture revealed cyathostomes, Strongylus equinus, S. edentatus, and S. vulgaris, with S. equinus (unusually) dominating in adult horses and cyathostomes dominating in young horses (<3 years of age). We examined 35 horses found dead in the springs of 2017 and 2018, as well as fecal samples from live horses in spring (n = 45) and summer 2018 (n = 236) using McMaster fecal flotation and Baermann larval sedimentation on fresh samples, and modified Wiscon...
Espíndola JP, Machado G, Diehl GN, Dos Santos LC, de Vargas AC, Gressler LT.Microbiological diagnosis of equine respiratory infections is essential for disease management. However, reliable diagnosis can be a challenge due to colonization of the upper respiratory tract (URT) by a diverse microbial population, and because there is a lack of studies with samples from healthy animals. Aiming to guide adequate URT culture, this work reports culturable microbial population from the URT of 1,010 apparently healthy horses from 341 farms in Southern Brazil and identifies the putative presence of pathogenic microorganisms. Nasal swabs were cultured in 5% blood agar, and the is...
Touratier L.There is increasing interest in many parts of the world in trypanosomoses other than those transmitted by tsetse flies, as shown by numerous research projects and field studies. The refinement of techniques for studying the behaviour of trypanosomes (techniques of molecular biology) in axenic culture or in the parasitised host has led to progress in diagnosis and immunology, and a rational approach to chemotherapy and chemoprophylaxis of these infections. Field trials of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in Africa, Asia and South America have shown that these tests may now be regarded as reli...
Gislason D, Asmundsson T, Gislason T.Diseases connected with work in hay have been known in Iceland for a long time. In 1981 scientific studies of these diseases were started in Iceland at the request of the Farmers Union. The results of these studies are summarized in this article. In studies of hay a great amount of storage mites, moulds and thermophilic actinomycetes (microlyspora faeni) were found in addition to allergens from mice and pollen. Symptoms caused by hay dust were mainly from nose and eyes in people with positive skin tests, but cough, dyspnea and fever were equally common in those with negative skin tests. The mo...
Sanford J.The usefulness of an antibiotic depends not only upon its antibacterial potency and spectrum but also on the prevalence of resistant organisms and the extent and severity of the adverse reactions to which it may give rise. Variations in formulation of the same compound are reflected in differences in bioavailability. These may be intentional, as in the development of long-acting preparations, but may also be unexpected following differences in drug purity, content and gastro-intestinal absorption. Individual and species differences in treated animals also result in variations in bioavailabilit...
Nielsen MK, Littman BA, Orzech SW, Ripley NE.Equine cyathostomins are ubiquitous in grazing horses around the world and a main target in parasite control programs. Anthelmintic resistance has been reported with increasing frequency in these parasites over the past decades, and recent findings of fulminant resistance to the macrocyclic lactone class have raised severe concerns. This study aimed to evaluate ivermectin efficacy in cohorts of yearlings and mares present on four different farms in Central Kentucky. Strongylid egg counts were determined with an automated egg counting system, and the percent fecal egg count reduction (FECR) was...
Krecek RC, Guthrie AJ.Cyathostomes are common nematode parasites of horses, donkeys and mules in developing countries. These equids usually work on a daily basis and this includes transportation of goods, crops and people. Stress, associated with work, and limited nutrition often result in a loss of condition, and cyathostomid nematodes may, then, cause clinical disease. Because anthelmintics are not always accessible or affordable in many parts of Africa, or there may be anthelmintic resistance to current remedies, management practices are often used as an adjunct to chemotherapy. This paper discusses some current...
Rainger JE, Dart AJ.Enteral fluids administered alone, or in conjunction with intravenous fluids, are reported to be useful for the treatment of dehydration and electrolyte loss associated with diarrhoea in a number of species, following exercise in horses and for feed impaction of the large intestine of horses. Enteral fluids are suitable for treatment of mild to moderately dehydrated patients with some intact intestinal epithelium and motile small intestine. In patients that will drink voluntarily or tolerate nasal intubation the use of enteral fluids may avoid the complications associated with intravenous flui...
Glass K, Barnes B.When novel disease outbreaks occur in livestock, policy makers must respond promptly to eliminate disease, and are typically called on to make control decisions before detailed analysis of disease parameters can be undertaken. We present a flexible metapopulation model of disease spread that incorporates variation in livestock density and includes occasional high-mixing locations or events, such as markets or race meetings. Using probability generating functions derived from this branching process model, we compare the likely success of reactive control strategies in eliminating disease spread...
Grewar JD.Bluetongue (BT) and African horse sickness (AHS) are considered the most important orbiviral diseases in Southern Africans countries. The general endemic status makes these diseases challenging to be quanti ed in terms of their economic impact. Using country reported data from BT and AHS outbreaks and cases, as well as international trade data, the economic impact of BT and AHS is evaluated on local, regional, and global scales. Local scale impact in the Southern African region is underestimated as shown by the underreporting of BT and AHS. Exceptions occur during epidemic cycles of the diseas...
