The study of diseases in horses encompasses a wide range of conditions affecting equine health, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and genetic abnormalities. These diseases can impact various systems within the horse, such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems, and can lead to significant health challenges. Research in this area focuses on understanding the pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of equine diseases. Common diseases studied include equine influenza, equine herpesvirus, and laminitis. This page provides access to peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, clinical presentation, and management strategies of diseases in horses, contributing to the advancement of equine veterinary medicine.
Takai S, Iimori S, Tsubaki S.Quantitative culture of Corynebacterium (Rhodococcus) equi from feces of 17 foals on a farm (A) with an endemic C. equi infection problem and 26 foals on a farm (B) without the disease in the past decade was done with a selective medium at weekly or monthly intervals from April to August of 1984. Corynebacterium equi was observed in the feces of 16 of 17 foals on farm A, and 19 of 26 foals on farm B. The mean viable count of C. equi in one gram of feces was 4.1 +/- 3.7 (log10) on farm A, and 3.9 +/- 3.4 (log10) on farm B. Corynebacterium equi was recovered from feces of foals as young as two w...
Sojka JE, Brown SA.Serum gentamicin concentrations were measured and pharmacokinetic values were calculated for 12 equine patients receiving parenteral gentamicin therapy. Horses were selected for monitoring of gentamicin pharmacokinetics if they met several criteria of high risk for gentamicin-induced toxicosis. Two blood samples were obtained, one immediately before gentamicin dosing and one at 1 hour after dosing. Gentamicin serum concentrations were analyzed and dosage adjustments were made on the basis of calculated one-compartment pharmacokinetic values. Nine of the 12 horses required dosage adjustment to ...
Owen RA, Haywood S, Kelly DF.A four-year-old shire mare with haematuria, colic, terminal weight loss and an abdominal mass had a large unilateral renal adenocarcinoma. Clinical signs were monitored for 11 months. Increased serum copper concentrations were measured on two occasions. Hypercupraemia is discussed as a possible paraneoplastic change.
Bauer C, Bürger HJ.A paste formulation containing 14.3 per cent of oxibendazole and 44 per cent of trichlorfon was administered to 33 ponies and horses. The dose rate used was equivalent to 10 mg and 30 mg/kg bodyweight, of oxibendazole and trichlorfon respectively. After treatment 25 animals passed between one and 82 third stage larvae of Gasterophilus intestinalis in their faeces. Dosing with 0.2 mg ivermectin/kg bodyweight three weeks later resulted in six animals expelling between one and four bots. The efficacy of the oxibendazole-trichlorfon paste was on average 96.2 per cent. This drug combination given t...
Van Mol KA, Fransen JL.A poorly performing nine-year-old thoroughbred mare was presented because of chronic weight loss. On rectal examination an abdominal mass was palpated and, on percussion of the right flank from the 11th to 13th intercostal space, a large area of dullness was delineated. Biopsies taken from the liver region and through the rectum revealed a malignant metastasising tumour of the urinary system. After euthanasia, the post mortem findings confirmed the presence of a papillary renal carcinoma with multiple metastases into the omentum and peritoneum.
Spier S, Carlson GP, Nyland TG, Snyder JR, Fischer PE.An 8-year-old gelding with a 3-month history of anorexia and weight loss was found to have a massive subcapsular splenic hematoma. At flank laparotomy, 36 L of fluid was removed from the hematoma. The horse's condition improved after drainage. Fifteen months later, the horse became depressed and febrile. A splenic abscess containing Bacteroides ruminicola and Clostridium sporogenes was found at necropsy.
MacMillan AP, Cockrem DS.Five mares and a stallion were studied from three to 30 months after experimental infection with Brucella abortus strain 544. The mares bred normally. No organisms were recovered from horses or from pregnant Friesian heifer contacts. Titres of serum antibody in the antiglobulin (Coombs) and complement fixation tests fell more slowly than those assessed by other tests. The serum of one foal yielded maternal antibody. An intradermal test was positive in infected adults only, and negative in all foals.
Fu ZF, Robinson AJ, Horner GW, Dickinson LG, Grimmett JB, Marshall RB.The epizootiology of equine herpesvirus type 2 (EHV-2) infection was investigated in Thoroughbred foals on a stud farm which in previous years had suffered economic loss due to respiratory disease. Sixteen pairs of foals and their dams were selected for this study and all of the foals became infected with EHV-2 by two to four months of age. These animals responded serologically to the virus infection as detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). EHV-2 infection persisted in these foals for two to six months with constant or intermittent virus recovery. This persistent infection ...
Trotter GW, Auer JA, Arden W, Parks A.Two foals wearing hindlimb casts developed coxofemoral luxations 6 days and 9 days after the casts were applied. One foal had a cast on one hindlimb up to the proximal portion of the tibia and the other foal had tube casts on all 4 limbs. Although the incidents that resulted in the luxations were not observed, they probably occurred during awkward attempts to stand or from being pushed by the mare, with the affected limb being caught under the body in a forward extended and adducted position.
