Disease transmission in horses refers to the spread of infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites among equine populations. These pathogens can be transmitted through various routes, including direct contact, vector-borne transmission, or environmental exposure. Factors influencing disease transmission include horse density, management practices, and biosecurity measures. Understanding the mechanisms and conditions that facilitate the spread of diseases is essential for developing effective prevention and control strategies. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate the modes of transmission, risk factors, and management practices related to infectious diseases in horses.
Meister TL, Tegtmeyer B, Postel A, Cavalleri JV, Todt D, Stang A, Steinmann E.An equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) has been recently identified in association with equine serum hepatitis, also known as Theiler's disease. This disease was first described by Arnold Theiler in 1918 and is often observed after applications with blood products in equines. So far, the virus has only been described in the USA and China. In this study, we evaluated the presence of EqPV-H in several commercial serum samples to assess the potential risk of virus transmission by equine serum-based products for medical and research applications. In 11 out of 18 commercial serum samples, EqPV-H D...
Riddin MA, Venter GJ, Labuschagne K, Villet MH.An upsurge in African horse sickness (AHS) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, from 2006 led to an epidemiological reassessment of the disease there. Light trapping surveys carried out near horses, donkeys and zebras in 2014-2016 collected 39 species of Culicoides midge (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) that are potential vectors of AHS. To establish if these midges fed on equids, DNA sequences were obtained from the gut contents of 52 female midges (35 freshly blood-fed, 13 gravid and four parous), representing 11 species collected across 11 sites. Culicoides leucostictus fed on all three equids. Cul...
Equine trypanosomosis is a complex of infectious diseases called dourine, nagana and surra. It is caused by several species of the genus Trypanosoma that are transmitted cyclically by tsetse flies, mechanically by other haematophagous flies, or sexually. Trypanosoma congolense (subgenus Nannomonas) and T. vivax (subgenus Dutonella) are genetically and morphologically distinct from T. brucei, T. equiperdum and T. evansi (subgenus Trypanozoon). It remains controversial whether the three latter taxa should be considered distinct species. Recent outbreaks of surra and dourine in Europe illustrate ...
Calderón JC, Astudillo M, Romero MH.Introduction: Police working horses are in close contact with their managers and the general population during recreational and patrol activities, which can favor the transmission of leptospirosis among the horses and the occupationally exposed personnel. Objective. To characterize epidemiologically leptospirosis through serology, urine culture and PCR in working horses and in the occupationally exposed population in six police stations in Colombia. Materials and methods. We tested 153 castrated male horses and 123 people in six police stations in the municipalities of Manizales, Pereira, Arme...
Young JJ, Coulombier D, Domanović D, Zeller H, Gossner CM.West Nile virus (WNV) infection is notifiable in humans and equids in the European Union (EU). An area where a human case is detected is considered affected until the end of the mosquito transmission season (week 48) and blood safety measures have to be implemented. We used human and equine case notifications between 2013 and 2017 to define the WNV distribution in the EU and to investigate the relevance of using equine cases as a complementary trigger for blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases to the definition of an affected area would have a major impact on blood safety measur...
Kasuya K, Tanaka N, Oshima F, Fujisawa N, Saito M, Tagami K, Niwa H, Sasai K.Strangles is a commonly diagnosed and important infectious disease of equids worldwide, caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. We determined the SeM genotypes of S. equi isolated from imported horses at the Japanese border within the past 8 years, which allowed us to classify 12 strains isolated from these horses from each exporter into four allelic groups. These alleles were different from the alleles of past isolates found in Japan. Furthermore, four strains classified into the same allele were isolated from horses from one exporter over several years. In this study, S. equi isolates from...
