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.
Ellenberger MA, Kaeberle ML, Roth JA.A lymphocyte blastogenic assay was developed to serve as an in vitro correlate of cell-mediated immunity to Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi (R equi) in the equine species. Lymphocytes obtained from a group of experimental ponies showed no response in cell culture to R equi heat extract or lysozyme extract antigens. Ponies were assigned to groups for experimental inoculation. Three ponies were inoculated subcutaneously with live R equi, 3 were given live R equi by intranasal and intratracheal routes, and 4 ponies were left untreated. Lymphocytes from all inoculated ponies had a mitogenic res...
Magnuson NS, Perryman LE, Wyatt CR, Ishizaka T, Mason PH, Namen AE, Banks KL, Magnuson JA.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 14 foals with hereditary severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) were studied to determine the extent of lymphocyte differentiation that occurs in this disorder. PBMC from all 14 horses had the morphologic characteristics of large granular lymphocytes (LGL). Cells from only one of 14 horses were responsive to phytolectin stimulation in a standard blastogenesis assay; however, PBMC from all 14 horses proliferated in continuous culture in the presence of partially purified interleukin 2. Furthermore, there were differences in the growth patterns of ...
Cordy DR.Bacterial meningoventriculitis was studied in 26 neonatal ungulates. Preceded by a substantial bacteremia, usually due to Escherichia coli, the fibrinopurulent inflammation involved leptomeninges, choroid plexuses, and ventricle walls, but largely spared the neuraxial parenchyma. It is proposed that this surface-relatedness results from the transport of bacteria by monocytes of low bactericidal power, migrating by normal pathways to maintain significant surface populations of macrophages. The neuraxial parenchyma is spared because of its normal lack of a macrophage population. A similar pathog...
Morris DD, Bloom JC, Roby KA, Woods K, Tablin F.An eosinophilic myeloproliferative disorder resulted in edema and hemorrhagic diathesis in a 10-month-old Standardbred colt. Laboratory abnormalities included severe thrombocytopenia, anemia, mild hypoproteinemia, and marked eosinophilia. Circulating eosinophils were immature or atypical with variation in granule size, disproportionate nuclear to cytoplasmic maturation, and abnormal nuclear size and shape. Bone marrow aspirate had mainly atypical eosinophil precursors, few erythroid precursors, and no megakaryocytes. A blood transfusion and dexamethasone therapy resulted in some improvement; h...
van der Velden MA, Verzijlenberg F.The surgical treatment of eighty-nine horses and ponies suffering from chronic empyema of the maxillary sinus is reported. Treatment consisted in trephination and drainage of the sinus involved in thirty-six animals; the affected teeth were removed at the same time in fifty-three animals in which sinusitis was caused by an alveolitis. The recovery rate was seventy-five per cent in group one and seventy per cent in group two. Postoperative treatment is also reported and attention is paid to complications which may occur during and after surgery.
O'Niell FD, Issel CJ, Henk WG.Organ cultures of equine fetal tracheal and nasal turbinate epithelium were inoculated with equine influenza virus-A1 (EIV-A1), equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), or equine rhinovirus-1 (ERV-1). Infected organ cultures were processed for scanning and transmission electron microscopy at various intervals and were compared with noninfected controls. Organ cultures inoculated with ERV-1 appeared normal with the exception of rare island-like lesions in infected nasal turbinate. Virus particles were not seen in thin sections of organ cultures infected with ERV-1. The EHV-1 caused extensive loss of the e...
Todhunter RJ, Stick JA, Trotter GW, Boles C.Esophageal strictures developed in 7 horses that were treated for esophageal obstruction. A soft diet was fed to all horses, with intermittent nasogastric tube feeding in one, and medication included nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Maximal reduction in esophageal lumen diameter was evident by 30 days following circumferential esophageal ulceration, after which lumen diameter increased rapidly. Five horses were clinically normal by 60 days after the esophageal injury. Two horses were euthanatized at the owner's request, 16 and 17 days after the original insult.
