Disease surveillance in horses involves the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data to monitor and manage equine diseases. This process aids in the early detection of outbreaks, tracking of disease trends, and evaluation of control measures. Surveillance systems may incorporate various data sources, including clinical reports, laboratory testing, and field observations. These systems can focus on infectious diseases, such as equine influenza and West Nile virus, or non-infectious conditions affecting horse populations. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore methodologies, technologies, and outcomes associated with disease surveillance in equine populations.
El-Hage C, Mekuria Z, Dynon K, Hartley C, McBride K, Gilkerson J.Equine herpesviruses (EHVs) are common respiratory pathogens in horses; whilst the alphaherpesviruses are better understood, the clinical importance of the gammaherpesviruses remains undetermined. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of, and any association between, equine respiratory herpesviruses EHV1, -2, -4 and -5 infection in horses with and without clinical signs of respiratory disease. Nasal swabs were collected from 407 horses in Victoria and included clinically normal horses that had been screened for regulatory purposes. Samples were collected from horses during Australia's e...
Napp S, Llorente F, Beck C, Jose-Cunilleras E, Soler M, Pailler-García L, Amaral R, Aguilera-Sepúlveda P, Pifarré M, Molina-López R, Obón E....The surveillance for West Nile virus (WNV) in Catalonia (northeastern Spain) has consistently detected flaviviruses not identified as WNV. With the aim of characterizing the flaviviruses circulating in Catalonia, serum samples from birds and horses collected between 2010 and 2019 and positive by panflavivirus competition ELISA (cELISA) were analyzed by microneutralization test (MNT) against different flaviviruses. A third of the samples tested were inconclusive by MNT, highlighting the limitations of current diagnostic techniques. Our results evidenced the widespread circulation of flaviviruse...
van Proosdij R, Frietman S.Geriatric horses (>15 years) represent a substantial proportion of the equine population. The objective of this study was to (1) report on the cause of death in geriatric horses on a single retirement centre, (2) to evaluate the relationship between PPID status, and mortality rate. Data of 194 horses was collected over an eight-year period. This providing data for 80 geriatric cases of mortality. The average age of horses that died was 26.2 years (±4.8 years). The majority (95%) of mortalities were euthanised, most frequently due to colic (20%), old age (19%), and lameness (15%). Overall m...
Page AE, Partridge E, Erol E, Scoggin KE, Fedorka CE, Ruby RE, Ball BA, Horohov DW, Adam E.Cases of nocardioform placentitis are characterized by focal, mucoid placentitis resulting in late-term abortion, premature birth, or small, full-term foals, occur sporadically, and are most commonly associated with Crossiella equi and Amycolatopsis spp. infection. The goal of this project was to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for quantifying antibodies against Crossiella equi and Amycolatopsis spp. and utilize the ELISA to determine when exposure occurs. Serum samples collected during the 2020 foaling season from Crossiella equi (n = 8) and Amycolatopsis spp. (n = 32...
Ayad A, Almarzook S, Besseboua O, Aissanou S, Piórkowska K, Musiał AD, Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Ropka-Molik K.Genetic disorders in horses are mostly fatal or usually cause significant economic losses for breeders and owners. Here we studied a total of 177 Arabian, Barb and Arab-Barb horses from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) using Sanger Sequencing and PCR-ACRS (polymerase chain reaction-artificially created restriction site) approaches to examine the genetic disorders in the studied horse breeds. We identified the genetic variations related to Cerebellar Abiotrophy (CA), Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) occurrence, and the studied population was free of the mutant allele determined La...
Suganuma K, Acosta TJ, Valinotti MFR, Sanchez AR, Mossaad E, Elata A, Inoue N.Despite the epidemic situation of animal trypanosomosis caused by Trypanosoma evansi, Trypanosoma equiperdum and Trypanosoma vivax in South American countries, there are no reports for the prevalence of animal trypanosomes in Paraguay. In this study, 408 blood samples were obtained from apparently healthy horses from sixteen departments of Paraguay, for routine medical check-up from August to September 2019, and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based cross-sectional study was carried out to identify trypanosome prevalence. The prevalence of Trypanozoon (T. evansi and T. equiperdum) and T. viv...