Huhmann R, Mueller RS.Topical application of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has shown satisfactory results in dogs and humans with allergic skin diseases. Urea and glycolic acid act as keratolytics and moisturizers. Culicoides hypersensitivity is the most common equine hypersensitivity disorder and only limited treatment options exist. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a cream containing topical PUFAs, humectants and emollients on clinical signs of equine Culicoides hypersensitivity. Methods: Privately owned horses (n = 28) with clinical signs of Culicoides hypersensitivity. Methods: For a period of four ...
Rehrl S, Schulte W, Staszyk C, Lischer C.Equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH) is a destructive, painful and underdiagnosed dental disorder. Radiography is necessary to fully assess the disease as early stages occur on clinically normal teeth. Objective: To investigate the distribution pattern of appearance of EOTRH within the incisor arcade. In particular, we aimed to determine the influence of tooth position and horse age on the severity of EOTRH as well as on the frequency of the individual severity stages. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional radiographic case study. Methods: Digital radiographs of 1...
Fonseca-Rodríguez O, Pinheiro Júnior JW, Mota RA.In Brazil, glanders remains a serious problem, with the obligatory sacrifice of disease-positive animals without compensation. Each year, glanders cases are reported in several regions of the country, causing severe economic losses and trade restrictions. The present study describes and discusses the occurrence of glanders foci in Brazil during a 12-year period from 2005 to 2016. The highest frequency of reported affected holdings during the study period was in the northeast region. Moreover, during this period, the disease incidence in Brazil showed an overall increasing tendency. The number ...
Carminatti A, Chitolina MB, Ribeiro AB, Forest M, Collet SG, Prestes AM, Camillo G.To facilitate exploration of the immense range of gastrointestinal parasites in horses and the impact of parasitism on equine health, the present study aimed to evaluate the occurrence and risk factors associated with these infections in horses reared in different management systems in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Samples were collected from 208 horses: 91 from extensive, 64 from semi-extensive, and 53 from intensive rearing systems. The identified helminths included those of the Strongylida order (80.29%), Parascaris equorum (3.36%), Oxyuris equi (4.33%), and Anoplocephala spp. (1.92%...
Bannai H, Nemoto M, Niwa H, Murakami S, Tsujimura K, Yamanaka T, Kondo T.We studied a recent epizootic of Getah virus infection among pigs in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture and the northern part of Chiba Prefecture, Japan, focusing on its possible association with outbreaks in racehorses in 2014 and 2015. The genomic sequence of a Getah virus strain from an infected pig was analyzed to evaluate the degree of identity with the strains from horses. Results: Sera were collected from pigs from September to December 2012 to 2015 in south Ibaraki (380 pigs in 29 batches), and from September to December 2010 to 2015 in north Chiba (538 pigs in 104 batches). They ...
Walshe N, Burrell A, Kenny U, Mulcahy G, Duggan V, Regan A.In view of the rising threat of anthelmintic resistance in parasite populations and the planned change of classification of anthelmintics in Ireland for food animals to prescription-only medicines, there is a need for increased focus on parasite control strategies for horses. Effective parasite control programs (PCPs) are complex, necessitating the application of risk-assessment based on host immune status, infection pressure, type of parasite and seasonality to determine the requirement for anthelmintic administration and an understanding of parasite biology to employ effective, non- therapeu...
Marsh GA, Haining J, Hancock TJ, Robinson R, Foord AJ, Barr JA, Riddell S, Heine HG, White JR, Crameri G, Field HE, Wang LF, Middleton D.Hendra virus (HeV) is a highly pathogenic zoonotic paramyxovirus harbored by Australian flying foxes with sporadic spillovers directly to horses. Although the mode and critical control points of HeV spillover to horses from flying foxes, and the risk for transmission from infected horses to other horses and humans, are poorly understood, we successfully established systemic HeV disease in 3 horses exposed to Hendra virus/Australia/Horse/2008/Redlands by the oronasal route, a plausible route for natural infection. In 2 of the 3 animals, HeV RNA was detected continually in nasal swabs from as ea...
Müller C, Gehlen H.Venous diseases due to venous catheters have variable symptoms and clinical progress. They comprise perivenous hematoma, periphlebitis, endophlebitis, phlebothrombosis or septic thrombophlebitis. To diagnose venous disease, a clinical examination (possibillity to distend the vein, swelling, pain, increased skin temperature, and any exudation around the injection site) and an ultrasonographic examination (perivenous tissue, venous wall, venous content) of the vein are performed. Treatment of venous diseases depends on the etiology and pathogenesis and combines the use of anticoagulants (heparin...
Lyons ET, Drudge JH, Swerczek TW, Crowe MW, Tolliver SC.At necropsy of 49 Thoroughbreds from farms with generally good parasite control programs in central Kentucky, examination was specifically made for presence of Strongylus vulgaris in all of the horses and of Parascaris equorum in 21 of them. None of the deaths of the horses was caused by infections of internal parasites. Visceral arteries were examined for specimens of S vulgaris and lesions related to migrating stages of this parasite. Contents of the small intestines were examined for P equorum. Specimens of S vulgaris were recovered from 19 (39%) horses, and arterial lesions were observed i...
