Disease outbreaks in horses refer to the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases within equine populations. These outbreaks can be caused by various pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, and can lead to significant health issues in affected horses. Common diseases that may result in outbreaks include equine influenza, equine herpesvirus, strangles, and equine infectious anemia. The transmission of these diseases can occur through direct contact, environmental exposure, or vectors such as insects. Disease outbreaks can have substantial impacts on horse health, welfare, and the equine industry as a whole. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the epidemiology, transmission dynamics, and management strategies associated with disease outbreaks in equine populations.
Favaro PF, Fernandes WR, Reischak D, Brandão PE, Silva SOS, Richtzenhain LJ.Equine influenza is one of the major respiratory infectious diseases in horses. An equine influenza virus outbreak was identified in vaccinated and unvaccinated horses in a veterinary school hospital in São Paulo, SP, Brazil, in September 2015. The twelve equine influenza viruses isolated belonged to Florida Clade 1. The hemagglutinin and neuraminidase amino acid sequences were compared with the recent isolates from North and South America and the World Organisation for Animal Health recommended Florida Clade 1 vaccine strain. The hemagglutinin amino acid sequences had nine substitutions, com...
Davies MR.Despite tight biosecurity measures, an outbreak of respiratory disease rapidly spread across the Icelandic equine population in 2010. Horse transportation was brought to a halt in order to contain the spread of the infectious agent. In a recent article, Björnsdóttir and colleagues (S. Björnsdóttir et al., mBio 8:e00826-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00826-17) employ the power and resolution of "genomic epidemiology," the combination of whole genomic sequencing and epidemiological approaches, to examine the source and spread of the outbreak. Intriguingly, the outbreak was not viral ...
The National Reference Center for equine infectious anemia (EIA) validated a commercial ELISA (Eradikit EIAV Indirect ELISA, In3diagnostic, Turin, Italy) employing a chimeric recombinant gag and env peptide for the detection of EIA virus antibodies, following the guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health. The validation parameters evaluated were: analytical sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp); diagnostic Se and Sp; precision, based on repeatability and reproducibility through the estimation of the standard deviation (SD) and the coefficient of variation (CV); accuracy, estimated...
Duquesne F, Houssin E, Sévin C, Duytschaever L, Tapprest J, Fretin D, Hébert L, Laugier C, Petry S.Rhodococcus equi causes pulmonary and extrapulmonary infections in animals and humans, with endemic situations and significant young foal mortality in stud farms worldwide. Despite its economic impact in the horse-breeding industry, the broad geographic and host distribution, global diversity and population structure of R. equi remain poorly characterised. In this context, we developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme using 89 clinical and environmental R. equi of various origins and eight Rhodococcus sp. Data can be accessed at http://pubmlst.org/rhodococcus/. A clonal R. equi popul...
Li YY, Liu H, Fu SH, Li XL, Guo XF, Li MH, Feng Y, Chen WX, Wang LH, Lei WW, Gao XY, Lv Z, He Y, Wang HY, Zhou HN, Wang GQ, Liang GD.Getah virus (GETV) was first isolated in Malaysia in 1955. Since then, epidemics in horses and pigs caused by GETV have resulted in huge economic losses. At present, GETV has spread across Eurasia and Southeast Asia, including mainland China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, and Russia. Data show that the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of GETV existed about 145years ago (95% HPD: 75-244) and gradually evolved into four distinct evolutionary populations: Groups I-IV. The MRCA of GETVs in Group III, which includes all GETVs isolated from mosquitoes, pigs, horses, and other animals since the 1960s (fr...
Current and emerging issues: reminder of the notifiable status of porcine epidemic diarrhoeaHighlights from the scanning surveillance networkUpdate on international disease threatsReview of animal health threats by the Veterinary Risk Group These are among matters discussed in the Animal and Plant Health Agency's (APHA's) disease surveillance report for July 2017.