Kapdi A, Dhanze H, Sahu A, Singh V, Kumar MS, Bhilegaonkar KN, Gulati BR.Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito borne flaviviral zoonoses, causing fatal disease in equines and humans. JE is endemic in most of the states of India with occurrence of human cases every year. The horses are not vaccinated against JE in India and thus they are at more risk of acquiring the disease. Due to nonavailability of indigenously developed ELISA and high cost of imported kits, regular sero-surveillance is not being carried out to assess the true picture of JE virus in equine population of India. Therefore, a recombinant NS1 protein based indirect IgG ELISA was developed with the...
Tan LP, Mohd Rajdi NZI, Mohamad MA, Mohamed M, Hamdan RH, Goriman Khan MAK, Ahmad Syazwan S, Seng Hua L.Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) theileri is a non-pathogenic or weakly pathogenic parasite of domestic cattle that is cyclically transmitted by blood-sucking insects, mainly tabanid flies. It has been reported in several countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Although the ruminant industry is actively expanded in Malaysia, T. theileri and T. theileri-like trypanosomes have never been reported from Malaysia. The low pathogenicity of this species might be the main reason for overlooking T. theileri in this country. This paper describes an unforeseen f...
Willette JA, Kopper JJ, Kogan CJ, Seguin MA, Schott HC.We investigated the effects of season and geographic location on detection of nucleic acids of potential enteric pathogens (PEPs) or their toxins (PEP-Ts) in feces of horses ≥6-mo-old in the United States. Results of 3,343 equine diarrhea PCR panels submitted to Idexx Laboratories for horses >6-mo-old were reviewed. Submission months were grouped into 4 seasons, and states were grouped into 4 geographic regions. Logistic regression was performed to assess effects of season and region on detection rates of PEPs and PEP-Ts. Agresti-Coull CIs were determined. Detection rate of was higher in...
Yoon J, Park T, Kim A, Song H, Park BJ, Ahn HS, Go HJ, Kim DH, Lee JB, Park SY, Song CS, Lee SW, Choi IS.Equine parvovirus-cerebrospinal fluid (EqPV-CSF) and eqcopivirus (EqCoPV) are new parvovirus species (EqPVs) identified from various tissues (CSF, blood, and respiratory swabs) in horses with neurologic and respiratory diseases. In this study, we described the prevalence rate of EqPV-CSF and EqCoPV in 133 and 77 serum and fecal samples, respectively, using polymerase chain reaction. Further, we analyzed the potential risk factors for infection. We calculated the nucleotide and amino acid similarity and constructed phylogenetic trees. There was a moderate-to-high prevalence rate (EqPV-CSF: 3.8%...
Elsawy BSM, Nassar AM, Alzan HF, Bhoora RV, Ozubek S, Mahmoud MS, Kandil OM, Mahdy OA.Equine Piroplasmosis (EP) is an infectious disease caused by the hemoprotozoan parasites , , and the recently identified species . Hereby, we used a multiplex PCR (mPCR) targeting the 18S rRNA gene of and for the simultaneous detection of EP in Egyptian equids and examined the presence of infections in Egypt. Blood samples from 155 equids (79 horses and 76 donkeys) collected from different governorates of Egypt were examined by mPCR and PCR targeting . The mPCR method revealed a prevalence of of 20.3% in horses and of 13.1% in donkeys and a prevalence of . of 1.2% in horses. . was not de...
Selim A, Megahed A, Kandeel S, Alouffi A, Almutairi MM.Determination of the seroprevalence and risk factors that are associated with West Nile virus (WNV) in horses is essential for adoption of effective prevention strategies. Our objective in this study, therefore, was to determine the seroprevalence and to identify the risk factors associated with WNV infection in the most densely horse-populated governorates in Egypt. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 on 930 horses, which were distributed over five governorates in the Nile delta of Egypt. The horses, which were randomly selected, were serologically tested through use of an ID screen...