Mbu'u CM, Mbacham WF, Gontao P, Sado Kamdem SL, Nlôga AMN, Groschup MH, Wade A, Fischer K, Balkema-Buschmann A.Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV) are closely related members within the genus Henipavirus, family Paramyxoviridae, for which fruit bats serve as the reservoir. The initial emergence of NiV infections in pigs and humans in Malaysia, and HeV infections in horses and humans in Australia, posed severe impacts on human and animal health, and continues threatening lives of humans and livestock within Southeast Asia and Australia. Recently, henipavirus-specific antibodies have also been detected in fruit bats in a number of sub-Saharan African countries and in Brazil, thereby considerably inc...
Barros ML, Borges AMC, Oliveira De ACS, Lacerda W, O Souza De A, Aguiar DM.The prevalence of equine infectious anaemia (EIA) in the three biomes of the state of Mato Grosso (Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal) was estimated. Serum samples were collected from 3,858 equines in 1,067 herds between Septemberand December 2014. The agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) assay was used to detect EIA virus antibodies, and if a herd contained a seropositive animal itwas classified as a focus. The prevalence rates were 17.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.9-19.8%) for herds and 6.6% (95% CI: 5.8-7.5%) for animals. The Pantanal region showed the highest prevalence rates: 36.1% (95% CI: 3...
Waqar N, Amin Q, Munir T, Ikram MS, Shahzad N, Mirza A, Ali A, Arshad MI.The present study aimed at investigating the percent prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in equines and associated personnel. A total of 150 swabs of equines and 50 nasal swab samples of associated personnel were collected. These samples were processed in mannitol salt broth for enrichment. A total of 175 nasal swab samples changed the broth color from pink to yellow which were detected as samples containing S. aureus. These samples were processed further on specific media, namely mannitol salt agar, Staph-110, and blood agar, for phenotypic and Gram's staining-bas...
Dhaouadi S, Mahjoub T, Drissi G, Bahri A, Mhadhbi M, Sassi L, Gharbi M.Leishmaniosis (Leishmania infantum infection) and piroplasmoses (Theileria equi and Babesia caballi infections) are vector-borne diseases with significant economic and public health impacts. Despite their importance, there is a lack of data concerning these infections in equids from Tunisia. The present study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of L. infantum, T. equi and B. caballi in 104 equids from northern Tunisia. The authors reported for the first time on the seroprevalence of anti-Leishmania antibodies in equids in Tunisia (6.7%). The study reported a high infection prevalence of...
Delerue M, Breuil MF, Duquesne F, Bayon-Auboyer MH, Amenna-Bernard N, Petry S.Taylorella equigenitalis can be transmitted during artificial insemination. This report describes clinical T. equigenitalis transmission by cryopreserved stallion semen. T. equigenitalis isolates from a mare's vaginal discharge and semen from the same batch of the cryopreserved semen used for the insemination gave identical API ZYM, antibiotic susceptibility, and multilocus sequence typing results (ST-46); furthermore, the multilocus sequence typing lineage ST-46 is known to circulate in the country of semen collection. These results support the need for strict contagious equine metritis scre...
Yasine A, Ashenafi H, Geldhof P, Bekana M, Tola A, Van Brantegem L, Van Soom A, Duchateau L, Goddeeris BM, Govaere J.Trypanosoma equiperdum (T. equiperdum) causes dourine, a venereally transmitted infection in horses. Purification of semen by single layer centrifugation (SLC) has been proven to be successful in reducing venereally transmitted diseases when dealing with other pathogens. The objective of this study was to evaluate the purification of T. equiperdum spiked semen by SLC. Semen was spiked using cryopreserved T. equiperdum stabilates (Dodola strain isolate 943). In total, 6 concentrations, varying from 10 to >5 × 10 trypanosomes, were added to semen samples. Subsequently, SLC was performed ...
Kaspar U, von Lützau K, Schlattmann A, Rösler U, Köck R, Becker K.Colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) belonging to the genus Staphylococcus and the order Enterobacterales poses a particular threat to populations at risk. While previous studies focused on MDRO carriage among livestock or companion animals, respective epidemiological data on the general equine population are limited. Here, carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) in non-hospitalized horses living on private farms in the rural area in Northwest Germany was assessed. Intran...
