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.
van 't Klooster AT, Hallebeek JM, Beynen AC.The diet of horses should cover the energy and nutrient requirements of these animals. The desired composition of the ration depends on its digestion in the equine gastrointestinal tract. Nutritional problems or diseases caused by incorrect composition of the ration or by incorrect feeding should be prevented. The digestion of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in the different parts of the gastrointestinal tract is described. In addition, the recently introduced net energy and digestible protein evaluation systems for feeds, and the energy and protein requirements of horses are presented.
Rees WA, Harkins JD, Lu M, Holland RE, Lehner AF, Tobin T, Chambers TM.To determine pharmacokinetics of single and multiple doses of rimantadine hydrochloride in horses and to evaluate prophylactic efficacy of rimantadine in influenza virus-infected horses. Methods: 5 clinically normal horses and 8 horses seronegative to influenza A. Methods: Horses were given rimantadine (7 mg/kg of body weight, i.v., once; 15 mg/kg, p.o., once; 30 mg/kg, p.o., once; and 30 mg/kg, p.o., q 12 h for 4 days) to determine disposition kinetics. Efficacy in induced infections was determined in horses seronegative to influenza virus A2. Rimantadine was administered (30 mg/kg, p.o., q 1...
Lunn DP, Soboll G, Schram BR, Quass J, McGregor MW, Drape RJ, Macklin MD, McCabe DE, Swain WF, Olsen CW.Equine influenza virus infection remains one of the most important infectious diseases of the horse, yet current vaccines offer only limited protection. The equine immune response to natural influenza virus infection results in long-term protective immunity, and is characterized by mucosal IgA and serum IgGa and IgGb antibody responses. DNA vaccination offers a radical alternative to conventional vaccines, with the potential to generate the same protective immune responses seen following viral infection. Antigen-specific antibody isotype responses in serum and mucosal secretions were studied i...
Morley PS, Townsend HG, Bogdan JR, Haines DM.To evaluate efficacy of a commercial vaccine for prevention of infectious upper respiratory tract disease (IURD) caused by equine influenza virus. Methods: Double-masked, randomized, controlled field trial. Methods: 462 horses stabled at a Thoroughbred racetrack. Methods: Vaccine or saline solution placebo was administered 4 times in the population at 6-week intervals. The vaccine contained 3 strains of inactivated influenza virus, and inactivated equine herpesvirus type 4. Horses received 1 or 2 doses of vaccine or placebo prior to onset of a natural influenza epidemic, and were examined 5 d/...
Böhnel H.The laboratory diagnosis of C. botulinum is described for cattle and horses in the years 1995-1998. Out of 122 cases 66 were positive. All types of toxins were identified; in cattle mainly types C and D. In 9 cases typing was not conclusive. The results of an enquiry of afflicated animal owners showed, that modern agricultural technology has an important impact on toxinogenesis in feed stuff. Possibilities to prevent the disease and to reduce economic losses are discussed; a solution cannot be presented.
Epe C, Woidtke S, Pape M, Heise M, Kraemer F, Kohlmetz C, Schnieder T.Two groups of 10 first-year grazing cattle were either left untreated as controls (group 1) or treated with eprinomectin as a pour-on application at turnout and eight weeks later (group 2). The control group developed a mild infection with gastrointestinal nematodes and lungworms during the season, whereas the treated animals remained healthy. The interval between the treatments allowed the establishment of adult worms, but the egg counts remained negligible. The total number of eggs shed by the treated cattle during the grazing season was significantly smaller than by the controls.
Proudman CJ, Trees AJ.Until recently, the equine tapeworm Anoplocephala perfoliata was difficult to diagnose and considered to be of questionable pathogenicity. Here, Chris Proudman and Sandy Trees describe recent advances in the immunodiagnosis of this parasite that have facilitated epidemiological studies. These studies suggest that A. perfoliata may be an important cause of intestinal disease in the horse and demonstrate a dose-response relationship between infection intensity and risk of disease. If tapeworm infection is a risk factor for ileocaecal colic, the identification and treatment of infected individual...
Sweeney CR, Habecker PL.To analyze medical records and identify factors that veterinarians can use to prevent pulmonary aspergillosis in horses or that would enable them to diagnose it as early as possible. Methods: Retrospective study. Methods: 29 horses. Methods: Medical records were reviewed for horses with pulmonary aspergillosis diagnosed on the basis of characteristic postmortem findings. Information on history, clinical signs, disease progression, and postmortem findings was obtained. Results: 25 of 29 (86.2%) horses had primary (n = 20) or secondary (5) disease compatible with loss of integrity of the gastroi...
