Disease prevention in horses encompasses strategies and practices aimed at minimizing the occurrence and spread of infectious and non-infectious diseases within equine populations. These practices include vaccination programs, biosecurity measures, and regular health monitoring. Vaccination helps to stimulate the horse's immune system to protect against specific pathogens, while biosecurity measures, such as quarantine and sanitation, reduce the risk of disease transmission. Regular health monitoring, including physical examinations and diagnostic testing, aids in early detection and management of potential health issues. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various methods and their effectiveness in preventing diseases in horses, as well as the development and implementation of prevention programs in different equine settings.
Blikslager AT.Management factors associated with colic, particularly related to stall confinement and nutrition, have been linked to alterations in gastrointestinal mucosal transport, motility, and microbiome, which in turn creates conditions that induce colic. In particular, meal feeding creates large changes in water movement in and out of the colon and alters the microbiome. These conditions may in turn result in colic conditions such as large colon impaction or large colon volvulus. In addition, a range of management and nutritional factors have been found to place horses at risk of select colic conditi...
Caron JP, Gandy JC, Brown JL, Sordillo LM.Omega-3 fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) supplementation may have beneficial effects in certain chronic diseases, potentially including osteoarthritis. Favorable effects are attributed, in part, to downstream pro-resolving oxylipid metabolites. We investigated the role of n-3 PUFA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-derived oxylipids (docosanoids) on equine synoviocyte metabolism. We hypothesized that n-3 PUFA and selected docosanoids would modulate inflammatory mediator gene expression by recombinant equine (re)IL-1β-stimulated synovial fibroblasts. Synoviocyte monolayer cultures were prepared from grossly ...
Burkom H, Estberg L, Akkina J, Elbert Y, Zepeda C, Baszler T.The Risk Identification Unit (RIU) of the US Dept. of Agriculture's Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH) conducts weekly surveillance of national livestock health data and routine coordination with agricultural stakeholders. As part of an initiative to increase the number of species, health issues, and data sources monitored, CEAH epidemiologists are building a surveillance system based on weekly syndromic counts of laboratory test orders in consultation with Colorado State University laboratorians and statistical analysts from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laborator...
Milwid RM, O'Sullivan TL, Poljak Z, Laskowski M, Greer AL.Disease transmission models often assume homogenous mixing. This assumption, however, has the potential to misrepresent the disease dynamics for populations in which contact patterns are non-random. A disease transmission model with an SEIR structure was used to compare the effect of weighted and unweighted empirical equine contact networks to weighted and unweighted theoretical networks generated using random mixing. Equine influenza was used as a case study. Incidence curves generated with the unweighted empirical networks were similar in epidemic duration (5-8 days) and peak incidence (30.8...
Leśniak K, Whittington L, Mapletoft S, Mitchell J, Hancox K, Draper S, Williams J.Despite the likelihood that a horse's mass influences hoof morphology, empirical evidence is lacking. A clearer understanding of factors influencing hoof shape could enable prevention, or better treatment, of foot-based disorders; common causes of equine lameness. The study's aim was to investigate the relationship between horse body size, in terms of mass and height, and fore hoof dimensions. A further aim was to determine changes in the occurrence of hoof asymmetry as body size increases. Height, mass, and fore hoof dimensions; coronet band width (CBW); hoof base width (HBW); dorsal hoof wal...
Ferreira LL, Sarria ALF, de Oliveira Filho JG, de Silva FO, Powers SJ, Caulfield JC, Pickett JA, Birkett MA, Borges LMF.Amblyomma sculptum is a tick affecting animal and human health across Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. Donkeys, Equus asinus, are known to be resistant to A. sculptum, suggesting that they can produce non-host tick semiochemicals (allomones), as already demonstrated for some other vertebrate host/pest interactions, whereas horses, Equus caballus, are considered as susceptible hosts. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that donkeys produce natural repellents against A. sculptum, by collecting sebum from donkeys and horses, collecting the odour from sebum extracts, and identifying do...
