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.
Timoney PJ.A highly contagious virus infection of horses, influenza is the single most important equine respiratory disease in many countries. Two subtypes of equine influenza virus have been identified, A/equine-1 and A/equine-2, neither of which immunologically cross-reacts. In the case of A/equine-2 virus, two lineages exist, American and European, which appear to have evolved independently of one another. The acute febrile respiratory disease characteristic of influenza is frequently complicated by secondary bacterial infection, especially in unvaccinated horses. Primarily a respiratory-borne infecti...
Knowles DP.Infection of horses with the hemoprotozoan Babesia equi has been reported in southern Florida, US Virgin Islands, part of Asia, Russia, India, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, Central America, Mexico, Philippine Islands and some Caribbean islands. The restrictions placed on the international movement of infected horses has refocused attention on potential methods to control or eliminate infection. Don Knowles here discusses the primary chemotherapeutic compounds that have been used; the current knowledge concerning immune responses that potentially contribute to contr...
Howard JJ, Grayson MA, White DJ, Oliver J.A regional surveillance system for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus was established in central New York in 1984 after the 2nd human EEE fatality occurred in 1983. Extensive mosquito surveillance activities were coordinated with the rapid laboratory processing of mosquito specimens for EEE virus. Active surveillance for EEE infections in humans and equines also was initiated. Results of long-term surveillance detected the presence of multiple Culiseta breeding swamps. A 6-yr interepizootic period (1984-1989) was followed by 2 yr of equine EEE. In 1990, there were 7 equine cases and a rec...
Atwill ER, Mohammed HO.To determine whether preferentially vaccinated horses were at risk for exposure to Ehrlichia risticii, whether horses with equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (EME) were likely to have been nonvaccinated, and whether clinical severity and financial costs associated with care and treatment of EME were less for vaccinated horses with EME than for nonvaccinated horses with EME. Methods: Cross-sectional and case-control studies. Methods: Information on usage of E risticii bacterins to control EME was collected for 2,587 horses located on 511 farms throughout New York. Each horse was tested for serum ant...
Daly JM, Lai AC, Binns MM, Chambers TM, Barrandeguy M, Mumford JA.Evolution of equine influenza a H3N8 viruses was examined by antigenic and genetic analysis of a collection isolates from around the world. It was noted that antigenic and genetic variants of equine H3N8 viruses cocirculate, and in particular that variants currently circulating in Europe and the USA are distinguishable from one another both in terms of antigenic reactivity and genetic structure of the HA1 portion of the haemagglutinin (HA) molecule. Whilst the divergent evolution of American and European isolates may be due to geographical isolation of the two gene pools, some mixing is believ...
Wernery U, Nothelfer HB, Böhnel H, Collins WR.An acute outbreak of a C. perfringens Type C enterotoxemia in a polo club killed 8 polo ponies in less than 24 hours. Hay with a massive fungal contamination (Aspergillus and Fusarium sp.) is suspected to have triggered the enterotoxemia. Our cases show numerous similarities with the previously reported cases of EIC. However, acute toxic tubulonephrosis in the necropsied horses and longstanding elevation of AST and gamma GT-levels in survivors is unique in our cases.
Day JF, Stark LM.Sentinel chickens were maintained at field sites in 40 Florida counties for varying periods between 1978 and 1993. For each county, the total number of St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLE) or eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus seroconversions were divided by the number of chickens exposed to calculate a mean annual seroconversion rate. These rates were used to evaluate the annual and geographical distributions of these viruses within Florida. For SLE, the rates in counties that reported human SLE cases during a widespread epidemic in 1990 were compared with adjusted mean annual seroconversi...
Balasuriya UB, Timoney PJ, McCollum WH, MacLachlan NJ.The variation and phylogenetic relationship of open reading frame 5 (ORF5) of 3 different laboratory strains of the original prototype Bucyrus strain of equine arteritis virus (EAV), the modified live virus vaccine (ARVAC, Fort Dodge Laboratories), and 18 field isolates of EAV from North America and Europe were determined by comparison of their gene sequences. The viruses differed from the published sequence by between 3 (99.6% homology) and 94 (87.8%) nucleotides and by between 3 (98.8%) and 24 (90.6%) amino acids. The field isolates differed from each other by between 2 (99.7%) and 110 (85.7...
Dwyer AE, Crockett RS, Kalsow CM.Recurrent uveitis, a leading cause of blindness in horses, often develops as a sequela to systemic leptospirosis. Over a 7-year period, 63 of 112 (56%) horses with uveitis were seropositive for Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona, but only 23 of 260 (9%) horses without uveitis were seropositive. Odds-ratio analysis revealed that seropositive horses were 13.2 times more likely to have uveitis than were seronegative horses. Of the 63 seropositive horses with uveitis, 59% developed blindness, compared with only 24% in the 49 seronegative horses with uveitis that lost vision in 1 or both eyes du...
Eichhorn W, Heilmann M, Kaaden OR.An outbreak of clinical disease with abortions, suspected to be equine viral arteritis in Germany was examined serologically and virologically. Three of five animals tested seroconverted to EAV, and EAV was isolated from an aborted fetus. In view of the significant increase in seropositive horses, the need for control measures is emphasized.