Craig AF, Packer GC, Guthrie AJ, Venter EH.A prospective study was undertaken during 2013 and 2014, to determine the prevalence of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) in Culicoides midges and the incidence of infection caused by the virus in 28 resident horses on two equine establishments on the East Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Field caught Culicoides midges together with whole blood samples from participating horses were collected every two weeks at each establishment. Culicoides midges and blood samples were tested for the presence of AHSV RNA by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Nine i...
Santodomingo A, Sierra-Orozco K, Cotes-Perdomo A, Castro LR.Horses are among the domestic animals that closely interact with humans and are highly parasitized by ticks, which are the primary vectors of zoonoses. As horses in Tayrona National Natural Park (PNNT) are used as a means of transporting goods, luggage and people, they are in constant contact with wild animals, workers and tourists from different countries. These factors increase the transmission risk of hemoparasites. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of Rickettsia sp., Anaplasma sp., and Theileria sp., in horse ticks in this protected area using conventional PCR. We col...
Yasine A, Daba M, Ashenafi H, Geldhof P, Van Brantegem L, Vercauteren G, Demissie T, Bekana M, Tola A, Van Soom A, Duchateau L, Goddeeris B, Govaere J.Dourine, caused by Trypanosoma equiperdum, is a life-threatening venereal disease in equidae. So far, there is no clear evidence on how and when stallions become infectious, nor which tissues are affected by the parasite in diseased animals. Post-infection, after a transient, temporary phase of parasitaemia, the parasite disperses to different tissues in an unknown distribution pattern. This study describes the distribution of the parasite after infection by artificial insemination (AI) or blood transfusion. Mares (N = 4) were artificially inseminated with T. equiperdum spiked semen wherea...
Kandeil A, Gomaa M, Shehata M, El-Taweel A, Kayed AE, Abiadh A, Jrijer J, Moatasim Y, Kutkat O, Bagato O, Mahmoud S, Mostafa A, El-Shesheny R....Dromedary camels are natural host of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). However, there are limited studies of MERS-CoV infection of other domestic mammals exposed to infected dromedaries. We expanded our surveillance among camels in Egypt, Tunisia, and Senegal to include other domestic mammalian species in contact with infected camels. A total of 820 sera and 823 nasal swabs from cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, buffaloes, mules, and horses were collected. Swabs were tested using RT-PCR and virus RNA-positive samples were genetically sequenced and phylogenetically analy...
Rossi TM, Moore A, O'Sullivan TL, Greer AL.Respiratory disease is a common morbidity of young racehorses. Infections can lead to compromised welfare, and economic loss. Identification of risk factors for infection through clinical signs monitoring and collection of demographic, serologic, and contact network data can aid in the development of prevention and control strategies. The study objectives were to: (1) describe the transmission and clinical course of infectious respiratory disease in standardbred racehorses in a multi-barn training facility and, (2) identify demographic, serological, and contact network risk factors associated ...
Pusterla N, James K, Mapes S, Bain F.Due to the inconsistent development of enteric signs associated with ECoV infection in adult horses, many practitioners collect nasal secretions rather than feces for the molecular diagnostic work-up of such horses. ECoV infection should be considered in horses presenting with acute onset of fever, especially when nasal discharge is absent as one of the cardinal clinical sign. A total of 277 adult horses with acute onset of fever were enrolled in this study. Feces were tested for ECoV and nasal secretions for common respiratory pathogens (equine herpesvirus (EHV)-1, EHV-4, equine influenza vir...
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...
Cormier A, Zhang PLC, Chalmers G, Weese JS, Deckert A, Mulvey M, McAllister T, Boerlin P.Historically, extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance in bacteria from animals in Canada has been attributed to the SHV and CMY β-lactamase families. This pattern is beginning to change with the emergence of the bla gene family among Escherichia coli recovered from various animal species. Here we analyze and compare whole genome sequences of bla-positive E. coli isolates (n = 173) from dogs, chicken, swine, horses and beef cattle in Canada. Ten bla variants were identified with bla and bla being identified in most animal species. These variants occurred across many sequence types, sugg...