Biermann NM, McClure JT, Sanchez J, Saab M, Doyle AJ.Currently, the World Health Organization recommends the use of alcohol-based hand rubs (ABR) for surgical hand preparation in human surgery. When disinfecting soaps are used, a rubbing technique causes less skin irritation than brush scrubbing. Based on a recent survey, most equine surgeons still use disinfecting soap. The efficacy of scrubbing vs. rubbing and the use of sole ABR compared with chlorhexidine (CHx)- based products has not been evaluated in the equine surgical setting. Objective: To compare four surgical hand antisepsis techniques in equine surgery for reduction of aerobic bacter...
Pollard D, Wylie CE, Verheyen KLP, Newton JR.Equine laminitis is a complex disease that manifests as pain and lameness in the feet, often with debilitating consequences. There is a paucity of data that accounts for the multifactorial nature of laminitis and considers time-varying covariates that may be associated with disease development; particularly those that are modifiable and present potential interventions. A previous case-control study identified a number of novel, modifiable factors associated with laminitis which warranted further investigation and corroboration. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with equi...
González-Medina S, Montesso F, Chang YM, Hyde C, Piercy RJ.Several pasture management strategies have been proposed to avoid hypoglycin A (HGA) intoxication in horses, but their efficacy has never been investigated. Objective: To evaluate the effect of mowing and herbicidal spraying on HGA content of sycamore seedlings and the presence of HGA in seeds and seedlings processed within haylage and silage. Methods: Experimental study. Methods: Groups of seedlings were mowed (n = 6), sprayed with a dimethylamine-based (n = 2) or a picolinic acid-based herbicide (n = 1). Seedlings were collected before intervention, and at 48 h, 1 and 2 weeks after. ...
Rosanowski SM, Carpenter TE, Adamson D, Rogers CW, Pearce P, Burns M, Cogger N.Equine influenza (EI) is an infectious respiratory disease of horses that has never been reported in New Zealand (NZ). However, the 2007 EI outbreak in Australia, previously EI free, spurred the NZ government and stakeholders into evaluating alternative EI control strategies in order to economically justify any future decision to eradicate or manage EI. To build on the policy debate, this paper presents an epinomic (epidemiologic and economic) modelling approach to evaluate alternative control strategies. An epidemiologic model to determine how alternative EI control strategies influence the d...
Equine infectious anaemia (EIA) is a blood borne disease that is listed among the notifiable diseases of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). EIA is also regulated by the OIE for the international trading provisions and is generally subject to control programmes. Since 2011, Italy has been conducting a surveillance plan based on a three-tier diagnostic system, using a serological ELISA as screening test, an agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGIDT) as a confirmatory method, and an immunoblot (IB) as an alternative confirmatory assay for discordant results between the first two tests. As...
Milwid RM, O'Sullivan TL, Poljak Z, Laskowski M, Greer AL.Contact networks can be used to assess disease spread potential within a population. However, the data required to generate the networks can be challenging to collect. One method of collecting this type of data is by using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. The OpenBeacon RFID system generally consists of tags and readers. Communicating tags should be within 10m of the readers, which are powered by an external power source. The readers are challenging to implement in agricultural settings due to the lack of a power source and the large area needed to be covered. OpenBeacon firmware wa...
Degeling C, Gilbert GL, Annand E, Taylor M, Walsh MG, Ward MP, Wilson A, Johnson J.Hendra virus (HeV) infection is endemic in Australian flying-fox populations. Habitat loss has increased the peri-urban presence of flying-foxes, increasing the risk of contact and therefore viral 'spillovers' into horse and human populations. An equine vaccine is available and horse-husbandry practices that minimize HeV exposure are encouraged, but their adoption is suboptimal. Ecological approaches-such as habitat creation and conservation-could complement vaccination and behavioural strategies by reducing spillover risks, but these are controversial. We convened three community juries (two ...
McCoy AM, Smith RL, Secor EJ, Roady PJ.To determine the influence of tissue preparation and long-term storage methods on structural integrity and risk of bacterial contamination of equine amnion. Methods: Prospective experimental investigation SAMPLE POPULATION: Amniotic membranes from 8 healthy mares (n = 440 tested samples). Methods: Samples for baseline bacteriology and histology were taken after removal of debris. The remaining tissue was divided and processed with 0.05% chlorhexidine or 2% iodine/0.25% acetic acid. Processed amnion samples were assigned to 1 of 9 combinations of storage media (saline, chlorhexidine, acetic...