Pradella GD, Duarte CA, Escobar TA, Zuravski L, Góss GC, Skupien JA, Lübeck I.The Leishmaniases are on the top of the global list of tropical neglected diseases. The number of infected dogs in South America is estimated in millions and correlated to disease cases in humans, especially in Brazil. Equines may get infected too and can play a role in the epidemiological chain. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate risk and protective factors of leishmaniasis in rural areas of the western border region of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil by Leishmania spp. protozoa molecular detection and serological evaluation (ELISA) in equine and canine blood samples. This wor...
Tamamura-Andoh Y, Niwa H, Kinoshita Y, Uchida-Fujii E, Arai N, Watanabe-Yanai A, Iwata T, Akiba M, Kusumoto M.Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae have become a cause for great concern. Although some studies have reported the prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria and ESBL-encoding genes in horses worldwide, the genetic structure surrounding the ESBL gene has not been analysed in detail. In the present study, we isolated two ESBL-producing Escherichia coli strains from diseased racehorses in Japan and demonstrated the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. Two ESBL-producing E. coli strains (E148 and E189) were isolated from th...
Zorigt T, Furuta Y, Simbotwe M, Ochi A, Tsujinouchi M, Shawa M, Shimizu T, Isoda N, Enkhtuya J, Higashi H.Anthrax is a zoonotic disease caused by the gram-positive spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Detecting naturally acquired antibodies against anthrax sublethal exposure in animals is essential for anthrax surveillance and effective control measures. Serological assays based on protective antigen (PA) of B. anthracis are mainly used for anthrax surveillance and vaccine evaluation. Although the assay is reliable, it is challenging to distinguish the naturally acquired antibodies from vaccine-induced immunity in animals because PA is cross-reactive to both antibodies. Although additional ...
El Brini Z, Fassi Fihri O, Paillot R, Lotfi C, Amraoui F, El Ouadi H, Dehhaoui M, Colitti B, Alyakine H, Piro M.This study reports the first equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) and equine herpesvirus-4 (EHV-4) seroprevalence investigation in horse populations of Morocco in 24 years. It also aims to determine antibody titers in horses vaccinated under field conditions with a monovalent EHV-1 vaccine. Blood samples were collected from 405 horses, including 163 unvaccinated and 242 vaccinated animals. They were tested using a commercial type-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a virus neutralization test (VNT). Overall, 12.8% unvaccinated, and 21.8% vaccinated horses were positive for EHV-1. Al...
McGlennon A, Waller A, Verheyen K, Slater J, Grewar J, Aanensen D, Newton R.Previously national surveillance data for monitoring strangles (Streptococcus equi infection) in UK horses was limited. Improved awareness and knowledge of positive diagnoses would permit the optimisation of biosecurity protocols, decreasing the prevalence of strangles. Methods: Seven UK laboratories reported positive strangles diagnoses between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2019 based on identifying Streptococcus equi via agent detection assays from field-based practitioner-submitted samples. Associated clinical history and animal signalment were collected where provided, and descriptive ana...
Abdullah HHAM, Elbayoumy MK, Allam AM, Ashry HM, Abdel-Shafy S.Vector-borne bacterial diseases (VBBD) are a diverse group of tropical and subtropical zoonotic diseases. This study investigated the possibility of domestic animals to carry certain vector-borne bacterial microorganisms (VBBMs), as well as the presence of these targeted DNAs in their ectoparasites in different localities of Egypt using molecular analyses. For this study, 234 animal hosts (112 cattle, 38 sheep, 28 goats, 26 buffaloes, 22 donkeys, and 8 horses) in addition to 115 ectoparasites (95 ticks and 20 lice) were investigated for the molecular detection of Bartonella spp., Borrelia spp....
Sutton G, Normand C, Carnet F, Couroucé A, Garvey M, Castagnet S, Fortier CI, Hue ES, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Legrand L, Paillot R, Pitel PH....Equine herpesvirus 1 isolates from a 2021 outbreak of neurologic disease in Europe have a mutation, A713G, in open reading frame 11 not detected in 249 other sequences from equine herpesvirus 1 isolates. This single-nucleotide polymorphism could help identify horses infected with the virus strain linked to this outbreak.
de Heus P, Kolodziejek J, Hubálek Z, Dimmel K, Racher V, Nowotny N, Cavalleri JV.The emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) in addition to the autochthonous tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in Europe causes rising concern for public and animal health. The first equine case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Austria was diagnosed in 2016. As a consequence, a cross-sectional seroprevalence study was conducted in 2017, including 348 equids from eastern Austria. Serum samples reactive by ELISA for either flavivirus immunoglobulin G or M were further analyzed with the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT-80) to identify the specific etiologic age...