Coignoul FL, Bertram TA, Cheville NF.Three pony mares and 4 pony foals were inoculated with a subtype 2 strain of equine herpesvirus 1. Foals had periods of fever 12 h and 2.5 days after inoculation and leukopenia, involving both neutrophils and lymphocytes, followed by leukocytosis. Mares had transient fever and leukopenia 24 hours after inoculation that were less severe than in foals. An increase in circulating virus-neutralizing antibody was seen in 2 of 3 inoculated mares, but not in foals. Attempts to isolate virus from blood were unsuccessful. These studies show that equine herpesvirus 1 subtype 2 is a mild pathogen for pon...
Blue MG, Hannwacker MA.Persistent purulent endometritis in a mare was attributed to an unclassified species of Corynebacterium. Following intrauterine infusions of 20% betadine for 5 days the purulent vulval discharge ceased and the mare appeared clinically normal. Based on histological examination of endometrial biopsy samples, the severe acute inflammatory reaction had largely resolved 2 days after therapy. Three maiden mares considered resistant to bacterial endometritis received single intrauterine inoculations of 1.8 X 10(9) colony-forming units of the Corynebacterium species. The uterine response was followed ...
Sweeney RW, Sweeney CR.Horner's syndrome developed in 2 horses after routine jugular venipuncture. Signs included unilateral sweating of the face in both horses and ptosis in 1 horse. The signs resolved within 14 hours. Signs of a perivascular injection did not develop in either horse. Although Horner's syndrome has been reported after perivascular jugular injections these cases illustrate that the syndrome may develop following routine intravenous injections.
Tzipori S, Hayes J, Sims L, Withers M.Streptococcus durans was isolated from a foal with profuse watery diarrhea and caused a similar syndrome when inoculated into foals via the orogastric route. The most consistent and striking histological feature was the extensive colonization of the mucosal surface of the small intestine by S. durans. Associated mucosal changes were mild to modeate, and brush border lactase and alkaline phosphatase production were depressed. S. durans also induced acute diarrhea in young gnotobiotic piglets. Mucosal changes were mild and, as with foals, the mucosal surface of the small intestine was colonized ...
Rose PL, Watkins JP, Auer JA.A comminuted, mid-diaphyseal femoral fracture was diagnosed radiographically in a 4-month-old Quarter Horse colt. Disruption of the distal blood supply was suspected, as evidenced by coolness and diminished pulses of the distal portion of the limb. The fracture was repaired by compression plating but the foal's condition continued to deteriorate. A femoral arteriogram of the affected limb was obtained. Positive contrast agent was visible only as far as the mid-shaft of the femur. The foal was euthanatized and the postmortem examination revealed a transected popliteal artery accounting for isch...
O'Niell FD, Issel CJ.Growth kinetics of equine influenza virus-A1, equine herpesvirus-1, and equine rhinovirus-1 were determined in susceptible cell monolayers and in organ cultures of equine fetal tracheal and nasal turbinate epithelium. Equine influenza virus-A1 was replicated in cell and organ cultures and was released more readily and for longer periods from nasal turbinate epithelium than from tracheal epithelium. Equine herpesvirus-1 was also replicated in cell and organ cultures. During the first 24 hours after inoculation, equine herpesvirus-1 was released more readily from tracheal epithelium than from na...
Dorr TE, Higgins RJ, Dangler CA, Madigan JE, Witham CL.Three cases of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis were diagnosed over a 12-month period in horses that had never left the state of California. These cases suggest that the disease is enzootic in California.
Papkoff H, Murthy HM, Roser JF.The tyrosine residues of equine chorionic gonadotropin have been nitrated with tetranitromethane and the resulting effects on the biological and immunological activities of the hormone studied. All of the tyrosine residues in equine chorionic gonadotropin were found to react with tetranitromethane when a 100-fold molar excess of reagent was used or with an 8.6 molar excess in the presence of 5 M guanidine hydrochloride. Complete nitration abolished the biological activities and decreased the immunological activity of the hormone. The nitration of one tyrosine residue resulted in the loss of 70...
Fitzpatrick DR, Studdert MJ.The specificity of selected immune responses to equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and type 4 (EHV-4) was examined in 3 colostrum-deprived specific-pathogen-free foals. Single foals were vaccinated with inactivated EHV-1, inactivated EHV-4, or control cell lysate plus adjuvant followed by successive intranasal challenge exposures with EHV-1 and EHV-4 or with EHV-4 and EHV-1. Vaccination with inactivated virus preparations elicited cellular immune responses and antibody which were augmented by subsequent challenge exposures. Cellular immune responses, as measured by in vitro lymphocyte blastogen...
