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.
Sentsui H, Kono Y.During the autumn of 1978 a disease characterised by fever and occasionally by exanthema and/or oedema of the limbs was seen in approximately 13 per cent of horses in a training stable in the Kanto district of Japan. A virus was isolated by the intracerebral inoculation of one-day-old mice from blood and nasal swabs taken from naturally and experimentally infected horses. The virus was subsequently passaged in two monkey kidney cell lines in which it produced complete cytopathic changes. Infected horses developed neutralising, complement fixing and haemagglutinin inhibiting antibodies to the v...
Levene A.In man the epidermis is the final destination for most of the melanocytes which are of neural crest origin, and they migrate to a variety of sites. Dermal melanocytic distribution, conspicuous in some lower animals, has a very restricted normal distribution in man, and of the variety of anomalies which exist the blue naevus is the most frequently encountered. It is comparable to the common melanocytoma of dog and hamster. More widespread dermal melanocytoses are rare, and a unique case in which death from melanoma supervened, recently recorded by the author, is an example of a syndrome the onl...
van der Gaag I, Tibboel D.Intestinal atresia was found in 29 animals and stenosis in five. Atresia was found in the duodenum in one pup; in the jejunum in nine calves, two lambs and one piglet; in the ileum in one pup, one lamb and one piglet; and in the colon in one foal, seven calves, one lamb, one piglet and three kittens. Stenosis was found in the duodenum of a foal, in the jejunum in two calves and one pup, and in both the ileum and the colon of a kitten. One lamb showed ileal atresia as well as ileal stenosis. We classified the atresia as type 1, membrane atresia (four cases); type 2, cord atresia (six cases); an...
Littlejohn A.Twenty cases of chronic cough originating in the lung and associated with loss of performance were clinically examined. The physical signs observed were compared with those observed in a control series of 38 clinically normal horses. Reduced work tolerance, coughing for more than 3 months and abnormal pulmonary sounds (râles) were primary signs of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Forced abdominal expiratory efforts and pumping of the anus were regarded as confirmatory signs. Neither nasal discharge nor increased marginal distance was found to be a reliable sign of COPD. The mean ...
Taylor NR.A case of balanoposthitis involving injury to a yearling colt's penis and prepuce is described. Details are given of the Vennerhalm or reefing operation which was used to relieve the penile prolapse and paraphimosis accompanying the condition.
Purohit RC, McCoy MD, Bergfeld WA.Lateral and frontal thermographic patterns of the head of normal horses before and after exercise were characterized to aid the diagnosis of diseases of the head. Surgical induction of Horner's syndrome was done in four horses by isolation and transection of the vagosympathetic trunk. One clinical case and the surgically induced cases of Horner's syndrome were evaluated clinically. Thermographic findings of the clinical case were similar to the experimental cases.
Lew AM, Hosking CS, Studdert MJ.Tests for T- and B-cell quantitation and immune function were developed, and their application in the diagnosis of primary severe combined immunodeficiency disease (CID) in Arabian foals was investigated. Foals with CID had severe lymphopenia and had small or zero numbers of B cells, as shown by immunofluorescence of surface immunoglobulin (Ig), erythrocyte-antibody-complement rosetting, and staphylococcal protein A rosetting. Serum IgM was undetectable in four CID foals 25 to 71 days old. Demonstrable antibody responses were not elicited in CID foals by phage phi X-174, a potent antigen in no...
Barth AD, Barber SM, McKenzie NT.A two month old Thoroughbred filly was presented with signs of depression, grinding of the teeth, frothing of the mouth and abdominal pain. These signs had persisted for two weeks despite treatment with mineral oil, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, meperidine and antibiotics. A variety of diagnostic tests were done, the only abnormal finding was a stress leukon. On exploratory laparotomy the stomach was dilated with fluid and gas and the pyloric canal was constricted. Pyloroplasty resulted in correction of the condition. The etiological possibilities are discussed. This is believed to be the fir...
Locke KB, McEwan DR, Hamdorf IJ.Horses and cattle fed swainsona (Swainsona canescens var horniana) over a period of 8 to 10 weeks lost condition and became incoordinated and hypersensitive. Histological examination of tissues from affected animals revealed the characteristic changes of widespread cellular vacuolation and axonal spheroids in the CNS. Cattle withdrawn from the toxic plant after being fed for varying periods up to 8 weeks returned to normal. Serum alpha-mannosidase activity declined significantly in cattle during the test period, whereas in horses that activity rose. Serum alkaline phosphatase levels increased ...