Equine infectious anaemia (EIA) is a disease with an almost worldwide distribution, with several outbreaks having been reported recently in European countries. In Italy, two regions, Lazio and Abruzzo, are considered as endemic areas for this disease. In nature, the EIA virus is mechanically transmitted by biting flies such as tabanids (Diptera: Tabanidae), although few studies have investigated the epidemiological implications. In the present study, several sites characterized by different levels of EIA prevalence were sampled. In sites with high tabanid populations, a seasonal succession of ...
Saxena A, Pal V, Tripathi NK, Goel AK.Burkholderia mallei, a potential biothreat agent is the aetiological agent of glanders, a zoonotic disease primarily affecting equines. B. mallei shares close genetic proximity with B. pseudomallei, the aetiological agent of melioidosis. Hence, molecular detection of B. mallei and its differentiation from B. pseudomallei has always been challenging. Early diagnosis of glanders is critical for timely treatment in humans and disease containment in animals. In this study a recombinase polymerase amplification-lateral flow (RPA-LF) assay has been developed for early and accurate detection of B. ma...
Sant C, Allicock OM, d'Abadie R, Charles RA, Georges K.The agents of equine piroplasmosis, Theileria equi and Babesia caballi, are endemic in Trinidad, West Indies. While transmission is mainly by ixodid ticks, transplacental transmission of T. equi has also been reported. This disease has contributed to foetal losses as well as morbidity and mortality of neonatal foals and adult horses. Previous 18S rRNA-based phylogenetic studies indicated a noticeable degree of variation within and among B. caballi and T. equi isolates from different geographical regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diversity of T. equi and B. caballi obtain...
Pringle J, Venner M, Tscheschlok L, Bächi L, Riihimäki M.After strangles outbreaks, Streptococcus equi ssp. equi (S. equi) can persist in clinically normal silent carriers for months to years. Two naturally occurring outbreaks of strangles with 53 and 100% morbidity, respectively, were followed longitudinally to assess occurrence of carrier state and optimal detection methods Outbreak A involved 98 yearling warmbloods, and outbreak B 38 mature Icelandic horses. Fully recovered horses were sampled at least 6 months after index cases using nasal swabs (one sampling occasion only) nasopharyngeal lavage and guttural pouch visualisation and lavages for c...
Tulsiani SM, Graham GC, Moore PR, Jansen CC, Van Den Hurk AF, Moore FA, Simmons RJ, Craig SB.Hendra virus (HeV) was first isolated in 1994, from a disease outbreak involving at least 21 horses and two humans in the Brisbane suburb of Hendra, Australia. The affected horses and humans all developed a severe but unidentified respiratory disease that resulted in the deaths of one of the human cases and the deaths or putting down of 14 of the horses. The virus, isolated by culture from a horse and the kidney of the fatal human case, was initially characterised as a new member of the genus Morbillivirus in the family Paramyxoviridae. Comparative sequence analysis of part of the matrix prote...
Bryan J, Leonard N, Fanning S, Katz L, Duggan V.The objective of this study was to examine the impact of hospitalisation and antimicrobial drug administration on the prevalence of resistance in commensal faecal E. coli of horses. Faecal samples were collected from ten hospitalised horses treated with antimicrobials, ten hospitalised horses not treated with antimicrobials and nine non-hospitalised horses over a consecutive five day period and susceptibility testing was performed on isolated E. coli. Results revealed that hospitalisation alone was associated with increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and multidrug resistance in com...
Magdesian KG, Dujowich M, Madigan JE, Hansen LM, Hirsh DC, Jang SS.To determine molecular characteristics, antimicrobial susceptibility, and toxigenicity of Clostridium difficile isolates from horses in an intensive care unit and evaluate associations among severity of clinical disease with specific strains of C difficile. Methods: Prospective study. Methods: 130 horses. Methods: Feces were collected from horses admitted for acute gastrointestinal tract disease with loose feces and submitted for microbial culture and immunoassay for toxin production. Polymerase chain reaction assays were performed on isolates for toxins A and B genes and strain identification...