Humphreys JM, Pelzel-McCluskey AM, Cohnstaedt LW, McGregor BL, Hanley KA, Hudson AR, Young KI, Peck D, Rodriguez LL, Peters DPC.Mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is the causative agent of West Nile disease in humans, horses, and some bird species. Since the initial introduction of WNV to the United States (US), approximately 30,000 horses have been impacted by West Nile neurologic disease and hundreds of additional horses are infected each year. Research describing the drivers of West Nile disease in horses is greatly needed to better anticipate the spatial and temporal extent of disease risk, improve disease surveillance, and alleviate future economic impacts to the equine industry and private horse owners. To help...
Zaugg I, Ottiger HP.The aim of the vigilance system in Switzerland is the evaluation and classification of reported suspected adverse reactions of immunological veterinary medicines (IVMP), including suspected lack of expected efficacy. The Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI) is the competent authority for marketing authorizations of immunological veterinary medicinal products in Switzerland and responsible for the vaccinovigilance system. In 2020, 130 adverse reaction reports were received (5% less compared to 2019). The reports mainly concerned dogs (41%) and cats (25%) followed by cattle (18%) and horse...
Won SY, Kim YC, Do K, Jeong BH.Prion disease is a fatal infectious disease caused by the accumulation of pathogenic prion protein (PrP) in several mammals. However, to date, prion disease has not been reported in horses. The Sho protein encoded by the shadow of the prion protein gene (SPRN) plays an essential role in the pathomechanism of prion diseases. To date, the only genetic study of the equine SPRN gene has been reported in the inbred horse, Thoroughbred horse. We first discovered four SPRN single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 141 Jeju and 88 Halla horses by direct DNA sequencing. In addition, we found that the g...
Khan A, Mushtaq MH, Muhammad J, Ahmed B, Khan EA, Khan A, Zakki SA, Altaf E, Haq I, Saleem A, Warraich MA, Ahmed N, Rabaan AA.There are different opinions around the World regarding the zoonotic capability of H3N8 equine influenza viruses. In this report, we have tried to summarize the findings of different research and review articles from Chinese, English, and Mongolian Scientific Literature reporting the evidence for equine influenza virus infections in human beings. Different search engines i.e. CNKI, PubMed, ProQuest, Chongqing Database, Mongol Med, and Web of Knowledge yielded 926 articles, of which 32 articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. Analyzing the epidemiological and Phylogenetic data from ...
Seo HJ, Truong AT, Kim KH, Lim JY, Min S, Kim HC, Yoo MS, Yoon SS, Klein TA, Cho YS.The horse industry has grown rapidly as a leisure industry in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in parallel with an increased demand for equestrian activities. As a result, there has been an increase in horse breeding and equestrian population and potential exposure to ticks and their associated pathogens. To provide a better understanding of the potential disease risks of veterinary and medical importance, a study was conducted to determine the geographical distribution and diversity of ticks collected from horses and vegetation associated with horse racetracks/ranches throughout the ROK. This incl...
Farchati H, Merlin A, Saussac M, Dornier X, Dhollande M, Garon D, Tapprest J, Sala C.Identifying and tracking equines are key activities in equine health prevention. France is one of the few European countries with an operational centralized database that records information on equines, owners, and keepers but not on the location and keeping conditions of equines. The objective of our study was to collect information on keeping habits of equines and the relative location of a wide range of equines, owners, and keepers and discuss their implication for surveillance and control of outbreak improvement. A national email survey was conducted among the 1.9% of people registered as ...
Vissani MA, Damiani AM, Barrandeguy ME.Equine coital exanthema (ECE) is a highly contagious, venereally-transmitted mucocutaneous disease, characterized by the formation of papules, vesicles, pustules and ulcers on the external genital organs of mares and stallions, and caused by (EHV-3). The infection is endemic worldwide and the virus is transmitted mainly through direct contact during sexual intercourse and by contaminated instruments during reproductive maneuvers in breeding facilities. The disease does not result in systemic illness, infertility or abortion, yet it does have a negative impact on the equine industry as it forc...
