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.
Marenzoni ML, Stefanetti V, Papa P, Casagrande Proietti P, Bietta A, Coletti M, Passamonti F, Henning K.The role of the horse in Coxiella burnetii infection has not been defined. Accordingly, a twofold approach was taken to further our knowledge on this topic: (1) conduct a systematic review of the literature to establish available evidence of C. burnetii infection in the horse; (2) undertake a biomolecular investigation of 122 cases of equine abortion, stillbirth and neonatal foal death, for the presence of C. burnetii using a PCR test targeting the IS1111 gene of C. burnetii. A review of the literature turned up seven studies that identified C. burnetii DNA in equine specimens, especially abor...
Boden LA, Parkin TD, Yates J, Mellor D, Kao RR.Contingency planning for potential equine infectious disease outbreaks relies on accurate information on horse location and movements to estimate the risk of dissemination of disease(s). An online questionnaire was used to obtain unique information linking owner and horse location to characteristics of horse movements within and outwith Great Britain (GB). Results: This online survey yielded a strong response, providing more than four times the target number of respondents (1000 target respondents) living in all parts of GB. Key demographic findings of this study indicated that horses which we...
Esparza J.Mystery surrounds the extent to which horsepox virus may have contributed to the vaccinia virus used to eradicate smallpox. With few documented cases of horsepox in recent years it may never be solved, says José Esparza, who seeks to raise awareness of the potential historical and scientific importance of identifying new cases.
Silva JR, Medeiros LC, Reis VP, Chavez JH, Munhoz TD, Borges GP, Soares OA, Campos CH, Machado RZ, Baldani CD, Silva ML, Faria JL, Silva EE....Since the emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) in North America in 1999, there have been several reports of WNV activity in Central and South American countries. To detect WNV in Brazil, we performed a serological survey of horses from different regions of Brazil using recombinant peptides from domain III of WNV. Positive samples were validated with the neutralisation test. Our results showed that of 79 ELISA-positive horses, nine expressed WNV-specific neutralising antibodies. Eight of the infected horses were from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and one was from the state of Paraíba. Our resu...
Prow NA, Tan CS, Wang W, Hobson-Peters J, Kidd L, Barton A, Wright J, Hall RA, Bielefeldt-Ohmann H.In 2011 an unprecedented epidemic of equine encephalitis occurred in south-eastern (SE) Australia following heavy rainfall and severe flooding in the preceding 2-4 months. Less than 6% of the documented cases occurred in Queensland, prompting the question of pre-existing immunity in Queensland horses. A small-scale serological survey was conducted on horses residing in one of the severely flood-affected areas of SE-Queensland. Using a flavivirus-specific blocking-ELISA we found that 63% (39/62) of horses older than 3 years were positive for flavivirus antibodies, and of these 18% (7/38) had ne...
Salim B, Bakheit MA, Sugimoto C.Equine trypanosomosis (ET) is a protozoan disease affecting equines in many parts of the world. We examined 509 samples collected from geographically distinct regions in eastern, central and western Sudan to estimate the endemicity of ET using the generic ITS1-PCR diagnostic methods. Results revealed that horses and donkeys were infected by Trypanosoma brucei subgroup, Trypanosoma vivax, Trypanosoma simiae and Trypanosoma congolense. The prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. was higher in horses (12.7%, n=393) than in donkeys (3.4%, n=116). The highest prevalence was observed in South Darfur State (1...
Ometto T, Durigon EL, de Araujo J, Aprelon R, de Aguiar DM, Cavalcante GT, Melo RM, Levi JE, de Azevedo Júnior SM, Petry MV, Neto IS, Serafini P....West Nile virus (WNV) is an emergent pathogen that is widely distributed in North and Central America. The recent introduction in South America has focused attention on the spread of WNV across Southern American countries. The transmission network involves mosquitoes, birds, horses and humans. Methods: The serological evaluation of sera from 678 equids and 478 birds was performed using a WNV-specific blocking ELISA, and only the positive results were confirmed by plaque reduction neutralisation tests (PRNTs). Molecular analysis was performed on sera from 992 healthy equids and on 63 macerates ...
Papp H, Matthijnssens J, Martella V, Ciarlet M, Bányai K.Group A rotavirus (RVA) is a major cause of diarrhea and diarrhea-related mortality in foals in parts of the world. In addition to careful horse farm management, vaccination is the only known alternative to reduce the RVA associated disease burden on horse farms. The precise evaluation of vaccine effectiveness against circulating strains needs enhanced surveillance of equine RVAs in areas where vaccine is already available or vaccine introduction is anticipated. Therefore, we undertook the overview of relevant information on epidemiology of equine RVA strains through systematic search of publi...