Foote CE, Love DN, Gilkerson JR, Wellington JE, Whalley JM.A silent cycle of equine herpesvirus 1 infection was described following epidemiological studies of unvaccinated mares and foals on a Hunter Valley stud farm. Following the introduction of routine vaccination with an inactivated whole virus equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) and equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4) vaccine in 1997, a subsequent study identified excretion of EHV-1 and EHV-4 in nasal swab samples tested by PCR from vaccinated mares and their unweaned, unvaccinated foals. The current sero-epidemiological investigation of vaccinated mares and their young foals found serological evidence of EHV-...
Pusterla N, Chaillon A, Ignacio C, Smith DM, Barnum S, Lawton KOY, Smith G, Pickering B.The authors report on a possible direct exposure to SARS-CoV-2 from a COVID-19-positive individual to an adult horse. The individual, diagnosed with COVID-19 (Delta B.1.617.2), had daily contact to her two horses prior to and during the development of clinical disease. None of the two horses developed abnormal clinical signs or had detectable SARS-CoV-2 in blood, nasal secretion, or feces via RT-qPCR. However, one of the two horses showed close temporal seroconversion to SARS-CoV-2 using a protein-based ELISA and the plaque reduction neutralization test. The results suggest that horses can bec...
Mansfield LS, Mehler S, Nelson K, Elsheikha HM, Murphy AJ, Knust B, Tanhauser SM, Gearhart PM, Rossano MG, Bowman DD, Schott HC, Patterson JS.We tested the hypothesis that brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) harbor Sarcocystis neurona, the agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), and act as intermediate hosts for this parasite. In summer 1999, wild caught brown-headed cowbirds were collected and necropsied to determine infection rate with Sarcocystis spp. by macroscopic inspection. Seven of 381 (1.8%) birds had grossly visible sarcocysts in leg muscles with none in breast muscles. Histopathology revealed two classes of sarcocysts in leg muscles, thin-walled and thick-walled suggesting two species. Electron microscopy sh...
Non-primate hepacivirus (NPHV) is a homolog of hepatitis C virus and has been isolated from dogs and horses. Data on NPHV prevalence and distribution are not complete, and there is a particular lack of reports from the African continent. The present study represents the first investigation of NPHV prevalence in horses and dogs in North Africa. Blood was collected from 172 horses and 36 dogs at different locations in Morocco, and screened for NPHV RNA using nested PCR targeting 5'UTR and NS3 regions and analyzed for anti-NPHV NS3 antibody using a Gaussia luciferase immunoprecipitation system-to...
Webb BA, Barney WE, Dahlman DL, DeBorde SN, Weer C, Williams NM, Donahue JM, McDowell KJ.A new equine abortigenic disease, mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS), was recognized and significantly impacted the Ohio Valley in the springs of 2001 and 2002. MRLS caused approximately 330 million US dollars in losses in 2001. An epidemiological investigation of MRLS associated occurrence of the disease with exposure to eastern tent caterpillars (M. americanum). This work investigates the epidemiological association between M. americanum and MRLS to determine if this association was correlative or causative. A pilot study and simulated exposure to M. americanum and their excreta on pastu...
Amavisit P, Markham PF, Lightfoot D, Whithear KG, Browning GF.From 1992 to 1997, multi-drug resistant (MDR) Salmonella Heidelberg isolates were cultured from a number of horses hospitalised in a veterinary hospital in Victoria, Australia. To examine the relationships between the cases, 28 isolates from the hospital were compared by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), IS200 element profiles, antimicrobial resistance patterns, plasmid profiles and phage typing. The PFGE patterns following digestion with XbaI and BlnI restriction endonucleases showed that the isolates from the veterinary hospital originated from a common source. These isolates also had...