Manso TC, Groenner-Penna M, Minozzo JC, Antunes BC, Ippolito GC, Molina F, Felicori LF.Horse serum antibodies have been used for greater than a century for the treatment and prophylaxis of infectious diseases and envenomations. Little is known, however, about the immunogenetic diversity that produces horse serum antibodies. Here, we employed next-generation sequencing for a first-in-kind comprehensive analysis of the equine B-cell repertoire. Nearly 45,000 and 30,000 clonotypes were obtained for the heavy-chain (IGH) and lambda light-chain (IGL) loci, respectively. We observed skewed use of the common subgroups IGHV2 (92.49%) and IGLV8 (82.50%), consistent with previous reports,...
Robb LL, Hartman DA, Rice L, deMaria J, Bergren NA, Borland EM, Kading RC.Western equine encephalitis (WEE) was once prevalent and routinely isolated from mosquitoes in Colorado; however, isolations of Western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) have not been reported from mosquito pools since the early 1990s. The objective of the present study was to test pools of Culex tarsalis (Coquillett) mosquitoes sampled from Weld County, CO, in 2016 for evidence of WEEV infection. Over 7,000 mosquitoes were tested, but none were positive for WEEV RNA. These data indicate that WEEV either was not circulating enzootically in Northern Colorado, was very rare, and would require muc...
Jagannathan V, Gerber V, Rieder S, Tetens J, Thaller G, Drögemüller C, Leeb T.Whole-genome sequencing studies are vital to gain a thorough understanding of genomic variation. Here, we summarize the results of a whole-genome sequencing study comprising 88 horses and ponies from diverse breeds at 19.1× average coverage. The paired-end reads were mapped to the current EquCab3.0 horse reference genome assembly, and we identified approximately 23.5 million single nucleotide variants and 2.3 million short indel variants. Our dataset included at least 7 million variants that were not previously reported. On average, each individual horse genome carried ∼5.7 million single n...
Milwid RM, O'Sullivan TL, Poljak Z, Laskowski M, Greer AL.Contact networks can be analyzed to assess the potential for disease spread throughout the network. The lack of Canadian facility-level equine contact data makes the characterization of the equine contact structure difficult. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use empirical contact data to characterize and compare equine network characteristics between equine facilities in Ontario. Contact pattern data from 4 equine facilities were collected using radio-frequency identification tags. The collected data were used to form 7 static contact networks (1 for each study day) for each facilit...
Fettelschoss-Gabriel A, Fettelschoss V, Olomski F, Birkmann K, Thoms F, Bühler M, Kummer M, Zeltins A, Kündig TM, Bachmann MF.Insect-bite hypersensitivity (IBH) in horses is a chronic allergic dermatitis caused by insect bites. Horses suffer from pruritic skin lesions, caused by type-I/type-IV allergic reactions accompanied by prominent eosinophil infiltration into the skin. Interleukin-5 (IL-5) is the key cytokine for eosinophils and we have previously shown that targeting IL-5 by vaccination reduces disease symptoms in horses. Here, we analyzed the potential for long-term therapy by assessing a second follow-up year of the previously published study. The vaccine consisted of equine IL-5 (eIL-5) covalently linked to...
Tannahill VJ, Cardwell JM, Witte TH.Colic is a common and potentially life-threatening condition of horses. Multiple risk factors have been previously identified and it is known that a careful management routine can help reduce colic rates. The British military working horse population represents a unique cohort of horses that are intensively managed with a strict regimen. This retrospective study examined the incidence and mortality rate of colic within this population, as well as the signalment of affected horses, and compared these with the general population. Data for 717 horses over a five-year period (2008-2012) were analy...
Davis JG, Ragle CA, Hanna A, DeNome AT.To determine the location of the deep and superficial caudal epigastric arteries in relation to 3 midline positions and the relationship between the location of these arteries, body circumference, and body condition score. Methods: Descriptive anatomical study. Methods: Nine horses, aged 1-28 years (mean 10.61 ± 8.89 SD). Methods: Body condition score and body circumference were measured prior to euthanasia. Angiographic studies of the deep and superficial caudal epigastric arteries were performed on resected abdominal walls. The distances between the deep and the superficial caudal epiga...