Wise LN, Kappmeyer LS, Mealey RH, Knowles DP.Equine piroplasmosis is caused by one of 2 erythrocytic parasites Babesia caballi or Theileria equi. Although the genus of the latter remains controversial, the most recent designation, Theileria, is utilized in this review. Shared pathogenesis includes tick-borne transmission and erythrolysis leading to anemia as the primary clinical outcome. Although both parasites are able to persist indefinitely in their equid hosts, thus far, only B. caballi transmits across tick generations. Pathogenesis further diverges after transmission to equids in that B. caballi immediately infects erythrocytes, wh...
Carrera JP, Forrester N, Wang E, Vittor AY, Haddow AD, López-Vergès S, Abadía I, Castaño E, Sosa N, Báez C, Estripeaut D, Díaz Y, Beltrán D....The eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses are pathogens that infect humans and horses in the Americas. Outbreaks of neurologic disease in humans and horses were reported in Panama from May through early August 2010. Methods: We performed antibody assays and tests to detect viral RNA and isolate the viruses in serum samples from hospitalized patients. Additional cases were identified with enhanced surveillance. Results: A total of 19 patients were hospitalized for encephalitis. Among them, 7 had confirmed EEE, 3 had VEE, and 1 was infected with both ...
Lowe W, March JK, Bunnell AJ, O'Neill KL, Robison RA.Methods for the rapid detection and differentiation of the Burkholderia pseudomallei complex comprising B. pseudomallei, B. mallei, and B. thailandensis, have been the topic of recent research due to the high degree of phenotypic and genotypic similarities of these species. B. pseudomallei and B. mallei are recognized by the CDC as tier 1 select agents. The high mortality rates of glanders and melioidosis, their potential use as bioweapons, and their low infectious dose, necessitate the need for rapid and accurate detection methods. Although B. thailandensis is generally avirulent in mammals, ...
Emmerich IU.In 2012, two newly developed active pharmaceutical ingredients for horses and food producing animals were released on the German market for veterinary drug products. Those are the parenterally applicable first generation cephalosporin Cefalonium (Cepravin®) and the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Suxibuzone (Danilon®). Furthermore, one established veterinary active pharmaceutical ingredient is applicable to additional species: The anticoccidial Amprolium (Eimeryl®) has again been authorized for chicken and turkeys. Additionally, two veterinary drugs with a new formulation as well as thr...
Desquesnes M, Holzmuller P, Lai DH, Dargantes A, Lun ZR, Jittaplapong S.Trypanosoma evansi, the agent of "surra," is a salivarian trypanosome, originating from Africa. It is thought to derive from Trypanosoma brucei by deletion of the maxicircle kinetoplastic DNA (genetic material required for cyclical development in tsetse flies). It is mostly mechanically transmitted by tabanids and stomoxes, initially to camels, in sub-Saharan area. The disease spread from North Africa towards the Middle East, Turkey, India, up to 53° North in Russia, across all South-East Asia, down to Indonesia and the Philippines, and it was also introduced by the conquistadores into Latin ...
Khurelbaatar N, Krueger WS, Heil GL, Darmaa B, Ulziimaa D, Tserennorov D, Baterdene A, Anderson BD, Gray GC.In recent years, Mongolia has experienced recurrent epizootics of equine influenza virus (EIV) among its 2·1 million horses and multiple incursions of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus via migrating birds. No human EIV or HPAI infections have been reported. In 2009, 439 adults in Mongolia were enrolled in a population-based study of zoonotic influenza transmission. Enrollment sera were examined for serological evidence of infection with nine avian, three human, and one equine influenza virus strains. Seroreactivity was sparse among participants suggesting little human risk of zoo...
Croser EL, Marsh GA.The Henipavirus genus represents a group of paramyxoviruses that are some of the deadliest of known human and veterinary pathogens. Hendra and Nipah viruses are zoonotic pathogens that can cause respiratory and encephalitic illness in humans with mortality rates that exceed 70%. Over the past several years, we have seen an increase in the number of cases and an altered clinical presentation of Hendra virus in naturally infected horses. Recent increase in the number of cases has also been reported with human Nipah virus infections in Bangladesh. These factors, along with the recent discovery of...