Davaasuren B, Amgalanbaatar T, Musinguzi SP, Suganuma K, Otgonsuren D, Mossaad E, Narantsatsral S, Battur B, Battsetseg B, Xuan X, Inoue N.Trypanosoma equiperdum, which is the etiological agent of dourine, spreads through sexual intercourse in equines. Dourine (T. equiperdum) has been reported in Mongolia, where it is considered an economically important disease of horses. T. evansi has also been reported in Mongolian domestic animals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential application of recombinant T. evansi GM6 (rTeGM6-4r)-based diagnostic methods on a farm with an outbreak of non-tsetse transmitted horse trypanosomosis. Ninety-seven percent homology was found between the amino acid sequences of T. equiperdu...
Björnsdóttir S, Harris SR, Svansson V, Gunnarsson E, Sigurðardóttir ÓG, Gammeljord K, Steward KF, Newton JR, Robinson C, Charbonneau ARL....Iceland is free of the major infectious diseases of horses. However, in 2010 an epidemic of respiratory disease of unknown cause spread through the country's native horse population of 77,000. Microbiological investigations ruled out known viral agents but identified the opportunistic pathogen subsp. () in diseased animals. We sequenced the genomes of 257 isolates of to differentiate epidemic from endemic strains. We found that although multiple endemic clones of were present, one particular clone, sequence type 209 (ST209), was likely to have been responsible for the epidemic. Concurrent ...
More S, Bøtner A, Butterworth A, Calistri P, Depner K, Edwards S, Garin-Bastuji B, Good M, Gortázar Schmidt C, Michel V, Miranda MA, Nielsen SS....Equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western) has been assessed according to the criteria of the Animal Health Law (AHL), in particular criteria of Article 7 on disease profile and impacts, Article 5 on the eligibility of equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western) to be listed, Article 9 for the categorisation of equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western) according to disease prevention and control rules as in Annex IV, and Article 8 on the list of animal species related to equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western). The assessment has been performed following a methodology compos...
Khan A, Mushtaq MH, Ahmad MUD, Nazir J, Farooqi SH, Khan A.A widespread epidemic of equine influenza (EI) occurred in nonvaccinated equine population across multiple districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan during 2015-2016. An epidemiological surveillance study was conducted from Oct 2015 to April 2016 to investigate the outbreak. EI virus strains were isolated in embryonated eggs from suspected equines swab samples and were subjected to genome sequencing using M13 tagged segment specific primers. Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences were concluded using Geneious. Haemagglutinin (HA), Neuraminidase (NA), Matrix (M) and nucleo...
Zhang Y, Chahan B, Liu S, Song R, Li Y, Huercha , Guo Q, Wu H, Zhu Y.In order to found the epidemiological situation of T. equi in the horse herds in Ili Prefecture of Xinjiang Province, 723 blood samples collected from 4 counties and districts were test for T. equi through microscopic detection and Polymerase chain Reaction (PCR). In the result, we found that the 295 of 723 blood samples (40.8%) were positive for T. equi infection. The results showed that the choosed counties have a varying degrees infection. To our knowledge, this is the first time that we detected T. equi infection using the molecular techniques from Ili in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region.
Laabassi F, Hue E, Fortier C, Morilland E, Legrand L, Hans A, Pronost S.An episode of acute equine respiratory infection was reported in western Algeria (Tiaret province) between February and March 2011, affecting a large population of horses. Nasal swabs (n=100) were taken from horses aged between 1 and 27 years, presenting with cough and mucopurulent nasal discharge. The prevalence of equine respiratory virus infections was examined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). One, or more, of four equine respiratory viruses were detected in the nasal swabs of 90 of 100 horses (90%) and the detection rate of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), equine herp...
Weissenböck H, Bagó Z, Kolodziejek J, Hager B, Palmetzhofer G, Dürrwald R, Nowotny N.Borna disease, a lethal infection with Borna disease virus-1 (BoDV-1), was diagnosed in four horses from Upper Austria in 2015 and 2016. All cases occurred in winter (two cases in February 2015 and two cases in December 2016), and the maximal distance of the affected stables was 17 km. To demonstrate whether the causative agent was also harbored by its reservoir host, the bicolored white-toothed shrew (Crocidura leucodon), 28 shrews from this geographic area were collected in 2015 and investigated for the presence of BoDV-1. The shrew species were identified according to taxonomic clues and ...