Williamson CC, Herr S.The distribution of positive dourine cases found on the complement fixation test at the Veterinary Research Institute, Onderstepoort from 1981 to 1984, is recorded. Within the Republic of South Africa, foci of infection occurred in the Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Upington, Lichtenburg, Kroonstad, Louis Trichardt, Middelburg (Cape) and Mossel Bay state veterinary districts. In Bophuthatswana, Transkei, Lesotho, South West Africa and Swaziland, positive cases were also recorded. Anti-complementary activity of horse sera does not present a problem. In donkey and mule sera, ...
Baumann RP, Staczek J, O'Callaghan DJ.Equine herpesvirus type one (EHV-1) defective interfering (DI) particle DNA fragments were inserted into the XbaI site of the plasmid vector pACYC184. Five DI XbaI fragments, which ranged in molecular weight from 4.5 to 6.7 MDa, were selected for detailed analysis. Each DI DNA clone was labeled with 32P-deoxynucleotides by nick translation and hybridized to genomic digests of EHV-1 standard (STD) DNA bound to nitrocellulose. All five clones were shown to hybridize to DNA sequences derived from the left terminus (0.0-0.04 map units) of the long (L) region and from the short (S) region inverted ...
Church S, Wyn-Jones G, Parks AH, Ritchie HE.Seventeen cases of guttural pouch mycosis (including two bilaterally affected cases) were diagnosed in a three year period. The presenting signs were, in order of frequency, epistaxis at rest, nasal catarrh, pharyngeal paralysis, ipsilateral laryngeal hemiplegia, swelling of the submandibular/parotid region, extension of the head and neck and dyspnoea. Ligation of the origin of the internal carotid and occipital arteries was attempted in 10 of the cases exhibiting epistaxis. Bilateral ligation was performed on one animal with an untoward sequelae. Where surgery was successfully completed furth...
Craig TM, Courtney CH.The kind of parasites a horse acquires depends upon its environment. Because patterns of transmission vary greatly with climate and management, no one worming program has universal applications. This article discusses epidemiology and control of equine parasites in the southern United States, where climates vary from warm temperate to subtropical and from humid in the southeast to arid in the southwest.
Leadon DP, Jeffcott LB, Rossdale PD.Parturition was induced in 2 groups of mares, less than 300 (n = 49) and 300 to 320 days gestation (n = 31), by the administration of prostaglandin F2 alpha or fluprostenol and oxytocin. Foals were categorized into 4 groups according to their ability to adapt in, and survive, the neonatal period. Group A had no demonstrable coordinating reflexes, were weak from birth, and all died within 90 minutes. Group B had some righting reflexes, but had poor coordination and a weak suck reflex. They showed some improvement for about 2 hours, but all died within 9 hours. Group C foals had a good suck refl...
Kuttler KL, Gipson CA, Goff WL, Johnson LW.Nine 4-year-old Arabian geldings were experimentally infected with Babesia equi of European origin. All horses developed detectable parasitemia an average of 30 days after they were inoculated, which was accompanied by a decrease in PCV. The infections were generally mild with no animal deaths. All horses became serologically positive by the indirect fluorescent antibody test within an average of 23 days after they were inoculated and by the complement-fixation test 30 days after they were inoculated.
Klei TR.Diagnosis of internal parasitism is based on many factors, including clinical signs, case histories of individual animals and the herds of which they are a part, and, finally, specific laboratory findings. Laboratory methods used can be divided into those associated with the qualitative and quantitative examination of feces for parasite eggs, larvae, and oocysts, and laboratory findings on changes in physiologic status of individuals that may be produced by specific parasites.
Kidd JA, Dyson SJ, Barr AR.Intratendonous infection in the absence of any clinical evidence of a wound has not, to our knowledge, been described previously in horses. This paper reports the clinical features, diagnostic techniques. treatment and outcome in 5 cases of septic flexor tendon core lesions. This condition is characterised by seven lameness and ultrasonographic evidence of a central intratendonous anechoic core lesion which may enlarge rapidly.
Heinrich B.This research article corrects a common misconception about the energy metabolism in horses during short sprinting and long-distance running events, emphasizing that short sprints are primarily powered by anaerobic activity, […]
Coggins L, Auchnie JA.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) has been enzootic in Hong Kong since the end of World War II. In 1972, a serologic survey of the horses at the Hong Kong Jockey Club indicated 23% prevalence of EIA. Disease control measures were instituted, and the spread of infection was reduced. In 1976, the prevalence of EIA was believed to be sufficiently low to implement procedures for eradication of EIA from all horses in Hong Kong. A correlation between EIA and poor performance of racehorses was demonstrated.
Bell K, Colling DT.An alloimmune reagent has been produced that distinguishes the equine factor Df in the D phenogroup, cfmqr, from that occurring in cefmqr and dfklr. Using this reagent it has been possible to correctly genotype Dc, d, f, k, l, m, q and r positive cells without recourse to family data.
Krogh HV, Lundegaard HC.A case of guttural pouch mycosis in an 11-year-old horse is described. The fungus isolated was identified as Emericella nidulans. Housing under bad hygienic conditions without ventilation for three years might have been a predisposing factor.
Goulden BE, Barnes GR, Quinlan TJ.This research presents a unique case of laryngospasm in a horse, a condition that is often observed in cats and other domestic animals, but rarely reported in horses. Traditional methodologies […]