Westcott D, Wescott DG, Mildenberg Z, Bellaiche M, McGowan SL, Grierson SS, Choudhury B, Steinbach F.Equine encephalosis virus (EEV) distribution was thought to be limited to southern Africa until 2008 when we reported EEV in Israel. It was then assumed that the clinical presentation resembled the initial incursion in Israel. To investigate further we conducted a retrospective analysis of equine sera, which had been collected for diagnosis of other suspected diseases, via serum neutralisation test. The data demonstrated that EEV was circulating as early as 2001 with incidence ranging from 20-100% for time period 2001-2008. As the symptoms of EEV can be similar to other equine notifiable disea...
Hubálek Z, Ludvíková E, Jahn P, Treml F, Rudolf I, Svobodová P, Šikutová S, Betášová L, Bíreš J, Mojžíš M, Tinák M, Boldižár M....A serological survey for West Nile virus (WNV) infection involved 395 horses from 43 administrative districts of the Czech Republic (163 animals) and 29 districts of Slovakia (232 animals), sampled between 2008 and 2011. Using a plaque-reduction neutralization microtest, antibodies to WNV were not detected in any horse from the Czech Republic, whereas 19 nonvaccinated horses from Slovakia had specific antibodies to WNV (no cross-reactions were observed with tick-borne encephalitis and Usutu flaviviruses in those animals). The seropositivity rate of nonvaccinated horses in Slovakia was 8.3% (95...
Rocheleau JP, Arsenault J, Lindsay LR, DiBernardo A, Kulkarni MA, Côté N, Michel P.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a highly pathogenic arbovirus that infects humans, horses, and other animals. There has been a significant increase in EEEV activity in southeastern Canada since 2008. Few data are available regarding nonlethal EEEV infections in mammals, and consequently the distribution and pathogenicity spectrum of EEEV infections in these hosts is poorly understood. This cross-sectional study focuses on the evaluation of viral activity in southern Quebec's horses by seroprevalence estimation. A total of 196 horses, 18 months and older, which had never been vaccin...
Daly JM, Newton JR, Wood JL, Park AW.Mathematical modelling of infectious disease is increasingly regarded as an important tool in the development of disease prevention and control measures. This article brings together key findings from various modelling studies conducted over the past 10 years that are of relevance to those on the front line of the battle against equine influenza.
Mendez D, Judd J, Speare R.To identify the perceived barriers to Hendra virus (HeV) management by private equine veterinarians in Queensland. Methods: An exploratory qualitative study of private equine veterinarians registered and working in coastal Queensland. Methods: A questionnaire that included eight open-ended questions about the management of HeV was used in face-to-face in-depth interviews with 21 veterinary personnel working in equine or mixed private practice between Far North and South-East Queensland in 2009-10. The qualitative data was entered and analysed thematically using QSR's International's Nvivo 9 qu...
Ghosh S, Taniguchi K, Aida S, Ganesh B, Kobayashi N.Equine group A rotaviruses (RVA) are a major cause of severe diarrhea in foals. The whole genomes of only six common and three unusual equine RVA strains have been analyzed so far. To date, there are no reports on whole genomic analyses of equine RVAs from Asian countries. We report here the whole genomic analyses of three common (strains RVA/Horse-tc/JPN/BI/1981/G3P[12], RVA/Horse-tc/JPN/HH-22/1989/G3P[12] and RVA/Horse-tc/JPN/CH-3/1987/G14P[12]) and an unusual (RVA/Horse-tc/JPN/OH-4/1982/G6P[5]) equine RVA strains isolated from diarrheic foals in Japan. Strains BI, HH-22 and CH-3 shared a la...
Muniz E, Lobo Ladd AA, Lobo Ladd FV, da Silva AA, Kmit FV, Borges AS, Teixeira R, da Mota LS, Belli CB, de Zoppa AL, da Silva LC, de Melo MP, Coppi AA.Ileocolonic aganglionosis (ICA) is the congenital and hereditary absence of neurons that constitute the enteric nervous system and has been described in various species including humans - Hirschsprung's disease - and horses - overo lethal white syndrome (OLWS). Hirschsprung's disease affects circa 1 in 5,000 live births. At best, this disease means an inability to absorb nutrients from food (humans). At worse, in horses, it always means death. Despite our general understanding of the functional mechanisms underlying ICA, there is a paucity of reliable quantitative information about the structu...