Lee K, Pusterla N, Barnum SM, Lee DH, Martínez-López B.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is a major infectious pathogen causing significant respiratory signs in equids worldwide. Voluntary surveillances in the United States recently reported EIV detection in horses with respiratory signs even with adequate vaccine protocols and biosecurity programs and posed a concern about suboptimal effectiveness of EIV vaccine in the United States. This study aims to determine the genetic characteristics of 58 field EIV H3N8 strains in the United States from 2012 to 2017 using the phylogenetic analysis based on the haemagglutinin (HA) gene. Amino acid substitution a...
Sule WF, Oluwayelu DO, Adedokun RA, Rufai N, McCracken F, Mansfield KL, Johnson N.To investigate exposure of Nigerian horses to West Nile virus (WNV), we determined the seroprevalence rate of anti-WNV antibody in a cohort of 145 horses. Serum samples were collected from three locations in southwestern Nigeria between October, 2011, and July, 2012. The horses were asymptomatic and unvaccinated against WNV at the time of sampling. All sera were tested using a competition enzyme-linked immmunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by an immunoglobulin M (IgM)-specific ELISA. High rates of anti-WNV antibody prevalence were observed in all locations with a mean level of 90.3% (95% confidence...
Traversa D, Klei TR, Iorio R, Paoletti B, Lia RP, Otranto D, Sparagano OA, Giangaspero A.In the present survey, 276 horses bred on 16 farms located in central and southern Italy were investigated for the presence of drug resistant cyathostomes by a Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT). Sixteen to 20 animals were selected on each farm and randomly assigned to one of four equally sized treatment groups. Groups were treated with fenbendazole, pyrantel pamoate, ivermectin or moxidectin. Resistance to fenbendazole was declared on six farms (37.5%) and suspected in two farms (12.5%), with FECR values ranging from 41% to 88.3%. Resistance to pyrantel was found in two farms (12.5%) and ...
Davis J, Garner MG, East IJ.In 2007, an incursion of equine influenza (EI) occurred in Australia. Accurate maps of property boundaries were used to examine the pattern and mechanism of local spread of EI. This study focussed on a cluster of infected premises (IPs) at Park Ridge, a peri-urban suburb 26 km south of Brisbane, Queensland. The cluster recorded 437 IPs and 81% of these were not contiguous to a previously IP. The mean distance from each new IP to the closest previous IP was 0.85 +/- 1.50 km with a range of 0.01-12.94 km. Eighty-two percent of new IPs were within 1 km of a previous IP. The spatial mean for each ...
Venter GJ, Koekemoer JJ, Paweska JT.Confirmed outbreaks of African horse sickness (AHS) occurred in the surveillance zone of the Western Cape in 1999 and 2004, both of which led to a two-year suspension on the export of horses. Light trap surveys in the outbreak areas showed that known vector competent Culicoides species, notably C. imicola, were abundant and present in numbers equal to those in the traditional AHS endemic areas. Isolations of AHS virus serotypes 1 and 7, equine encephalosis virus, and bluetongue virus from field-collected C. imicola in the surveillance zone demonstrated that this species was highly competent an...
Díaz-Sánchez AA, Pires MS, Estrada CY, Cañizares EV, Del Castillo Domínguez SL, Cabezas-Cruz A, Rivero EL, da Fonseca AH, Massard CL....Equine piroplasmosis is a disease of Equidae, including horses, donkeys, mules, and zebras, caused by either Theileria equi or Babesia caballi. This disease represents a serious problem for the horse industry and its control is critical for the international trade of horses. The objective of the present study was to detect B. caballi and T. equi infections in horses reared in western Cuba. Blood samples from 100 horses were tested for the presence of piroplasms by using Giemsa-stained blood smears and nested PCR (nPCR) assays targeting merozoite antigen genes of B. caballi (bc48) and T. equi (...