Rückert C, Emmerich I, Hertzsch R, Vervuert I.Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are secondary plant metabolites with hepatotoxic effect in humans and several animal species. In recent studies, foods such as herbal teas and honey have been found to be contaminated with pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify and assess pyrrolizidine alkaloids in compound feeds manufactured for horses and containing either alfalfa or a blend of herbs. Methods: Forty-eight feed products for horses were included in the study. The feedstuffs were analysed for 28 selected pyrrolizidine alkaloids by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry...
Younkin JT, Santschi EM, Kukanich B, Lubbers BV, Warner M.Penicillin is administered intravenously (IV) or intramuscularly (IM) to horses for the prevention and treatment of infections, and both routes have disadvantages. To minimize these shortcomings, a 24-hr hybrid administration protocol (HPP) was developed. Our objective was to determine penicillin plasma concentrations in horses administered via HPP. Venous blood was collected from seven healthy horses administered IV potassium penicillin G at 0 and 6 hr and IM procaine penicillin G at 12 hr. Blood was collected at 2-hr intervals from 0 to 20 hr and at 24 hr. Plasma penicillin concentration...
Quintero Vélez JC, Aguirre-Acevedo DC, Rodas JD, Arboleda M, Troyo A, Vega Aguilar F, Osorio Quintero L, Rojas Arbeláez C.Most of the studies related to rickettsial infection in Colombia are cross-sectional because of the challenge in conducting prospective studies on infectious disease that may have a difficult diagnosis. Although cross-sectional studies are essential to detect people exposed to rickettsiae, they are not suited to demonstrate the recent circulation of this pathogen in areas at risk of transmission. To characterize the epidemiology of incident cases of Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsial infection in humans and equines from rural areas of Urabá region in Colombia where outbreaks of rickettsiae...
Hellman S, Hjertner B, Morein B, Fossum C.The immunomodulatory effect of a new particulate adjuvant, G3, alone or in combination with agonists to TLR2/1 or TLR5 was evaluated in cultures of equine PBMC. Exposure to the G3 adjuvant up-regulated genes encoding IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p40 and IL-23p19 in the majority of the horses tested, indicating that the G3 adjuvant induced a pro-inflammatory and Th1 dominated profile. In accordance, genes encoding IL-13, IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β remained unaffected and genes encoding IFN-α, IL-17A and TNF-α were only occasionally and weakly induced. The two TLR agonists Pam3CSK4 (TLR2/1) an...
Matherne ME, Cockerill K, Zhou Y, Bellamkonda M, Hu DL.The swinging of a mammal's tail has long been thought to deter biting insects, which, in cows, can drain up to 0.3 liters of blood per day. How effective is a mammal's tail at repelling insects? In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we filmed horses, zebras, elephants, giraffes and dogs swinging their tails. The tail swings at triple the frequency of a gravity-driven pendulum, and requires 27 times more power input. Tails can also be used like a whip to directly strike at insects. This whip-like effect requires substantial torques from the base of the tail on the order of 10-1...
Dennis SJ, O'Kennedy MM, Rutkowska D, Tsekoa T, Lourens CW, Hitzeroth II, Meyers AE, Rybicki EP.African horse sickness (AHS) is caused by multiple serotypes of the dsRNA AHSV and is a major scourge of domestic equids in Africa. While there are well established commercial live attenuated vaccines produced in South Africa, risks associated with these have encouraged attempts to develop new and safer recombinant vaccines. Previously, we reported on the immunogenicity of a plant-produced AHS serotype 5 virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine, which stimulated high titres of AHS serotype 5-specific neutralizing antibodies in guinea pigs. Here, we report a similar response to the vaccine in horses. ...
Krägeloh T, Cavalleri JMV, Ziegler J, Sander J, Terhardt M, Breves G, Cehak A.Intestinal absorption of hypoglycin A (HGA) and its metabolism are considered major prerequisites for atypical myopathy (AM). The increasing incidence and the high mortality rate of AM urgently necessitate new therapeutic and/or preventative approaches. Objective: To identify a substance for oral administration capable of binding HGA in the intestinal lumen and effectively reducing the intestinal absorption of the toxin. Methods: Experimental in vitro study. Methods: Substances commonly used in equine practice (activated charcoal composition, di-tri-octahedral smectite, mineral oil and activat...