Borges LM, Oliveira PR, Ribeiro MF.Anocentor nitens is a widespread ectoparasite of horses in Brazil. A study of the seasonal dynamics of the parasitic phase of this tick was made by regular census of engorging females (>/=4mm) on free-ranging horses, fortnightly from July 1995 to July 1997, at Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais. Twenty horses were divided into four groups of five animals per group, each having a similar mix of resistant and less resistant animals, based on initial infestation. Every 2 weeks, one of the groups, in sequence, was treated with an acaricide to prevent excessive infestations, and female ticks were cens...
Prescott JF.Current understanding of the epidemiology of Rhodococcus equi infection on horse farms is reviewed. Infection is widespread in herbivores and their environment, because herbivore manure supplies the simple organic acid substrates on which the organism thrives. There is a progressive development of infection in the soil on horse farms with prolonged use, because: (1) there is a continual supply of nutrients; (2) the organism multiplies progressively as temperatures rise; (3) the bacterium has a robust nature. While this aerobic organism fails to multiply in the largely anaerobic intestine of th...
Lincoln VJ, Page PC, Kopp C, Mathis A, von Niederhäusern R, Burger D, Herholz C.Species belonging to the Culicoides complexes (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae), obsoletus and pulicaris, in Switzerland, are potential vectors of both bluetongue virus (BTV) and African horse sickness virus (AHSV). The epidemic of BTV in 2006 and 2007 in Europe has highlighted the risk of introduction and spread of vector-borne diseases in previously non-endemic areas. As a measure of prevention, as part of an integrated control programme in the event of an outbreak of African horse sickness (AHS), it is of utmost importance to prevent, or substantially reduce, contact between horses and Culicoides....
Oliveira FAS, Castro RJS, de Oliveira JF, Barreto FM, Farias MPO, Marinho GLOC, Soares MJDS, Silva-Júnior A, Schwarz DGG.In Brazil, the horse is frequently used in cultural activities, sports, and in rural and urban work, implementing the economy in different social classes. Among the diseases in horses with zoonotic potential, rabies has been neglected in the country, increasing the risk of spreading the disease across borders. The present study evaluated the spatiotemporal distribution and temporal trend of rabies in horses in Brazil between 2010 and 2019. During this period, 1290 cases of rabies were detected in horses in Brazil, mainly in the states of São Paulo (21.7%) and Mato Grosso (13.3%). However, Esp...
Jerele S, Davis E, Mapes S, Pusterla N, Navas González FJ, Iglesias Pastrana C, Abdelfattah EM, McLean A.Feral donkey removal from state land has raised concerns in terms of disease transmission between equine species. Disease outbreaks may occur as a result of the relocation of animals to new environments. Virus and bacteria DNA load and serum amyloid A derived from the pathogenic processes that they involve were measured in recently captured donkeys. Blood and nasal swabs were collected from 85 donkeys (Death Valley National Park, Shoshone, California); 24 were retested after 30/60 days in the Scenic (Arizona) long-term holding facility co-mingled with feral donkeys from Arizona and Utah. Quant...
Sant C, Allicock OM, d'Abadie R, Charles RA, Georges K.The agents of equine piroplasmosis, Theileria equi and Babesia caballi, are endemic in Trinidad, West Indies. While transmission is mainly by ixodid ticks, transplacental transmission of T. equi has also been reported. This disease has contributed to foetal losses as well as morbidity and mortality of neonatal foals and adult horses. Previous 18S rRNA-based phylogenetic studies indicated a noticeable degree of variation within and among B. caballi and T. equi isolates from different geographical regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diversity of T. equi and B. caballi obtain...
Demircan K, Onder Z, Duzlu O, Yildirim A, Okur M, Ciloglu A, Yetismis G, Inci A.The goal of our study was to investigate the molecular prevalence of Giardia intestinalis in naturally infected horses in Kayseri, Central Anatolia Region in Turkey, to determine the molecular characterization of the obtained isolates and to exhibit the potential role of horses in zoonotic transmission of G. intestinalis. Fecal samples were randomly collected from totally 150 horses with clinically healthy between March and June of 2018. After the genomic DNA extractions, 25 (16.6%) of the 150 fecal samples, were found positive for G. intestinalis by nested PCR analyses of β-giardin gene. P...