McCluskey BJ, Pelzel-McCluskey AM, Creekmore L, Schiltz J.Vesicular stomatitis is a viral disease primarily affecting horses and cattle when it occurs in the United States. Outbreaks in the southwestern United States occur sporadically, with initial cases typically occurring in Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona and subsequent cases occurring in a northward progression. The viruses causing vesicular stomatitis can be transmitted by direct contact of lesioned animals with other susceptible animals, but transmission is primarily through arthropod vectors. In 2012, an outbreak of vesicular stomatitis in the United States occurred that was caused by Vesicular...
Ziegler U, Angenvoort J, Klaus C, Nagel-Kohl U, Sauerwald C, Thalheim S, Horner S, Braun B, Kenklies S, Tyczka J, Keller M, Groschup MH.West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne viral pathogen of global importance and is considered to be the most widespread flavivirus in the World. Horses, as dead-end hosts, can be infected by bridge mosquito vectors and undergo either subclinical infections or develop severe neurological diseases. The aim of this study was to detect WNV specific antibodies in horses in Germany as an indicator for an endemic circulation of WNV. Sera from more than 5,000 horses (primarily fallen stock animals) were collected in eight different federal states of Germany from 2010 to 2012. Sera were screened by a...
Durand B, Lecollinet S, Beck C, Martínez-López B, Balenghien T, Chevalier V.Live animal trade is considered a major mode of introduction of viruses from enzootic foci into disease-free areas. Due to societal and behavioural changes, some wild animal species may nowadays be considered as pet species. The species diversity of animals involved in international trade is thus increasing. This could benefit pathogens that have a broad host range such as arboviruses. The objective of this study was to analyze the risk posed by live animal imports for the introduction, in the European Union (EU), of four arboviruses that affect human and horses: Eastern and Western equine enc...
Bailey KE, Gilkerson JR, Browning GF.Equine rotaviruses were first detected in foals over 30 years ago and remain a major cause of infectious diarrhoea in foals. During this time, there has been substantial progress in the development of sensitive methods to detect rotaviruses in foals, enabling surveillance of the genotypes present in various horse populations. However, there has been limited epidemiological investigation into the significance of these circulating genotypes, their correlation with disease and the use of vaccination in these animal populations. Our knowledge of the pathogenesis of rotavirus infection in foals is ...
Malik P, Singha H, Goyal SK, Khurana SK, Kumar R, Virmani N, Shanmugasundaram K, Pandey SB, Kant R, Singh BK, Singh RK.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is a retroviral infection of horses. Horses infected by EIA virus (EIAV) become inapparent carriers that remain asymptomatic for the remainder of their life span and serve as infection source to other horses. In this study, agar gel immunodiffusion test and ELISA were used to investigate the presence of antibodies to EIAV in equines. A total of 67,042 equine serum samples from 19 states and two union territories were tested during April 1999 to September 2012. The results revealed that none of the animals were positive for antibodies to EIAV from 1999 to December...
Legrand LJ, Pitel PH, Marcillaud-Pitel CJ, Cullinane AA, Couroucé AM, Fortier GD, Freymuth FL, Pronost SL.The Réseau d'Epidémio-Surveillance en Pathologie Equine (RESPE, the French epidemiological network for equine diseases) is a network for epidemio-surveillance of major equine diseases based around sentry veterinarians in France. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of RESPE to efficient surveillance of equine influenza virus (EIV) in France. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Methods: From November 2005 to October 2010, epidemiological and phylogenetic studies were performed on 1426 nasopharyngeal swabs received at the Frank Duncombe Laboratory. Detect...
Monaco F, Çizmeci Ş, Polci A, Portanti O, Barut F, Deniz A, Cosseddu GM, Pişkin Ç, Savini G.In August 2014, a West Nile virus (WNV) strain belonging to lineage 2 was detected in the brain tissues of a 9 year old mare euthanised after showing severe clinical signs in Bursa region, Turkey. Phylogenetic analyses of 290 bp of NS3 coding region clustered the Turkish strain together with the 2010-2012 Greek isolates. Either IgG and IgM or IgG only WNV antibodies were detected in 2 and 11 horses, respectively, which were in the outbreak surrounding. No WNV RNA was detected in pools of 50 individuals of Culex pipiens (n = 2), Ochlerotatus caspius (n = 2), and Culex theileri (n = 1) collected...