Silva RA, Arosemena NA, Herrera HM, Sahib CA, Ferreira MS.This paper reports an outbreak of trypanosomosis due to Trypanosoma evansi in horses of the Pantanal Mato-grossense region of Brazil. Forty-eight horses died (51% mortality) and abortion in one mare was recorded. The clinical signs observed were fever, anemia, conjunctivitis, edema of the legs and lower parts of the body, progressive weakness, loss of condition, and loss of appetite. The diagnosis was confirmed by morphological and biometrical studies.
de la Rúa-Domènech R, Mohammed HO, Atwill ER, Cummings JF, Divers TJ, Summers BA, deLahunta A, Jackson C.To examine the regional variations in the distribution of equine motor neuron disease (EMND) in the United States and the factors that might explain those variations. Methods: Cluster investigation and case-control study. Methods: The study population consisted of 97 horses with histopathologically confirmed EMND and 698 controls with diagnosis of other spinal cord disorders at 21 US veterinary teaching hospitals participating in the Veterinary Medical Data Base. Methods: The total horse population of the United States was divided into 21 regions, and the regional incidence rates of EMND from ...
An outbreak of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) that began in northwestern Venezuela in April 1995 has spread westward to the Guajira peninsula and to Colombia (Figure 1), resulting in an estimated minimum of 13,000 cases in humans and an undetermined number of equine deaths. Governments of both countries have initiated efforts to control the spread of this outbreak by quarantining and vaccinating equines and applying insecticides. This report summarizes the ongoing investigation of the outbreak in Colombia.
Arriaga C, Yépez-Mulia L, Viveros N, Adame LA, Zarlenga DS, Lichtenfels JR, Benitez E, Ortega-Pierres MG.Human trichinellosis outbreaks related to horsemeat consumption have been reported in France and Italy in recent years. In order to determine if Trichinella is present in horses slaughtered at an abattoir in the State of Mexico, diaphragm muscle tissue samples (22-37 g) from 80 horses were examined by artificial digestion. Four of these samples had larvae that were characterized as Trichinella sp. by morphological criteria and as Trichinella spiralis by the polymerase chain reaction.
Monzón CM, Jara A, Nantulya VM.The sensitivity of an antigen detection enzyme immunoassay (Ag-ELISA) based on a Trypanosoma brucei group-specific monoclonal antibody was evaluated to detect circulating Trypanosoma evansi antigen in horse sera. Three horses and 2 mules were experimentally infected with T. evansi. Circulating antigens were detected on 7 and 21 days postinfection. Antigen levels increased during the course of the illness and remained high even when parasitemia was low or when parasites could not be detected. Antigens were cleared from serum when drug treatment was effective but persisted when it was not. In 6 ...
Monzón CM, Hoyos CB, Jara GA.Tests on 257 blood samples from 21 herds of horses in Formosa Province of Argentina, using the technique of centrifuging microhaematocrit capillary tubes, revealed Trypanosoma evansi in 90 of 137 animals in eight herds. Application of the direct agglutination test to serum samples from the same animals revealed antibodies to T. evansi in 107 horses. Antibody was also detected in nine horses from two herds where the parasite was not detected. Outbreaks of 'mal de caderas' occurred in the humid (eastern) and sub-humid (central) zones of Formosa. More than 95% of the equine population of the prov...
Paquette B.Equine infectious anemia in Canada was reviewed for the period January 1976 to December 1981. The human and ecological factors prevailing in Canada are deemed instrumental with respect to the evolution of the disease. The natural spread of the disease on a large scale has not been influenced by the Federal program. Reactors with signs of the disease are important for it's propagation. The author underlines the necessity of cooperation with private practising veterinarians to control it.
Pampiglione S, Baldelli R, Corsini C, Mari S, Mantovani A.The occurrence of a trichinellosis epidemic in the province of Reggio Emilia in 1975, the source of which was attributed to horse meat, led the authors to use this animal for experimental infections. By using the trichina strain isolated from the above outbreak, 4 horses were infected orally. All 4 animals became infected. The most affected muscles were the lingual, masticatory and neck ones. Meat from the 4 horses was subsequently fed to laboratory animals (rats, mice, guineapigs) and other domestic species (cats, dogs, pigs) and further infections were obtained. An attempt to infect also a s...
Clayton HM, Duncan JL.From June to October 1978 four pony mares and foals and two donkey mares and foals grazed a paddock contaminated with Dictyocaulus arnfieldi larvae. No signs of respiratory disease were seen in the foals but within 11 weeks of exposure to the paddock all six developed patent lungworm infections. In October 1978 one donkey and two pony foals were killed. At post mortem examination parasites in various stages of development and measuring up to 8 cm in length were found in the lungs. At this time the three surviving foals were stabled for the remainder of the experiment. Two of these ceased passi...
Smith KC.Respiratory disease is an important cause of wastage in the Thoroughbred industry and is a cause of welfare problems in all types of horse. This review concerns developments in our understanding of equine respiratory disease since 1998 and illustrates how strategic funding from the Horserace Betting Levy Board has contributed to this understanding.