Fernandez AS, Prescott JF, Nicholson VM.IgG was purified from horses immunized with repeated doses of virulence associated (VapA) enriched antigens extracted with Triton X-114 from the surface of a virulent strain of R. equi. This IgG were administered to mice immunosuppressed by prior treatment with indomethacin. Mice administered the higher dose were completely protected against intraperitoneal infection with R. equi; mice given the lower dose were partially protected. By contrast, mice administered concentrated nonimmune equine IgG were not protected. This study demonstrates that VapA may be an important antigen involved in humor...
Browning GF, Chalmers RM, Sale CS, Fitzgerald TA, Snodgrass DR.The homotypic and heterotypic antibody response to rotavirus was determined in three pony mares and their foals. The normal concentrations of anti-rotavirus antibodies in mares' milk and mares' and foals' serum over the first 10 weeks post-partum were measured using IgA, IgG and rotavirus serotype-specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. Experimental infection of the foals with serotype 3 equine rotavirus produced a rapid, serotype-specific response which peaked 10 days after infection and a slower heterotypic response which peaked 32 days later. In contrast, vaccination of the mares with ...
Wu F, Zhang S, Zhang Y, Mo R, Yan F, Wang H, Wong G, Chi H, Wang T, Feng N, Gao Y, Xia X, Zhao Y, Yang S.Ebola virus infections lead to severe hemorrhagic fevers in humans and nonhuman primates; and human fatality rates are as high as 67%-90%. Since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976, the only available treatments have been medical support or the emergency administration of experimental drugs. The absence of licensed vaccines and drugs against the Ebola virus impedes the prevention of viral infection. In this study, we generated recombinant baculoviruses (rBV) expressing the Sudan virus (SUDV) matrix structural protein (VP40) (rBV-VP40-VP40) or the SUDV glycoprotein (GP) (rBV-GP-GP), and SUDV...
Emenius G, Merritt AS, Härfast B.To protect susceptible subjects from exposure to horse allergen, a Swedish national report recommended a distance of at least 500 m between homes and stables and other areas with horses. The aim of this project was to study indoor and outdoor levels of horse allergen in relation to distance from stables and horse tracks. Methods: Indoor and outdoor samples were collected with Petri dishes at 49 sites in different housing areas and near to a track for trotting horses. In the apartments, Petri dishes were placed on a bookshelf in the living room at a height of approximately 1.5 m. Outdoors, cage...
Newton JR, Hedderson EJ, Adams VJ, McGorum BC, Proudman CJ, Wood JL.The reasons why equine grass sickness (EGS) recurs on premises are unknown and, consequently, practical methods for reducing the risk of recurrence are not available. Objective: To identify risk factors associated with recurrence of EGS on premises and to gain possible insights into the pathogenesis of the disease. Methods: Data on disease history and risk factors were collected by postal questionnaire from premises with EGS cases between 1st January 1997 and 31st December 2001. Data on variation in rates of recurrence of EGS for different risk factors were analysed using Poisson regression an...
Rogers CW, Dittmer KE.In mammals, play behaviour appears innate and, because of this, may provide insight into the frequency and intensity of load that is required to stimulate positive musculoskeletal development. The objective of this review was to explore the interaction between play and tissue (bone) development at a molecular through to whole-animal level, with specific focus on the horse as a model. The basis of our understanding of the response of bone to loading is the mechanostat theorem. This assumes that at a tissue level, bone attempts to keep localised strain within the physiological range of 1500-2500...
Dilai M, Piro M, El Harrak M, Fougerolle S, Dehhaoui M, Dikrallah A, Legrand L, Paillot R, Fassi Fihri O.To evaluate the humoral immune response to mixed Equine Influenza vaccination, a common practice in the field, an experimental study was carried out on 42 unvaccinated thoroughbred weanling foals divided into six groups of seven. Three groups were vaccinated using a non-mixed protocol (Equilis Prequenza-Te, Proteqflu-Te or Calvenza-03) and three other groups were vaccinated using a mix of the three vaccines mentioned previously. Each weanling underwent a primary EI vaccination schedule composed of two primary immunisations (V1 and V2) four weeks apart followed by a third boost immunisation (V3...