Marques SM, Scroferneker ML.The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of Onchocerca cervicalis in 1200 adult horses from rural areas of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Umbilical skin specimens measuring 2 x 2 cm were minced, suspended in 10 ml of distilled water and incubated at room temperature overnight. The liquid volume was centrifuged and the sediment was screened for microfilariae. The ligamentum nuchae were totally removed, preserved in ice and dissected for the detection of adult forms of Onchocerca cervicalis. Microfilariae of Onchocerca cervicalis were detected in midventral skin biopsy samples in ...
Fourie I, Snyman J, Williams J, Ismail A, Jansen van Vuren P, Venter M.Although Old World alphaviruses, Middelburg- (MIDV) and Sindbis virus (SINV), have previously been detected in horses and wildlife with neurologic disease in South Africa, the pathogenesis and clinical presentation of MIDV and SINV infections in animals are not well documented. Clinical samples from horses across South Africa with acute or fatal neurologic and febrile infections submitted between 2014-2018 were investigated. In total, 69/1084 (6.36%) and 11/1084 (1.01%) horses tested positive for MIDV and SINV, respectively, by real-time reverse transcription (RT) PCR. Main signs/outcomes for ...
Ricotti S, Garcia MI, Veaute C, Bailat A, Lucca E, Cook RF, Cook SJ, Soutullo A.Molecular and serological techniques for Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV) diagnosis were compared using samples from 59 clinically normal horses stabled on five farms in the Santa Fe Province of Argentina. Of these 26 (44.1%) were positive in official AGID tests and/or gp45/gp90-based ELISA. Surprisingly 18 of the 33 seronegative horses were positive in a PCR against viral sequences encoding gp45 (PCR-positive/AGID-negative) with all but one remaining EIAV-antibody negative throughout a two year observation period. The gp45 PCR results are supported by fact that 7/18 of these horses were ...
Mizushima D, Amgalanbaatar T, Davaasuren B, Molefe NI, Battur B, Battsetseg B, Inoue N, Yokoyama N, Suganuma K.Our previous studies report epidemics of non-tsetse-transmitted equine trypanosomosis in Mongolia. However, the current status of non-tsetse-transmitted equine trypanosomosis endemicity remains to be clarified in some parts of Mongolia. We previously reported the potential application of rTeGM6-4r-based diagnostic tools, an rTeGM6-4r-based immunochromatographic test (ICT) and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), in the serological surveillance of equine trypanosomosis in Mongolia. In the present study, the utility of the rTeGM6-4r-based ICT was validated. The rTeGM6-4r-based ICT accur...
Traub-Dargatz JL, Gay CC, Evermann JF, Ward AC, Zeglen ME, Gallina AM, Salman MD.Epidemiologic and etiologic data about diarrhea in foals were collected under a planned prospective recording and monitoring study. The survey and monitoring procedures included a survey to obtain an overview of current horse management practices on participating farms, a daily health record survey to obtain information on mares and their foals, and collection of feces from 19 of 144 diarrheic foals and 10 age-matched nondiarrheic foals for electron microscopy, ELISA for rotavirus, and bacteriologic culture. Coronavirus was detected in the feces of diarrheic as well as clinically normal foals....
Sekiguchi K, Sugita S, Fukunaga Y, Kondo T, Wada R, Kamada M, Yamaguchi S.A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assay capable of detecting and differentiating seven strains of equine arteritis virus (EAV) from around the world was developed. The primers for the PCR were chosen from the ORF6 gene encoding the unglycosylated membrane protein (M). Viral RNA from cell culture fluids infected with each of the seven EAV strains and RNA from the live vaccine, Arvac, was detected by PCR using four sets of primers. The sensitivity of detection was increased from 100 to 1,000 times by performing nested PCR enabling the detection of RNA at a level of 0.5-5 PFU. Differentiati...
Cao X, Qiu X, Shi N, Ha Z, Zhang H, Xie Y, Wang P, Zhu X, Zhao W, Zhao G, Jin N, Lu H.Getah virus (GETV) is a mosquito-borne, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA virus belonging to the genus of the family . Natural infections of GETV have been identified in a variety of vertebrate species, with pathogenicity mainly in swine, horses, bovines, and foxes. The increasing spectrum of infection and the characteristic causing abortions in pregnant animals pose a serious threat to public health and the livestock economy. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish a method that can be used for epidemiological investigation in multiple animals. In this study, a real-time reverse tr...