Diallo AA, Souley MM, Issa Ibrahim A, Alassane A, Issa R, Gagara H, Yaou B, Issiakou A, Diop M, Ba Diouf RO, Lo FT, Lo MM, Bakhoum T, Sylla M....Since November 2018, several countries in West and Central Africa have reported mortalities in donkeys and horses. Specifically, more than 66,000 horses and donkeys have succumbed to disease in Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. Strangles caused by Streptococcus equi subsp equi, African Horse Sickness (AHS) virus, and Equine influenza virus (EIV) were all suspected as potential causative agents. This study reports the identification of EIV in field samples collected in Niger and Senegal. Phylogenetic analysis of the hemagglutinin and neuraminida...
Chénier S, Côté G, Vanderstock J, Macieira S, Laperle A, Hélie P.Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) was diagnosed in 19 horses and a flock of emus in the province of Quebec in fall 2008. The EEE virus caused unusual gross lesions in the central nervous system of one horse. This disease is not usually present in Quebec and the relation between the outbreak and favorable environmental conditions that summer are discussed. Une éclosion d’encéphalomyélite équine de l’Est (ÉÉE) s’est produite chez 19 chevaux et dans un troupeau d’émeus au Québec à l’automne de 2008. Un cheval présentait une lésion macroscopique anormale dans le système...
Niczyporuk JS, Samorek-Salamonowicz E, Lecollinet S, Pancewicz SA, Kozdruń W, Czekaj H.Serum samples of 474 wild birds, 378 horses, and 42 humans with meningitis and lymphocytic meningitis were collected between 2010 and 2014 from different areas of Poland. West Nile virus (WNV) antibodies were detected using competition enzyme linked immunosorbent assays: ELISA-1 ID Screen West Nile Competition, IDvet, ELISA-2 ID Screen West Nile IgM Capture, and ELISA-3 Ingezim West Nile Compac. The antibodies were found in 63 (13.29%) out of 474 wild bird serum samples and in one (0.26%) out of 378 horse serum samples. Fourteen (33.33%) out of 42 sera from patients were positive against WNV a...
Crans WJ, McNelly J, Schulze TL, Main A.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEE) was isolated from the salt marsh mosquito, Aedes sollicitans, collected from coastal areas of New Jersey on 3 occasions during the late summer and fall of 1982. The isolations were made at a time when local Culiseta melanura were either undergoing a population increase or exhibiting high levels of EEE virus. Although no human cases were reported during the epizootic period, the data lend support to the hypothesis that Ae. sollicitans is capable of functioning as an epidemic vector in the coastal areas of New Jersey where human cases of EEE have been most...
Barba M, Fairbanks EL, Daly JM.Members of several different virus families cause equine viral encephalitis, the majority of which are arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) with zoonotic potential. The clinical signs caused are rarely pathognomonic; therefore, a clinical diagnosis is usually presumptive according to the geographical region. However, recent decades have seen expansion of the geographical range and emergence in new regions of numerous viral diseases. In this context, this review presents an overview of the prevalence and distribution of the main viral causes of equine encephalitis and discusses their impact an...
Fougerolle S, Fortier C, Legrand L, Jourdan M, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Pronost S, Paillot R.Every year, several epizooties of equine influenza (EI) are reported worldwide. However, no EI case has been identified in France between 2015 and late 2018, despite an effective field surveillance of the pathogen and the disease. Vaccination against equine influenza virus (EIV) remains to this day one of the most effective methods to prevent or limit EI outbreaks and the lack of detection of the pathogen could be linked to vaccination coverage. The aim of this study was to evaluate EI immunity and vaccine coverage in France through a large-scale serological study. A total of 3004 archived sur...
Herd RP.Seasonal rises in mean faecal egg output were observed in grazing ponies in spring (578 eggs per gram) and in summer (930 epg) on 30 April and 2 September, respectively, in untreated ponies. Pasture infectivity reached a peak of 18,486 third stage larvae (L3)/kg on 17 September, two weeks after peak egg counts, coincidental with abundant September rainfall (103.0 mm). Differentiation of infective larvae from pasture showed the cyathostomes (small strongyles) to be predominant, but Trichostrongylus axei assumed major importance from late August to October. The large strongyles were rarely detec...