Hellman S, Hjertner B, Morein B, Fossum C.The immunomodulatory effect of a new particulate adjuvant, G3, alone or in combination with agonists to TLR2/1 or TLR5 was evaluated in cultures of equine PBMC. Exposure to the G3 adjuvant up-regulated genes encoding IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p40 and IL-23p19 in the majority of the horses tested, indicating that the G3 adjuvant induced a pro-inflammatory and Th1 dominated profile. In accordance, genes encoding IL-13, IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β remained unaffected and genes encoding IFN-α, IL-17A and TNF-α were only occasionally and weakly induced. The two TLR agonists Pam3CSK4 (TLR2/1) an...
Lévéille R, Hardy J, Robertson JT, Willis AM, Beard WL, Weisbrode SE, Lepage OM.To develop a transarterial coil embolization technique for occlusion of the internal carotid artery (ICA), external carotid artery (ECA), and maxillary arteries (MA) in normal horses and to evaluate this technique for prevention of hemorrhage in horses affected with guttural pouch mycosis. Methods: Ten adult, normal horses and 4 horses with guttural pouch mycosis. Methods: All horses had transarterial coil embolization of the rostral and caudal ICA, caudal MA, and rostral ECA. In 1 affected horse, an aberrant actively bleeding branch of the ECA was also occluded. Normal horses had a premortem ...
Easton S, Bartley DJ, Hotchkiss E, Hodgkinson JE, Pinchbeck GL, Matthews JB.Grazing livestock and equines are at risk of infection from a variety of helminths, for which the primary method of control has long been the use of anthelmintics. Anthelmintic resistance is now widespread in a number of helminth species across the globe so it is imperative that best practice control principles be adopted to delay the further spread of resistance. It is the responsibility of all who prescribe anthelmintics (in the UK, this being veterinarians, suitably qualified persons (SQPs) and pharmacists) to provide adequate information on best practice approaches to parasite control at t...
Barnard BJ.The entry of Culicoides species into stables was examined by comparing the numbers of midges caught with identical light-traps under different conditions. The comparison was made between collections made inside an empty stable, a regularly cleaned stable and a dirty stable and those made outside the stables in a sleeping space open on two sides. The work was first done in the presence of cattle and sheep in adjoining paddocks and then repeated in their absence. A positive correlation was found between the numbers of C. imicola females caught out of doors and inside a clean stable. Removal of t...
Stockton KA, Morley PS, Hyatt DR, Burgess BA, Patterson G, Dunowska M, Lee DE.To evaluate the effects of footwear hygiene protocols on bacterial contamination of floor surfaces in an equine hospital. Methods: Field trial. Methods: Footwear hygiene protocols evaluated included use of rubber overboots with footbaths and footmats containing a quaternary ammonium disinfectant, rubber overboots with footbaths and footmats containing a peroxygen disinfectant, and no restrictions on footwear type but mandatory use of footbaths and footmats containing a peroxygen disinfectant. Nonspecific aerobic bacterial counts were determined via 2 procedures for sample collection and bacter...
Khan A, Hallowell GD, Underwood C, van Eps AW.Rectal fluid administration may offer a simple, safe and inexpensive alternative to intravenous or nasogastric fluid therapy in equine clinical cases. Objective: To evaluate the tolerance and effects of rectally administered fluid and compare the measurements of haemodilution and intravascular volume with those during nasogastric and intravenous fluid administration. Methods: Randomised controlled experimental trial. Methods: Six clinically normal Standardbred geldings were used in a 4-way crossover study: each received three different fluid treatments (intravenous, nasogastric and rectal) at ...
Ridgely SL, Zhang B, McGuire TC.Lipopeptide containing an ELA-A1-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope from the envelope surface unit (SU) protein of the EIAV(WSU5) strain was used to immunize three horses having the ELA-A1 haplotype. Peptide-specific ELA-A1-restricted CTL were induced in all three horses, although these were present transiently in PBMC. These horses were further immunized with lipopeptide containing the corresponding CTL epitope from the EIAV(PV) strain. Then, the three immunized horses and three non-immunized horses were challenged by intravenous inoculation with 300 TCID(50) EIAV(PV). All horses...