Reshadi P, Heydari F, Ghanbarpour R, Bagheri M, Jajarmi M, Amiri M, Alizade H, Badouei MA, Sahraei S, Adib N.Transmission of antimicrobial resistant and virulent Escherichia coli (E. coli) from animal to human has been considered as a public health concern. This study aimed to determine the phylogenetic background and prevalence of diarrheagenic E. coli and antimicrobial resistance in healthy riding-horses in Iran. In this research, the genes related to six main pathotypes of E. coli were screened. Also, genotypic and phenotypic antimicrobial resistance against commonly used antibiotics were studied, then phylo-grouping was performed on all the isolates. Results: Out of 65 analyzed isolates, 29.23â€...
Gil LHVG, Magalhaes T, Santos BSAS, Oliveira LV, Oliveira-Filho EF, Cunha JLR, Fraiha ALS, Rocha BMM, Longo BC, Ecco R, Faria GC, Furtini R....Madariaga virus (MADV) is a member of the eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) complex that circulates in Central and South America. It is a zoonotic, mosquito-borne pathogen, belonging to the family . Disturbances in the natural transmission cycle of this virus result in outbreaks in equines and humans, leading to high case fatality in the former and acute febrile illness or neurological disease in the latter. Although a considerable amount of knowledge exists on the eco-epidemiology of North American EEEV strains, little is known about MADV. In Brazil, the most recent isolations of MADV ...
Peck DE, Reeves WK, Pelzel-McCluskey AM, Derner JD, Drolet B, Cohnstaedt LW, Swanson D, McVey DS, Rodriguez LL, Peters DPC.Vesicular stomatitis viruses (VSVs) cause a condition known as vesicular stomatitis (VS), which results in painful lesions in equines, cattle, swine, and camelids, and when transmitted to humans, can cause flu-like symptoms. When animal premises are affected by VS, they are subject to a quarantine. The equine industry more broadly may incur economic losses due to interruptions of animal trade and transportation to shows, competitions, and other events. Equine owners, barn managers, and veterinarians can take proactive measures to reduce the risk of equines contracting VS. To identify appropria...
Morse EV, Duncan MA, Page EA, Fessler JF.Salmonellosis in Equidae is a serious global problem. The prevalence may range from 0.36% to 27%. Probably 5% to 10% of the equine population in the U.S. is or has been infected. Over 40 serotypes of Salmonella have been cultured from Equidae. S. typhimurium (66.31%), S. enteritidis (9.6%), S. newport (5.16%) and S. heidelberg (4.89%) have been the most common equine isolates. The clinical and bacteriological studies of 23 naturally occurring infections in a large veterinary hospital were studied. Nine patients were infected with S. typhimurium, 8 with S. anatum, 1 with S. newport, 4 with dual...
Sabattini MS, Monath TP, Mitchell CJ, Daffner JF, Bowen GS, Pauli R, Contigiani MS.This is the introductory paper to a series on the ecology of arboviruses in Argentina. Epizootics of equine encephalitis have occurred since at least 1908, principally in the Pampa and Espinal biogeographic zones, with significant economic losses; human cases of encephalitis have been rare or absent. Both western equine and eastern equine encephalitis viruses have been isolated from horses during these epizootics, but the mosquitoes responsible for transmission have not been identified. A number of isolations of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus were reported between 1936 and 1958 in ...
Ratzlaff FR, Osmari V, da Silva D, de Paula Vasconcellos JS, Pötter L, Fernandes FD, de Mello Filho JA, de Avila Botton S, Vogel FSF, Sangioni LA.Leishmaniasis is a zoonosis caused by protozoan species of the genus Leishmania. It generates different clinical manifestations in humans and animals, and it infects multiple hosts. Leishmania parasites are transmitted by sandfly vectors. The main objective of this systematic review was to identify the host, or reservoir animal species, of Leishmania spp., with the exception of domestic dogs, that were recorded in Brazil. This review included identification of diagnostic methods, and the species of protozoan circulating in the country. For this purpose, a literature search was conducted across...