Letson GW, Bailey RE, Pearson J, Tsai TF.An Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) outbreak in 1989 led to nine human and 196 equine cases, chiefly in coastal Atlantic and Gulf Coast counties. In the past two decades, EEE age-specific incidence and mortality rates have declined compared with earlier years. Analysis of rainfall patterns in areas where human EEE cases occurred between 1983 and 1989 revealed an association between occurrence of human cases and excess rainfall. The association was stronger with data from local weather stations than from statewide rainfall averages and the predictive models were best when applied to northern s...
Chevalier V, Lancelot R, Diaité A, Mondet B, Sall B, De Lamballerie X.The Ferlo area (north-central Senegal) is characterized by a system of temporary ponds favorable to arboviruses among which West Nile fever (WNF) was already identified. During the rainy season in 2003, a serological study was undertaken on horses to assess the activity of the WNF virus (WNFV) in Barkedji (Ferlo). The observed serological prevalence rate was 78.3% for neutralizing antibodies, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of [64.0, 92.7]. This prevalence rate significantly increased with age (P = 10(-5)). This study confirmed that WNF was endemic in the Ferlo. The transmission risks depe...
Jorge RS, Ferreira F, Ferreira Neto JS, Vasconcellos Sde A, Lima Ede S, Morais ZM, Souza GO.Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease affecting most mammals and is distributed throughout the world. Several species of domestic and wild animals may act as reservoirs for this disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the exposure of free-ranging wild carnivores, horses and domestic dogs on a private reserve located in the northern Pantanal (Brazil) and the surrounding areas to Leptospira spp from 2002-2006, 75 free-ranging wild carnivores were captured in the Pantanal and serum samples were collected. In addition, samples from 103 domestic dogs and 23 horses in the region were collecte...
Ma J, Shi N, Jiang CG, Lin YZ, Wang XF, Wang S, Lv XL, Zhao LP, Shao YM, Kong XG, Zhou JH, Shen RX.To investigate essential factors that determine the efficacy of vaccines against lentiviruses, an effective attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine strain and a proviral derivative of the vaccine were compared with respect to differences in inducing protective immunity. Although these two strains replicated equally well in vitro and in vivo, the proviral strain induced significantly less protection from disease and infection caused by viral challenge and significantly lower specific neutralizing capability. These findings indicated that the proviral strain had lost the ability...
Long MT, Jeter W, Hernandez J, Sellon DC, Gosche D, Gillis K, Bille E, Gibbs EP.The objectives of these studies were to assess the diagnostic performance (sensitivity and specificity) of the IgM capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; MAC) for diagnosis of West Nile (WN) virus in horses and to examine the performance of this test by using different criteria for seropositivity. A total of 36 horses classified as WN virus infected (group 1) and 383 horses from 4 subpopulations of hoses classified as noninfected (groups 2, 3, 4, and 5) were used in the study. The sensitivity (proportion of infected horses that tested positive for WN virus IgM antibodies) and specif...
López-Ruiz N, Montaño-Remacha MDC, Durán-Pla E, Pérez-Ruiz M, Navarro-Marí JM, Salamanca-Rivera C, Miranda B, Oyonarte-Gómez S....In Andalusia, Spain, West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance takes place from April to November, during the active vector period. Within this area seroconversion to this virus was evidenced in wild birds in 2004, affecting horses and two humans for the first time in 2010. Since 2010, the virus has been isolated every year in horses, and national and regional surveillance plans have been updated with the epidemiological changes found. WNV is spreading rapidly throughout southern Europe and has caused outbreaks in humans. Here we describe the second WNV outbreak in humans in Andalusia, with three con...
Murphy TW, McCollum WH, Timoney PJ, Klingeborn BW, Hyllseth B, Golnik W, Erasmus B.Equine arteritis virus (EAV), a non-arthropod borne togavirus, has been shown to have a global distribution. To date, no major antigenic variation has been demonstrated between EAV isolates from different geographic origins. In this study, the genomic RNA of EAV isolates obtained from horses of different breeds in various countries around the world was oligonucleotide fingerprinted. Comparisons of these fingerprints were used to determine the extent of genomic variation among such isolates. Comparisons among isolates from North American horses revealed, for the most part, oligonucleotide homol...