González-Medina S, Ireland JL, Piercy RJ, Newton JR, Votion DM.Equine atypical myopathy (AM) is a toxic rhabdomyolysis associated with ingestion of hypoglycin A, derived typically in Europe, from Acer pseudoplatanus tree. Despite the wide distribution of this tree species in the UK, the number of cases reported annually varies, and there has been an apparent increase in prevalence in recent years. Although AM was first recognised in the UK, epidemiological studies have never been conducted focused solely on this country. Objective: To describe the spatiotemporal distribution, presentation, treatment and outcome of AM cases reported in the UK. Methods: Ret...
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 ...
Kinne J, Joseph M, Wernery U, Nogradi N, Hagen F.During the past decades there has been an increase in cryptococcal infections caused by the basidiomycetous yeast species Cryptococcus gattii sensu lato, among humans and animals that live in endemic regions in Australia, Europe and the Americas. Unlike human cryptococcosis, little epidemiological data are available about C. gattii sensu lato infections in horses. Methods: A fatal case of a disseminated C. gattii sensu lato infection in an 11-year-old Arabian gelding imported from South Africa into the United Arab Emitares is reported. Tissue samples were studied by conventional mycology proce...
Boyle AG, Smith MA, Boston RC, Stefanovski D.OBJECTIVE To develop a risk prediction model for factors associated with an SeM-specific antibody titer ≥ 3,200 in horses after naturally occurring outbreaks of Streptococcus equi subsp equi infection and to validate this model. DESIGN Case-control study. ANIMALS 245 horses: 57 horses involved in strangles outbreaks (case horses) and 188 healthy horses (control horses). PROCEDURES Serum samples were obtained from the 57 cases over a 27.5-month period after the start of outbreaks; serum samples were obtained once from the 188 controls. A Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression model was us...
Emmerich IU.In 2016, only one newly developed active pharmaceutical ingredient for horses and food-producing animals was released on the German market for veterinary drug products. The immunomodulator Pegbovigrastim is now available as an injection solution for cattle (Imrestor). Four established veterinary active pharmaceutical ingredients are available for further species: the ectoparasitic Amitraz (Apitraz) from the triazapentadiene group was additionally authorized for honeybees, the expectorant Bromhexine (Exflow Vet) for chickens, turkeys and ducks and the macrolide antibiotic Gamithromycin (Zactran...
Gaudaire D, Lecouturier F, Ponçon N, Morilland E, Laugier C, Zientara S, Hans A.In 2009, a major outbreak of equine infectious anaemia (EIA) was reported in the south-east of France. This outbreak affected three premises located in the Var region where the index case, a 10-year-old mare that exhibited clinical signs consistent with EIA, occurred at a riding school. Overall, more than 250 horses were tested for EIAV (equine infectious anaemia virus) antibodies, using agar gel immunodiffusion test, and 16 horses were positive in three different holdings. Epidemiological survey confirmed that the three premises were related through the purchase/sale of horses and the use of ...
Ludwig EK, Byron CR, Lahmers KK, Santos MP.An adult horse was diagnosed with a frontal and caudal maxillary sinus lipoma, which was surgically removed. This is the first known report of a sinus lipoma in a horse. Lipomas should be considered in the differential diagnoses of equine sinus masses; complete surgical excision appears to be curative. Un cheval adulte a été diagnostiqué avec un lipome du sinus maxillaire frontal et caudal qui a été enlevé par chirurgie. Il s’agit du premier rapport d’un lipome de sinus chez un cheval. Les lipomes devraient être considérés dans les diagnostics différentiels des masses des sinus ...