Hammond SA, Cook SJ, Falo LD, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.Immunization regimens that induce a broadly reactive cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) response specific for lentiviral antigens have emerged as the leading candidates in efficacy trials conducted in both animal modelshumans. To date, lentivirus vaccination strategies have overlooked one such immunization strategy, namely the use of particulate antigens. To evaluate the efficacy of targeting antigen into the phagocytic pathway to elicit a cell-mediated immune response to lentiviral antigens, we initiated the first study of a particulate-based vaccination protocol using a large animal model system. ...
Desmettre P.The frequent transfers of horses, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, make strict control of infectious diseases essential. Such control needs a reliable and rapid means to accurately diagnose the relevant diseases. Indirect diagnosis based on antibody detection remains certainly the best method to secure the epidemiologic surveillance of the diseases at regional, national, or even world level, while direct diagnosis is the only way to diagnose a new outbreak. New diagnostic methods resulting from advances in biochemistry, molecular biology, and immunology are now available. As far as a...
Lang J, Simanjuntak GH, Soerjosembodo S, Koesharyono C.WHO's reference protocol for post-exposure rabies vaccination advises five intramuscular injections on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 30; in addition, rabies immunoglobulins (RIG) must be given to serious cases of exposure (grade III severity). Some studies indicate that these immunoglobulins suppress the immunogenicity of rabies vaccine when administered according to an alternative protocol of four injections (2-1-1) on days 0, 7, and 21, which was therefore not recommended for grade III exposures. To test this effect, we conducted a multicentre study in Indonesia using three groups of subjects. One g...
Balasuriya UB, Evermann JF, Hedges JF, McKeirnan AJ, Mitten JQ, Beyer JC, McCollum WH, Timoney PJ, MacLachlan NJ.A virus isolated from an aborted equine fetus was determined to be antigenically distinct from several other strains of equine arteritis virus (EAV) by use of a neutralization assay with a large panel of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. The virus was readily neutralized by polyclonal equine anti-EAV serum. Comparative nucleotide and amino acid sequence analyses indicated that the virus (WA97) isolated from the aborted fetus was virtually identical to a virus (S1971) isolated from imported semen used to inseminate another mare on the farm. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the WA97/S1971 ...
Vercruysse J, Eysker M, Demeulenaere D, Smets K, Dorny P.A controlled trial was carried out to evaluate the persistence of the effect against small strongyles of a 2 per cent moxidectin gel administered orally to foals at a dose rate of 0.4 mg/kg bodyweight. Five of nine helminth-free foals were treated on day 0, and the remaining four foals were used as controls. On days 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 all nine foals were infected experimentally with 200,000 small strongyle larvae. Three treated and two control foals were necropsied on day 42 and the rest on day 43. Fourteen species of small or medium sized small strongyles were found in the control foals, 10 ...
House JA.Three types of African horse sickness (AHS) vaccine, namely adult mouse brain, modified live vaccine and inactivated viral vaccine (IVV) are reviewed. The results of efficacy trials carried out with each vaccine type highlight the advantages of the IVV. Vaccination with African horse sickness virus serotype 4 IVV, given as 2 separate doses, provided full protection against subsequent, homologous challenge. The absence of any detectable viraemia after challenge would also prevent infection of insect vectors. The advantages of establishing international vaccine banks for AHS are discussed.
Lord CC, Woolhouse ME, Mellor PS.Factors affecting epidemics of African horse sickness in Spain were studied using a mathematical model. The model examined the likelihood of an epidemic after the introduction of the virus, and the effectiveness of vaccination strategies. Two host species (horses and donkeys) and one vector species (the biting midge Culicoides imicola) were included. A stratified random sampling method (Latin hypercube sampling) was used for sensitivity analysis of the likelihood of an epidemic. Systematic variation of vaccination parameters was used to consider alternative control strategies. In general, when...
Holly EA, Bracci PM, Mueller BA, Preston-Martin S.Nineteen counties from San Francisco and Los Angeles, California and Seattle, Washington were the United States sites for a large population-based case-control study of childhood brain tumors (CBTs), sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. CBT patients who were 1 year and were first on a farm when they were < 6 months of age also had increased risk for CBTs (OR = 3.9, 95% CI = 1.2-13). A somewhat increased risk for CBTs was found for children of mothers who ever had worked on livestock farms compared with mothers who never had worked on a farm (OR = 7.4, 95% CI = 0.86-64, based on five...
Perryman LE, Mason PH.Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have been successfully used to evaluate immune responses in horses, and to target important antigens of equine infectious agents to which protective immune responses may be directed (1–5). Most of these studies are performed with murine MAb produced by fusing spleen cells from immunized mice with an appropriate myeloma cell line, as described in Chapter 3. However, there are experimental questions for which murine MAb are not adequate. These include:
1.Definition of microbial epitopes recognized by the infected host;
2.Identification of immunodominant epito...