Lam K, Parkin T, Riggs C, Morgan K.The analysis of data in clinical records could be useful to epidemiologists in planning analytical studies and identifying new research initiatives. This paper describes the method used to develop a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories on the basis of explicit rules of user-defined coding, and systematically sorting a large volume of records accurately and reliably. The method was used to categorise the reasons for retirement from racing in Hong Kong of 3727 thoroughbred racehorses between the 1992/93 and 2003/04 racing seasons into ...
Rynhoud H, Meler E, Gibson JS, Price R, Maguire T, Farry T, Bennett E, Hartono J, Soares Magalhães RJ.To detect methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) swab samples were collected from dogs, cats and horses from South East Queensland (SE QLD). MRSP carriage in dogs was 8.7% and no MRSP was isolated from cats and horses; no MRSA was isolated. Risk factors for carriage included previous hospitalisation, previous bacterial infection, consultation type, average precipitation, and human population density. The probability of MRSP carriage was highest in Brisbane city, Sunshine Coast and Gympie. This suggests that MRSP carriage in dog populations from SE QLD...
Sofronic-Milosavljevic Lj, Ilic N, Djordjevic M, Savic M, Gruden-Movsesijan A, Cuperlovic K, Murrell KD.In the Balkan countries, where trichinellosis is a re-emerging zoonosis, it is of great importance to determine Trichinella infection prevalence among the major hosts, including horses. One method for monitoring prevalence is serological surveillance; however, the validity of serological methods in horses is not well understood. The dynamics of anti-Trichinella IgG production and circulating excretory/secretory (ES) antigens were investigated in three horses experimentally-infected with Trichinella spiralis. Horses were slaughtered at 32 week post infection (p.i.). Low worm burdens were found ...
Paulino PG, Almosny N, Oliveira R, Viscardi V, Müller A, Guimarães A, Baldani C, da Silva C, Peckle M, Massard C, Santos H.This study aims to report the presence of Neorickettsia risticii DNA in blood samples from naturally infected horses in Rio de Janeiro, provide clinicopathological findings related to the infection, and report the phylogenetic diversity of the 16S rDNA of N. risticii in order to evaluate its heterogeneity. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed to investigate the presence of N. risticii in samples collected from horses (n = 187). Five positive samples were found in the molecular screening. Hypoalbuminemia and high levels of creatine kinase and lactate dehydro...
Littlejohn A, Walker EM.The sex, coat colour, age, province and month of occurrence of every case of babesiosis was recorded in a horse population of 5856 in South Africa and Rhodesia. A total of 115 cases were recorded during the period 1973-01-01 to 1973-12-31. Chisquared tests were used to evaluate the significance of frequencies. Significant biases in the distribution of cases of babesiosis were found with regard to season (P < 0,05), sex (P < 0,001) and coat colour (P < 0.01).
Sánchez-Matamoros A, Sánchez-Vizcaíno JM, Rodríguez-Prieto V, Iglesias E, Martínez-López B.African horse sickness (AHS) is one of the most important vector-borne viral infectious diseases of equines, transmitted mainly by Culicoides spp. The re-emergence of Culicoides-borne diseases in Europe, such as the recent bluetongue (BT) or Schmallenberg outbreaks, has raised concern about the potential re-introduction and further spread of AHS virus (AHSV) in Europe. Spain has one of the largest European equine populations. In addition, its geographical, environmental and entomological conditions favour AHSV infections, as shown by the historical outbreaks in the 1990s. The establishment of ...
Abad-Cobo A, Llorente F, Barbero MDC, Cruz-López F, Forés P, Jiménez-Clavero MÁ.West Nile fever/encephalitis (WNF) is an infectious disease affecting horses, birds and humans, with a cycle involving birds as natural reservoirs and mosquitoes as transmission vectors. It is a notifiable disease, re-emerging in Europe. In Spain, it first appeared in horses in the south (Andalusia) in 2010, where outbreaks occur every year since. However, in 2014, an outbreak was declared in horses in central Spain, approximately 200 km away from the closest foci in Andalusia. Before that, evidence of West Nile virus (WNV) circulation in central Spain had been obtained only from wildlife, bu...
House JA.AHS is a noncontagious vector-borne disease of Equidae caused by Orbiviruses. Species susceptibility in decreasing order is horses, mules, donkeys, and zebras. The main vectors of AHS are culicoides. The disease is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, but epizootics have occurred outside of this area on several occasions. The most recent outbreaks outside of the endemic area were in Spain, Morocco, and Portugal between 1987 and 1990. AHS causes mortality up to 95% and is classically divided into four clinical forms: the pulmonary, cardiac, mixed, and horse fever forms. Pathologic changes are subcuta...