Hifumi T, Yamamoto A, Ato M, Sawabe K, Morokuma K, Morine N, Kondo Y, Noda E, Sakai A, Takahashi J, Umezawa K.Blood serum from immunized humans or animals (e.g., horses) contains relevant antibodies and has been used as serum therapy to treat many diseases or envenomation events. The effectiveness of blood serum was initially discovered in 1890 when Kitasato and von Behring observed the effectiveness of this type of therapy against diphtheria and tetanus. Serum therapies played an important role in the advancement of modern medicine prior to the development of penicillin and steroids. At present, several types of serum therapy remain in clinical use. However, some physicians have a limited understandi...
Stasiak K, Dunowska M, Hills SF, Rola J.Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is a common viral infection associated with varied clinical outcomes including respiratory disease, abortion and neurological disease. We have characterized EHV-1 sequences (n = 38) obtained from cases of equine abortion in Poland between 1999 and 2016, based on sequencing of PCR products from open reading frames (ORF) 30 and 68 of the EHV-1 genome. The majority (81.6%) of sequences were not classified into any of the previously described groups based on the ORF68 sequence. The remaining sequences belonged to ORF68 group III (7.9%) or IV (10.5%). A haplotype ne...
Gizaw Y, Megersa M, Fayera T.Dourine is a venereal transmitted trypanosomosis causing a major health problem threatening equines worldwide. The origin and identification of Trypanosoma equiperdum within the subgenus Trypanozoon is still a subject of debate. Unlike other trypanosomal infections, dourine is transmitted almost exclusively by coitus. Diagnosis of dourine has continued to be a challenge, due to limited knowledge about the parasite and host-parasite interaction following infection. The pathological lesions caused by the diseases are poorly described and are observed mainly in the reproductive organs, in the ner...
ELISAs are known to have a higher diagnostic sensitivity than the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) when employed for serological diagnosis of equine infectious anaemia (EIA). For this purpose, an "in-house" and five commercial ELISAs available in Italy were assessed by the National Reference Centre for EIA for their analytic specificity (Sp); precocity, defined as capability of detecting first antibodies produced during a new infection; precision based on repeatability and reproducibility, estimated from the coefficient of variation (CV); accuracy, estimated from multiple K and relative Sp and ...
Becker E, Venter GJ, Greyling T, Molini U, van Hamburg H.Equine mortalities suspected to be due to African horse sickness (AHS) were reported from the arid Khomas Region, Namibia, in 2008. The area was previously considered a localized AHS-free area. Hartmann's mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae), a potential but unconfirmed reservoir host of African horse sickness virus (AHSV), occurs in the region. Between 2009 and 2010 serum, blood and tissue samples from 31 culled E. z. hartmannae were analysed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (n = 31) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (n = 18) to determine the p...
Olguin Perglione C, Golemba MD, Torres C, Barrandeguy M.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is considered the most important respiratory pathogen of horses as outbreaks of the disease lead to substantial economic losses. The H3N8 EIV has caused respiratory disease in horses across the world, including South American countries. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences for the complete haemagglutinin gene of the H3N8 EIV detected in South America since 1963 were analyzed. Phylogenetic and Bayesian coalescent analyses were carried out to study the origin, the time of the most recent common ancestors (tMRCA), the demographic and the phylogeographic pattern...
Grinberg A, Pomroy WE, Carslake HB, Shi Y, Gibson IR, Drayton BM.To assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in faecal specimens from foals, and investigate an outbreak of neonatal cryptosporidiosis in foals revealed in the course of the study. Methods: Faecal specimens from foals received by a diagnostic veterinary laboratory in New Zealand between 2006 and 2007 were submitted to Massey University and tested microscopically for the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts. The Cryptosporidium isolates in the oocyst-positive specimens were genetically identified to species level. In addition, specimen submission data from the participating laboratory for...
Anstey S, Lizárraga D, Nyari S, Chalmers G, Carrick J, Chicken C, Jenkins C, Perkins N, Timms P, Jelocnik M.Late-term foal loss due to the traditional avian pathogen Chlamydia psittaci recently emerged as a threat to the Australian Thoroughbred industry. A longitudinal study of 14 stud farms was undertaken to better understand C. psittaci infection in pregnant mares and their foals by evaluating C. psittaci prevalence, equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) co-infection, avian reservoirs, and potential risk factors. Mucosal swabs taken from 228 healthy pregnant mares and their foals were tested for C. psittaci and EHV-1 using species-specific qPCR assays. No foal loss was recorded due to either pathogen, and ...