Epp T, Waldner C, West K, Townsend H.In 2003, the occurrence and location of horses with clinical signs of West Nile virus infection were identified in the southern portion of Saskatchewan with the help of veterinarians, owners, and the regional laboratory. A total of 133 clinical cases were reported between July 30 and September 19, 2003; however, postseason surveillance suggests that the number of cases was underestimated. The case fatality rate was 43.8% (95% CI 35.2, 52.4). Factors associated with fatality in clinical cases included sex, week of onset of clinical signs, and coat color. Reported clinical cases clustered within...
Pan L, Zhang L, Fan D, Zhang X, Liu H, Lu Q, Xu Q.Q fever is the most widespread zoonosis, and domestic animals are the most common sources of transmission. It is not only difficult to distinguish from other febrile diseases because of the lack of specific clinical manifestations in humans, but it is also difficult to identify the disease in C. burnetii-carrying animals because of the lack of identifiable features. Conventional serodiagnosis requires sera from the acute and convalescent stages of infection, which are unavailable at early diagnosis. Nested PCR and real-time PCR require equipment. In this study, we developed a Loop-Mediated Iso...
Schnepf A, Bienert-Zeit A, Ertugrul H, Wagels R, Werner N, Hartmann M, Feige K, Kreienbrock L.The usage of antimicrobial drugs (AMs) leads to an increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Although different antimicrobial usage (AMU) monitoring programs exist for livestock animals in Germany, there is no such system for horses. However, with the increasing usage of electronic practice management software (EPMS), it is possible to analyze electronic field data generated for routine purposes. The aim of this study was to generate AMU data for German horses with data from the Clinic for Horses (CfH), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo), and in addition to show that different...
Dawson JE, Abeygunawardena I, Holland CJ, Buese MM, Ristic M.Eight adult cats were inoculated IV (n = 6) or SC (n = 2) with Ehrlichia risticii-infected P388D1 (continuous murine macrophage) cells or with E risticii released from P388D1 cells. Three additional cats were inoculated with organism-free P388D1 cultured monocytes, and 1 cat, which served as a medium control was inoculated with balanced salt solution. Clinical signs of illness were observed in the IV inoculated cats from which E risticii was isolated. One cat developed intermittent diarrhea between postinoculation days (PID) 8 and 18, and the other cat developed lymphadenopathy, acute depressi...
Ganzenberg S, Sieg M, Ziegler U, Pfeffer M, Vahlenkamp TW, Hörügel U, Groschup MH, Lohmann KL.West Nile virus (WNV) infections were first detected in Germany in 2018, but information about WNV seroprevalence in horses is limited. The study's overall goal was to gather information that would help veterinarians, horse owners, and veterinary-, and public health- authorities understand the spread of WNV in Germany and direct protective measures. For this purpose, WNV seroprevalence was determined in counties with and without previously registered WNV infections in horses, and risk factors for seropositivity were estimated. The cohort consisted of privately owned horses from nine counties i...
Skaff NK, Armstrong PM, Andreadis TG, Cheruvelil KS.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is an expanding mosquito-borne threat to humans and domestic animal populations in the northeastern United States. Outbreaks of EEEV are challenging to predict due to spatial and temporal uncertainty in the abundance and viral infection of Cs. melanura, the principal enzootic vector. EEEV activity may be closely linked to wetlands because they provide essential habitat for mosquito vectors and avian reservoir hosts. However, wetlands are not homogeneous and can vary by vegetation, connectivity, size, and inundation patterns. Wetlands may also have diffe...
Benjelloun A, El Harrak M, Calistri P, Loutfi C, Kabbaj H, Conte A, Ippoliti C, Danzetta ML, Belkadi B.West Nile virus-associated disease is one of the most widespread vector-borne diseases in the world. In Morocco, the first cases were reported in horses in 1996 and the disease re-emerged in 2003 and in 2010. The objective of this work was to study the epidemiological situation of WNV-associated infection in Morocco, by quantifying the seroprevalence of anti-WNV IgM and IgG antibodies in horses in different bioclimatic regions-zones of Morocco in 2011. During the months of May, June and July 2011, 840 serum samples were collected from horses in four regions characterized by different environme...