Onyiche TE, Sivakumar T, Tuvshintulga B, Nugraha AB, Ahedor B, Mofokeng L, Luka J, Mohammed A, Mbaya AW, Biu AA, Yokoyama N, Thekisoe O.Equine piroplasmosis is caused by apicomplexan parasites, namely, and , which are transmitted to equids principally through ticks. To ascertain the exposure of equines to agents of equine piroplasms, we tested serum samples collected from horses (n = 272) and donkeys (n = 170) in North-Western Nigeria for the presence of antibodies against and using IFAT and ELISA. The seroprevalence of in the horses determined using IFAT and ELISA was 48.89% and 45.96%, respectively, while for , it was 6.3% and 0.4%, respectively. For , the seroprevalence based on IFAT and ELISA results in donkeys was...
Alzuheir I, Fayyad A, Jalboush N, Abdallah R, Abutarbush S, Gharaibeh M, Bdarneh M, Khraim N, Helal MA, Helal BA.West Nile fever (WNF) is a neurotropic, mosquito-borne disease affecting humans and domesticated animals, caused by a member of the genus . Over the last decades, this virus has been responsible for several cases of illness in humans and animals. The current epidemiological status of WNF in horses is insufficient, and in veterinarians, as an occupational hazard is unknown. This study aimed to investigate and determine the seroprevalence and risk factors for WNF in veterinarians and horses in Palestine. Methods: In this study, serum samples from 100 veterinarians and 87 horses were collected be...
Dagnachew S, Mohammed S, Dessie B, Tilahun M, Ayele A, Kefyalew H.A cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2016 to May 2017 in selected districts of Northwest Ethiopia (Jawi, South Achefer, Dembecha and Jabitehenan) with the aim of determining the prevalence of bovine and equine trypanosomosis, estimating the apparent density of vectors and assessing the effectiveness of control measures of the disease. A total of 1257 animals of which 803 bovine and 454 equine were examined for the determination of prevalence using blood sample collected from ear vein of animals. The buffy coat technique was employed to determine the prevalence and the packed c...
Seki Y, Seimiya YM, Yaegashi G, Kumagai S, Sentsui H, Nishimori T, Ishihara R.During the period from 2001 to the following year, progenital diseases had been epidemic among the draft stallions and mares pastured together in Iwate Prefecture, the northeastern district of Japan. A stallion and 8 of 31 mares were affected in 2001, and 1 of 2 stallions and 10 of 36 mares in 2002. The clinical symptoms consisted of the formation of papules, pustules, ulcers and scabs on the progenital skin and mucosa in stallions and mares. In 2002, Equine herpesvirus 3 (EHV3) was isolated from 2 mares and the glycoprotein G gene of the virus detected from a stallion and 4 mares by polymeras...
Couissinier-Paris P.Until 1999 the West Nile virus had been reported only in the "Old world" and particularly in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia where it was responsible only for sporadic or size-and-time-limited outbreaks in humans and equines. The sudden and unexpected emergence of WN in New York in 1999, followed by a rapid and huge extension to the whole North America in less than four years, made health authorities aware of the potential of previously forgotten viruses to become a threat to public health. The present review will focus on the epidemiology of West Nile virus in Europe and Africa during th...
Soilemetzidou ES, de Bruin E, Eschke K, Azab W, Osterrieder N, Czirják GÁ, Buuveibaatar B, Kaczensky P, Koopmans M, Walzer C, Greenwood AD.The majority of influenza A virus strains are hosted in nature by avian species in the orders of Anseriformes and Charadriformes. A minority of strains have been able to cross species boundaries and establish themselves in novel non-avian hosts. Influenza viruses of horses, donkeys, and mules represent such successful events of avian to mammal influenza virus adaptation. Mongolia has over 3 million domestic horses and is home to two wild equids, the Asiatic wild ass or khulan (Equus hemionus hemionus), and Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii). Domestic and wild equids are sympatric acr...
Wu J, Cui Y, Yu F, Muhatai G, Tao D, Zhao A, Ning C, Qi M.Piroplasmosis is a disease that negatively affects equine health worldwide. Hence, 324 blood samples were collected from grazing horses in ten sites in Xinjiang and testing them for the presence of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi by PCR of the EMA-1 gene and BC48 gene, respectively. Of the 324 blood samples, 161 (49.7%) were positive for equine piroplasms. The prevalence of T. equi was 38.9% (126/324), while that of B. caballi was 30.2% (98/324). The T. equi and B. caballi co-infection rate was 19.4% (63/324). From the 126 EMA-1 gene sequences and 98 BC48 gene sequences we obtained, 21 and ...