Hawkins JA, Adams WV, Wilson BH, Issel CJ, Roth EE.The mechanical transmission of equine infectious anemia (EIA) virus by Tabanus fuscicostatus was investigated. In 1 of 7 transmission trials, a single horsefly transmitted EIA virus from an acutely infected pony to a susceptible pony. Groups of horseflies isolated for 3, 10, or 30 minutes before refeeding transmitted EIA virus, whereas those isolated for 4 or 24 hours did not. Data from field studies indicate that the home range or flight distance of horseflies may exceed 4 miles. That information together with our observations suggest that segregation of infected horses (usually defined as at...
Mellor PS.1. 903 horses were examined at 3 abattoirs in South East England. 10(22–7%) of the horses at the London Colney abattoir, 23(13–9%) of those at the Braintree abattoir, Essex, and 90(12–9%) of those at the Islington abattoir, London, were infected with O. cervicalis. All 105 horses examined in Southern Ireland were found to be negative.
2. The adult worms of O. cervicalis were found without exception, in the ligamentum nuchae of infected horses. The suspensory ligaments of the fetlock and flexor tendons were always negative.
3. The microfilariae of O. cervicalis concentrate along the...
Meiswinkel R.During the 1996 summer season (January-April) in South Africa an estimated 500 horses died of African horse sickness (AHS); 80% of deaths were due to AHS virus serotypes 2 and 4. Nearly all cases occurred in the northern, north-eastern and central parts of South Africa. This study reports the first attempt to verify the involvement of the biting midge Culicoides imicola in a field outbreak of AHS in southern Africa. In light-trap collections made at 47 sites over 12 weeks, C. imicola comprised 94.2% of 4.78 million Culicoides. Culicoides imicola was the most prevalent of 34 species captured an...
Assefa A, Tibebu A, Bihon A, Dagnachew A, Muktar Y.African horse sickness is a vector-borne, non-contagious and highly infectious disease of equines caused by African horse sickness viruses (AHSv) that mainly affect horses. The occurrence of the disease causes huge economic impacts because of its high fatality rate, trade ban and disease control costs. In the planning of vectors and vector-borne diseases like AHS, the application of Ecological niche models (ENM) used an enormous contribution in precisely delineating the suitable habitats of the vector. We developed an ENM to delineate the global suitability of AHSv based on retrospective out...
Cullinane A, Quinlivan M, Nelly M, Patterson H, Kenna R, Garvey M, Gildea S, Lyons P, Flynn M, Galvin P, Neylon M, Jankowska K.In 2006 there was an outbreak of equine infectious anaemia (EIA) in Ireland. This paper describes the use of the diagnosis of clinical and subclinical cases of the disease. In acute cases the ELISAs and the immunoblot were more sensitive than the AGID. In one mare, fluctuating antibody levels were observed in all the serological assays before it seroconverted by AGID. Viral RNA and DNA were detected by RT-PCR and PCR in all the tissues from the infected animals examined postmortem. The PCR detected viral DNA in plasma regardless of the stage of the disease. In contrast, the RT-PCR detected RNA...
Barclay AJ, Paton DJ.Hendra has been recognized in Australia as a new zoonotic disease of horses since 1994/5 and subsequent work has shown that the viral agent is endemic in certain species of fruit bat. The Hendra virus is the type species of a new genus within the sub-family Paramyxovirinae, which also contains another newly identified zoonotic bat virus, namely Nipah. It is assumed that contact with bats has led to the Hendra virus being transferred to horses on each of the three separate incidents that have been reported in the last five years. No evidence has been found for widespread subclinical infection o...