Loux SC, Scoggin KE, Troedsson MH, Squires EL, Ball BA.The cervical mucus plug (CMP) is believed to play an integral role in the maintenance of pregnancy in the mare, primarily by inhibiting microbial entry. Unfortunately, very little is known about its composition or origin. To determine the proteomic composition of the CMP, we collected CMPs from mares (n = 4) at 9 months of gestation, and proteins were subsequently analyzed by nano-LC-MS/MS. Results were searched against EquCab2.0, and proteomic pathways were predicted by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Histologic sections of the CMP were stained with H&E and PAS. To identify the origin of ...
Mendez D, Büttner P, Speare R.A cross-sectional study of private veterinarians providing equine services in Queensland. Results: The study revealed that a majority of veterinarians would support the introduction of a Hendra virus (HeV) vaccine. Moreover, almost half of the respondents intended to make vaccination a prerequisite to horse patient presentation. However, participants also responded that a vaccine would not reduce the risk sufficiently to cease or downgrade their HeV management plan and infection control measures. Conclusions: When devising promoting and marketing campaigns, government agencies and manufacturer...
Hayama Y, Kobayashi S, Nishida T, Muroga N, Tsutsui T.An equine infectious anemia (EIA) transmission model was developed by constructing a network structure of horse movement patterns in a non-racehorse population. This model was then used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of several EIA surveillance strategies. Because EIA had not been detected in Japan since 1993, it was appropriate to review the current surveillance strategy, which aims to eradicate EIA by intensive testing, and to consider alternative strategies suitable for the current EIA status in Japan. The non-racehorse population was divided into four sectors based on horse u...
Current HIV researchMarch 10, 2010
Volume 8, Issue 1 87-93 doi: 10.2174/157016210790416424
Carpenter S, Dobbs D.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is one of the most divergent members of the lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses and is considered a useful comparative model for molecular studies of lentivirus replication. The Rev protein of EIAV is functionally homologous with other lentiviral Revs and facilitates export of incompletely spliced viral mRNAs through a Crm1-dependent pathway. The trans- and cis-acting elements that mediate EIAV Rev function are similar to, but distinct from, the well-characterized elements in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), the prototypical Rev protein. In addition,...
Yang G, Chen K, Guo W, Hu Z, Qi T, Liu D, Wang Y, Du C, Wang X.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a serious problem in the horse industry, and controlling EP is critical for international horse trading. EP is caused by two apicomplexan protozoan parasites, Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. Rapid and accurate methods that are suitable for detecting these parasites in the field are crucial to control the infection and spread of EP. In this study, we developed a card to detect antibodies against T. equi and B. caballi based on two colloidal gold immunochromatographic strips according to the principle of the double-antigen sandwich. The proteins equi merozoite an...
Spence KL, Slater J, Rosanowski SM, Cardwell JM.The international nature of the equine industry provides opportunities for the spread of infectious diseases between countries. While incursions of exotic diseases into the United Kingdom (UK) equine population have been rare, the potential socioeconomic and welfare impacts are a significant concern. However, little is known about leisure horse owners' ability or willingness to prepare for an exotic disease incursion. The objectives of this study were to describe UK leisure horse owners' awareness and perceptions of exotic diseases, and to identify clusters of horse owners characterised by the...
Weese JS.Because nosocomial and zoonotic diseases are inherent and ever-present risks in veterinary hospitals, proactive policies should be in place to reduce the risk of sporadic cases and outbreaks. Policies should ideally be put in place before disease issues arise, and policies should be effectively conveyed to all relevant personnel. Written policies are required for practical and liability reasons and should be reviewed regularly. Although no infection control program can eliminate disease concerns, proper implementation of barrier precautions and isolation can reduce the exposure of hospitalized...