Ellenberger MA, Kaeberle ML, Roth JA.A procedure was developed for isolating large numbers of purified polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) from the peripheral blood of horses. Equine PMN function was evaluated by three procedures: 1) Staphylococcus aureus ingestion, 2) nitroblue tetrazolium reduction, and 3) iodination. Four preparations of R. equi were added to polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) in each test system. Live bacteria, heat-killed bacteria, the washed pellet from heat-killed bacteria, and the supernatant fluid from heat-killed bacteria were evaluated for effects on equine PMN function. None of the R. equi preparatio...
Tzipori S, Withers M, Hayes J, Robins-Browne R, Ward KL.Equine small intestinal brush-border membranes, from 40 adult horses were tested in vitro for the presence of receptors for the Escherichia coli adhesive antigens K88ab, K88ac and K99. Only K88-positive strains of E. coli adhered strongly to horse brush-border membranes. In contrast, a K88-negative mutant strain J2, 2 K99-positive strains and 3 E. coli strains isolated from foals failed to adhere to horse brush-border membranes. Purified K88ac pili when reacted with equine brush-border membranes inhibited to a great extent the adhesion of K88-positive E. coli. Similarly, K88-positive E. coli p...
Slocombe JO, Cote JF.Thirteen Standardbred horses, two to five years of age, were treated with ivermectin paste per os at 200 mug/kg of body weight and 13 were untreated. Two weeks after treatment, previously untreated horses were given the paste. Fecal samples were collected from all horses at the time of treatment and periodically thereafter up to 14 weeks and were examined for nematode eggs using the Cornell-McMaster dilution and the Cornell-Wisconsin double centrifugation procedures.All horses consumed the paste readily and had no signs of toxicosis. Strongyle eggs were found in the feces of all horses before ...
Vivrette SL, Reimers TJ, Krook L.Hypothyroidism was diagnosed in a 5-month-old Thorough-bred colt by clinical and clinico-pathology examinations, thyroid stimulating hormone response test and by microscopic evaluation of the thyroid gland. Skeletal lesions included delayed appearance of ossification centers and delayed development of bone in cartilage models, delayed closure of epiphyseal plates, transverse trabeculation in metaphyses, osteochondrosis dissecans and subchondral cysts.
Yoxall AT.This paper is an introduction to a series of commissioned articles on therapeutic medicine to be published in Equine Veterinary Journal under differing authorship, during the next 2 years. It presents an account of fundamental concepts common to the use of all drugs and introduces some pharmacokinetic principles to which reference will be made in later articles.
Weidenhöfer V, Martin H, Peters J.Since the late 9th century, scientific literature in Arabian language, based on the translation and compilation of works of the Classical, Persian and Indian culture considerably increased. This also applies to the field of veterinary medicine, as is illustrated by a number of hippological and hippiatric treatises. Affinities between texts on horse medicine in Antiquity and in Arabian literature have been mentioned by philologists, but the degree of dependence on classical texts could not be verified due to the lack of translations of the Arabian texts. In this respect, the oldest available te...
Hussein HA, Loose M, Wehrend A.The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of puerperal diseases in breeding mares in the first 10 days after birth by analysing patient data. Methods: In a university clinic patient data of 308 breeding mares with puerperal disorders which presented within the first 10 days postpartum were evaluated over a period of 10 years. A distinction was made between diseases which were able to be diagnosed at the first examination and diseases which developed during the patient's stay in the clinic. Results: A total of 21 diseases were diagnosed, with a retained placenta, lochiometra and injur...
West HJ.Single intravenous injections of bromosulphthalein (BSP) were given to horses and the change in plasma concentration of BSP with time was analysed by computer to obtain the proportionality transfer constants 'a', 'h' and 'b'. No age, weight or sex differences in BSP clearance were found in normal horses. The technique was non-invasive, repeatable and suitable for conscious animals. The measurement of the transfer constants 'a', 'h' and 'b', helped to provide an accurate guide to diagnosis and prognosis of liver disease.