Donabedian SM, Perri MB, Abdujamilova N, Gordoncillo MJ, Naqvi A, Reyes KC, Zervos MJ, Bartlett P.Vancomycin-resistant enterococci are a major cause of nosocomial infections but are rarely found in humans in the community and have not been identified in food animals in the United States. We evaluated a total of 360 fecal specimens from humans and their animals being raised for exhibit at three county fairs in Michigan. Fecal samples from 158 humans, 55 swine, 50 cattle, 25 horses, 57 sheep, 14 goats, and 1 llama were obtained and plated onto Enterococcosel agar containing 16 μg/ml of vancomycin. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) was isolated from six pigs but not from human...
Lefrançois T, Blitvich BJ, Pradel J, Molia S, Vachiéry N, Pallavicini G, Marlenee NL, Zientara S, Petitclerc M, Martinez D.We conducted extensive surveillance for West Nile virus infection in equines and chickens in Guadeloupe in 2003-2004. We showed a high seroprevalence in equines in 2003 related to biome, followed by a major decrease in virus circulation in 2004. No human or equine cases were reported during the study.
Gulati BR, Singha H, Singh BK, Virmani N, Kumar S, Singh RK.Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an important vector-borne viral disease of humans and horses in Asia. JE outbreaks occur regularly amongst humans in certain parts of India and sporadic cases occur among horses. In this study, JE seroprevalence and evidence of JE virus (JEV) infection among horses in Haryana (India) is described. Antibodies against JEV were detected in 67 out of 637 (10.5%) horses screened between 2006 and 2010. Two foals exhibiting neurological signs were positive for JEV RNA by RT-PCR; JEV was isolated from the serum of one of the foals collected on the second day of illness. T...
García-Bocanegra I, Jaén-Téllez JA, Napp S, Arenas-Montes A, Fernández-Morente M, Fernández-Molera V, Arenas A.West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus recognized as an emerging and re-emerging pathogen in different countries. This study describes the monitoring of the first WNV epidemic in Spain between 2010 and 2011. Between September and December 2010, 36 outbreaks of WNV in horses were reported in three different provinces of Andalusia (southern Spain), with no apparent spread outside this area. The temporal distribution and the clinical signs observed during the WNV epidemic in Spain were, in general, similar to those reported in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin. Morbidity, ...
al-Ani FK.Epizootic lymphangitis is a relatively common infectious disease of horses and other liquids in certain parts of the world. The infection rate varies according to the geographic area and the age of the animal. The disease is most commonly characterised by a cord-like appearance of the subcutaneous lymphatic and cutaneous pyogranulomas, the discharge from which contains spherical or pear-shaped bodies of the causal agent, Histoplasma farciminosum. Diagnosis can be made by the demonstration of typical organisms in stained smears, culture and tissue sections. Serological tests and a skin hypersen...
DITCHFIELD J, MACPHERSON LW.From outbreaks of upper respiratory infection of horses in the Toronto area between 1960 and 1963, several viruses have been isolated. The viruses, isolated in tissue cultures or eggs, include an equine strain of Myxovirus parainfluenzae 3; two strains of equine influenza virus, A/equi-1/Prague/56, and A/equi-2/Miami/63; equine rhinopneumonitis virus, and two newly recognized viruses of the horse, equine rhinoviruses. In addition serological evidence suggested a widespread infection with these viruses in the population under study. Because of the identical clinical picture seen and the complex...
Ivens PA, Matthews D, Webb K, Newton JR, Steward K, Waller AS, Robinson C, Slater JD.Strangles is the most commonly diagnosed and important infectious disease of horses worldwide. Very little is known about the temporo-spatial and molecular epidemiology of strangles. The disease is not notifiable in the UK and there are few published data on the geographical locations of outbreaks. Objective: To investigate whether typing of a surface protein (SeM) of Streptococcus equi ssp. equi (S. equi), the causative agent of strangles, is a useful epidemiological tool. Methods: The variable region of the SeM gene was amplified from 145 isolates of S. equi by PCR and sequenced. Different S...