Coultous RM, Leadon DP, Shiels BR, Sutton D, Weir W.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a notifiable disease in Ireland and a significant concern to domestic and international equine industries. Information regarding EP presence in Ireland is currently limited. This retrospective surveillance study describes a serological and molecular analysis of blood samples submitted to the Irish Equine Centre for EP testing between January 2013 and April 2016. Methods: Following serological testing, seropositive samples were screened using a PCR targeting the 18S ribosomal RNA gene. Amplicon sequences were bioinformatically analysed to identify the parasite speci...
Medina-Torres CE, Weese JS, Staempfli HR.Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a recognized cause of colitis in the horse. Identification of its toxins is important for management of individual cases and for prevention of transmission and zoonosis. In humans, CDI diagnosis is performed with enzyme immunoassays, none of which have been validated for horses. Objective: (1) Establish which test for CDI diagnosis was more frequently used by diagnostic laboratories, (2) determine the identified test's performance, sensitivity, and specificity, and (3) validate its use in diarrheic horses. Methods: Samples were obtained from 72 horses p...
Maniego J, Pesko B, Habershon-Butcher J, Huggett J, Taylor P, Scarth J, Ryder E.Throughout the history of horse racing, doping techniques to suppress or enhance performance have expanded to match the technology available. The next frontier in doping, both in the equine and human sports areas, is predicted to be genetic manipulation; either by prohibited use of genome editing, or gene therapy via transgenes. By using massively-parallel sequencing via a two-step PCR method we can screen for multiple doping targets at once in pooled primer sets. This method has the advantages of high scalability through combinational indexing, and the use of reference standards with altered ...
Gale P, Kelly L, Snary EL.The emergence of bluetongue virus and Schmallenberg virus in Great Britain (GB) during the last decade has highlighted the need for understanding the relative importance of the various pathways of the entry of livestock arboviruses so as to help focus surveillance and mitigation. This study summarizes what is known for the main routes of entry and assesses the strength of the current evidence for and against. Entry through infected arthropod vectors is considered at the level of each life cycle stage for tick-, biting midge- and mosquito-borne viruses, and while there is evidence that this cou...
Morais JF, de Freitas MC, Yamaguchi IK, dos Santos MC, da Silva WD.IgG and F(ab')2 fragments were prepared from horse plasma rich in specific antibodies against Brazilian Bothrops or Crotalus venoms. Both preparations, free of gross contamination with non-immunoglobulin proteins, were able to combine in vitro with their respective antigens, forming immune complexes at antigen excess, equivalence or antibody excess, and activating the C system, through either the classical or the alternative pathways. The IgG preparation was more effective in neutralizing the lethal factors in Bothrops or Crotalus venoms, compared with the F(ab')2 fragments. In contrast, IgG a...
Thomas SJ, de Solis CN, Coleman MC.Equine asthma is a common condition in horses, for which few host-related risk factors have been identified. The objective of this study was to identify host-related risk factors for the development of equine asthma. A retrospective, case-control study was performed, utilizing horses presented to the Texas A&M University, Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital from January 2014 December 2018. Incident cases of mild to severe equine asthma (n = 37), diagnosed clinically with cytologic support of disease were examined. For each case, two control populations were identified, including one tem...
Sauermann CW, Leathwick DM, Lieffering M, Nielsen MK.Climate change is likely to influence livestock production by increasing the prevalence of diseases, including parasites. The traditional practice of controlling nematodes in livestock by the application of anthelmintics is, however, increasingly compromised by the development of resistance to these drugs in parasite populations. This study used a previously developed simulation model of the entire equine cyathostomin lifecycle to investigate the effect a changing climate would have on the development of anthelmintic resistance. Climate data from six General Circulation Models based on four di...
Sturgill TL, Giguère S, Berghaus LJ, Hurley DJ, Hondalus MK.Equine neonates have reduced humoral and cell-mediated immune responses compared to adult horses after administration of killed vaccines. As a basis for this study, we hypothesized that newborn foals can mount strong immune responses after vaccination with live Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Methods: Healthy 4-day-old foals (n=7), 4-month-old foals (n=7) and adult horses (n=6) were vaccinated once with live M. bovis BCG. Age-matched animals (n=5 per group) were used as unvaccinated controls. Relative vaccine-specific immunoglobulin concentrations and whole blood mRNA expression of IFN-γ, IL-4, and ...