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 ...
Kauter A, Epping L, Ghazisaeedi F, Lübke-Becker A, Wolf SA, Kannapin D, Stoeckle SD, Semmler T, Günther S, Gehlen H, Walther B.Previous research identified veterinary clinics as hotspots with respect to accumulation and spread of multidrug resistant extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing (EC). Therefore, promoting the prudent use of antibiotics to decrease selective pressure in that particular clinical environment is preferable to enhance biosecurity for animal patients and hospital staff. Accordingly, this study comparatively investigated the impact of two distinct perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) regimens (short-term versus prolonged) on ESBL-EC carriage of horses subjected to colic surgery. Whil...
Robin M, Archer D, Garros C, Gardès L, Baylis M.There are concerns that outbreaks of exotic or novel vector-borne viral diseases will increasingly occur within northern Europe and the UK in the future. African horse sickness (AHS) is a viral disease of equids that is transmitted by Culicoides and is associated with up to 95 per cent mortality. AHS has never occurred in the UK; however, it has been suggested that appropriate Culicoides species and climatic conditions are present in northern Europe to support an outbreak. No data are currently available regarding the Culicoides species present on UK equine properties. This study demonstrates ...
House JK, Mainar-Jaime RC, Smith BP, House AM, Kamiya DY.To identify risk factors for nosocomial Salmonella infections among hospitalized horses. Methods: Longitudinal study. Methods: 1,583 horses hospitalized in an intensive care unit between January 1992 and June 1996. Methods: Survivor functions were used to estimate time to shedding salmonellae for various Salmonella serotypes. Survival analysis was then used to determine how variables associated with patient management, environmental conditions, hospital conditions, and other disease processes affected the risk of nosocomial Salmonella infection. Results: 78 horses shed Salmonella organisms: 35...
Yanoviak SP, Aguilar PV, Lounibos LP, Weaver SC.Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) complex alphaviruses are serious health threats in the Americas and regularly infect humans living in or near Amazonian rain forests. As part of a larger surveillance program, we placed six hamster-baited mosquito traps in a disturbed white sand forest of northeastern Peru for 3 d. Virus isolations from hamster serum and trapped mosquito pools demonstrated that a VEE subtype IIIC alphavirus was transmitted to a hamster by the mosquito Culex (Melanoconion) gnomatos Sallum, Hutchings & Ferreira. This species, like the other seven proven VEE complex alphavirus...
Marshall ID, Brown BK, Keith K, Gard GP, Thibos E.There was extensive and exuberant breeding of waterbirds before and during an epidemic of arboviral encephalitis in the Murray Valley of south eastern Australia in 1974. As estimated by haemagglutination inhibition tests on 432 bird sera collected between 4th and 13th February, 1974, infection with Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Kunjin virus and possibly other flaviviruses was concentrated in species of the Order Ciconiiformes (55% positive) and Pelecaniformes (41%), compared with only 5% in Anseriformes. Although Sindbis virus infections were also highest in these 2 Orders (56% and 46%, re...
Muranaka M, Yamanaka T, Katayama Y, Hidari K, Kanazawa H, Suzuki T, Oku K, Oyamada T.It is strongly suspected that equine influenza virus (EIV) is the origin of canine influenza virus (CIV, H3N8), which was first isolated in U.S.A. in 2004, on the basis of phylogenetic analyses. Although the distribution of influenza virus sialoreceptors seems to be associated with this interspecies transmission, there have been scant data of comparison about distributions of sialoreceptors on the whole respiratory tract between horses and dogs. We examined the histological distribution of influenza virus sialoreceptors on the upper and lower respiratory tract in detail in both animals using d...