Di Azevedo MIN, Lilenbaum W.Leptospirosis may be associated with important syndromes in equines, including reproductive ones. Recently, our group demonstrated a reproductive syndrome of leptospirosis in ruminants (Bovine Genital Leptospirosis - BGL), that presents its own agent, particular diagnostic methods, and specific treatment and prevention, requiring special attention. We realized that the genital syndrome of leptospirosis may not be exclusive to ruminants and may also affect horses. The aim of the present study is to gather the available data on leptospirosis in equine reproduction and propose a new genital lepto...
Nemoto M, Niwa H, Murakami S, Miki R, Higuchi T, Bannai H, Tsujimura K, Kokado H.Equine group A rotaviruses (RVAs) cause diarrhoea in foals. We investigated the G genotypes of 360 RVA-positive samples obtained from diarrhoeic foals between 2012 and 2018 in the Hidaka district of Hokkaido, Japan, through sequence analysis of VP7. All samples were classified into genotypes G3A, G3B and G14. G3B RVAs were detected until 2016, and G3A RVAs were detected from 2016 to 2018. G14 RVAs were detected from 2012 to 2018. Although G3B RVAs had been circulating in Japan for a long time, G3A RVAs suddenly emerged in 2016, and have replaced G3B RVAs since 2017. Molecular analyses of VP7 a...
Zhang J, Miszczak F, Pronost S, Fortier C, Balasuriya UB, Zientara S, Fortier G, Timoney PJ.Genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships among 22 French isolates of equine arteritis virus (EAV) obtained over four breeding seasons (2001-2004) were determined by sequencing open reading frames (ORFs) 2a-7. The ORFs 2a-7 of 22 isolates differed from the prototype virulent Bucyrus strain of EAV by between 14 (99.5% identity) and 328 (88.7% identity) nucleotides, and differed from each other by between 0 (100% identity) and 346 (88.1% identity) nucleotides, confirming genetic diversity among EAV strains circulating in France. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial ORF5 sequences (n...
Ji Y, Guo W, Zhao L, Li H, Lu G, Wang Z, Wang G, Liu C, Xiang W.An antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (AC-ELISA) was developed for the detection of the equine influenza virus (EIV), employing monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against the A/equine/Xingjiang/2007 (H3N8) nucleoprotein (NP). Immunoglobulin G antibodies were purified and used as capture or detector antibodies. The specificity of the optimized AC-ELISA was evaluated using EIV, equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1), equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4), equine arteritis virus (EAV) and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), resulting in only EIV specimens yielding a strong signal. A minimal concentr...
Wang H, Li X, Liu BT.Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) have been rapidly increasing among animals in many countries and have been a great threat to public health. Horse riding is becoming increasingly popular worldwide; however, reports of CRE producing NDM or KPC-2, two prevalent types of carbapenemases, from horses of equestrian club are extremely scarce and KPC-2-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in animals is still rarely characterized. In this study, we identified four NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli isolates from horses in equestrian club in Qingdao, China, and one horse possessing NDM-5-producin...
Beasley AM, Kotze AC, Allen K, Coleman GT.The macrocyclic lactone (ML) drugs are central to the control of equine strongyles but recent international reports raise concerns about reduced efficacy of these drugs against cyathostomins. The objectives of the present study were firstly, to evaluate the efficacy of ML drugs against cyathostomins on a cross-section of Australian horse farms, and secondly, to determine the egg reappearance period (ERP) following treatment of horses with MLs. A total of 419 horses on 43 properties were treated orally with ivermectin, abamectin or moxidectin, at recommended dose rates and drug efficacy was det...
Woldemeskel M, Gebreab F.A survey of Sarcocystis was conducted in cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys and chickens. A total of 671 haematoxylin-eosin (H-E) stained muscle tissue samples, including diaphragm, masseter, cardiac and oesophageal musculatures were examined. Additionally, cardiac muscle samples from 40 fetuses were included. An infestation rate of 93% in sheep, 82% in cattle, 81% in goats, 16.6% in donkeys and 6.6% in chickens was noted. The infestation rate of diaphragm, masseter, cardiac and oesophageal musculatures seems to be similar. None of the 40 fetal heart muscle samples from bovine, ovine, caprine and d...