Venter GJ, Paweska JT.Previously reported virus recovery rates from Culicoides (Avaritia) imicola Kieffer and Culicoides (Avaritia) bolitinos Meiswinkel (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) orally infected with vaccine strain of African horse sickness virus serotype 7 (AHSV-7) were compared with results obtained from concurrently conducted oral infections with five recent AHSV-7 isolates from naturally infected horses from various localities in South Africa. Culicoides were fed sheep bloods spiked with 10(7.6) TCID(50)/mL of a live-attenuated vaccine strain AHSV-7, and with five field isolates in which virus titre in the blo...
Whitlock F, Grewar J, Newton R.During 2019, an epidemic of equine influenza (EI) occurred in Europe. Objective: To describe the epidemiology of the 2019 EI epidemic within Great Britain (GB). Methods: Retrospective descriptive study of laboratory confirmed EI cases. Methods: Epidemiological data were obtained from veterinary surgeons referring samples for EI virus testing. Where available, data on confirmed cases and their wider resident population on EI-infected premises were collated and described. On a national level, spatial and temporal representations, consisting of choropleth maps and epidemic curves, described the s...
Timoney PJ.In an era of increasing globalization, the risk of spread of infectious diseases in humans and animals, including equids, has never been greater. International movement of equids and trade in semen are the most important factors responsible for the dissemination of various equine pathogens. Other factors that can or do have the potential to influence the global distribution of equine infectious diseases include: multinational trade agreements, emergent diseases, mutation of pathogens, climate related phenomena, migration of amplifying/reservoir hosts or vectors, availability of new vectors, va...
Humblet MF, Vandeputte S, Fecher-Bourgeois F, Léonard P, Gosset C, Balenghien T, Durand B, Saegerman C.This study aimed at estimating, in a prospective scenario, the potential economic impact of a possible epidemic of WNV infection in Belgium, based on 2012 values for the equine and human health sectors, in order to increase preparedness and help decision-makers. Modelling of risk areas, based on the habitat suitable for Culex pipiens, the main vector of the virus, allowed us to determine equine and human populations at risk. Characteristics of the different clinical forms of the disease based on past epidemics in Europe allowed morbidity among horses and humans to be estimated. The main costs ...
Stadejek T, Bj Rklund H, Bascu Ana CR, Ciabatti IM, Scicluna MT, Amaddeo D, McCollum WH, Autorino GL, Timoney PJ, Paton DJ, Klingeborn B, Bel K S.Equine arteritis viruses (EAV) from Europe and America were compared by phylogenetic analysis of 43 isolates obtained over four decades. An additional 22 virus sequences were retrieved from GenBank. Fragments of the glycoprotein G(L) and the replicase genes were amplified by RT-PCR, prior to sequencing and construction of phylogenetic trees. The trees revealed many distinctive lineages, consistent with prolonged diversification within geographically separated host populations. Two large groups and five subgroups were distinguished. Group I consisted mainly of viruses from North America, whilst...
Galuppi R, Piva S, Castagnetti C, Sarli G, Iacono E, Fioravanti ML, Caffara M.This paper describes the transmission of a zoonotic subtype of Cryptosporidium parvum between two foals hospitalized in an Equine Perinatology Unit (EPU) linked to an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in veterinary students. Fecal specimens of 36 mares (105 samples) and 28 foals (122 samples) were subjected to Ziehl-Neelsen staining, nested PCR of 18S rDNA. Two foals tested positive for Cryptosporidium; PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and subtyping by nested PCR of the 60kDa glycoprotein (gp60) gene revealed C. parvum subtype IIdA23G1. The introduction of Cryptospo...
Park AW, Wood JL, Newton JR, Daly J, Mumford JA, Grenfell BT.A stochastic model of equine influenza (EI) is constructed to assess the risk of an outbreak in a Thoroughbred population at a typical flat race training yard. The model is parameterised using data from equine challenge experiments conducted by the Animal Health Trust (relating to the latent and infectious period of animals) and also published data on previous epidemics (to estimate the transmission rate for equine influenza). Using 89 ponies, an empirical relationship between pre-challenge antibody and the probability of becoming infectious is established using logistic regression. Changes in...