Perryman LE, McGuire TC, Torbeck RL.The capacity of cells from thymus, liver, spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, peripheral blood, and bone marrow to respond to in vitro phytolectin and allogeneic lymphocyte-stimulation was determined in 16 pony fetuses 61 to 200 days old (gestational age). Phytolectin-responsive cells were detected in the thymus at the 80th gestational day, peripheral blood at 120 days, lymph node at 160 days, and spleen at 200 days. Mixed lymphocyte culture-responsive cells were detected in thymus at 100 days and in the spleen at 200 days (gestational age). Immunoglobulins (Ig) M and IgG were quantitated by radio...
Greenwood RE, Simson AR.An outbreak of ataxia and paralysis on a Thoroughbred studfarm is reported. The cause of the disease was attributed to equid herpesvirus (EHV1) infection which stemmed from a single 10-month abortion on the studfarm. Stallions, mares and foals were all affected but the most serious clinical signs occurred in the mares. there were 35 out of 39 mares, 2 out of 4 stallions and 5 out of 39 foals which exhibited signs of ataxia. Nine mares became recumbent and died or were euthanased. Treatment with betamethasone and antibiotics was given. The outbreak was contained to one area of the stud apart fr...
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.
Akinboade OA, Awani O, Best O, Cole T.Summary Twelve (12) heavy horses of the Shire breed imported into Nigeria in 1974 died within two months after importation. This was because of inclement weather and non-availability of AHS vaccine.
Justines G, Sucre H, Alvarez O.Transplacental passage of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, epizootic strain P-676, occurred in four of nine fetuses studied. The mares were infected near term. Virus was recovered in high titer from fetal blood and organs, while no virus was detected in maternal blood but neutralizing antibodies were present. No evidence of in utero infection was found in two fetuses from mares infected with MF-8, another epizootic strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus.
Chhabra MB, Gautam OP.The prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii was investigated among equids in 3 localities of north India, using the direct haemagglutination test. Of the 603 animals sampled, titres ranging from 1:8 to 1:512 were found in 71 (11.8 per cent). Specific titres of 1:64 or more were found in 34 (5.6 per cent) sera. The number of positive titres at Babugarh (Uttar Pradesh) was considerably higher than at 2 other localities. Although the likelihood of positive sera appeared to increased with age, the animal's sex appeared to have little influence. Subjects with reproductive disorders or eye ail...
Arko RJ, Wong KH.An infection model in laboratory mice for studying the bacterium (proposed name Haemophilus equigenitalis) causing contagious equine metritis is described. Small porous chambers were implanted subcutaneously into mice and after 1 to 3 weeks were inoculated with H equigenitalis. Infections that persisted for > 30 days were established by direct transfer of infective chamber fluid or by injection of laboratory-grown cultures. Immunization of mice with formaldehyde-treated cells induced significant, strain-related immunity to infection and did not appear to require complement as a protection medi...
Sturm RT, Lang GH, Mitchell WR.The sera of 2596 thoroughbred and standardbred racehorses from Ontario were examined by hemagglutination-inhibition for antibodies to reovirus types 1, 2 and 3. The prevalence of antibodies differed between the standardbred and thoroughbred horses and varied with the age groups within the two populations. While reovirus 1 was the principal virus type infecting thoroughbreds, all three types seemed to infect standardbred horses. Differences of these findings with data from similar studies in Europe are mentioned and the epizootiological and pathological significance of these findings are discus...
Akinboade OA, Awani O, Best O, Cole T.Summary Twelve (12) heavy horses of the Shire breed imported into Nigeria in 1974 died within two months after importation. This was because of inclement weather and non-availability of AHS vaccine.
Schulz KS, Simmons TR, Johnson R.An 8-year-old mare was presented to the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine Large Animal Clinic for evaluation of anorexia, fever and icterus. The mare had a 5-day history of anorexia, depression and tongue protrusion. Diagnostic procedures included serum hepatic enzyme activities, serum bile acid concentrations, blood ammonia evaluations and hepatic ultrasound and ultrasound guided biopsy. The history, clinical pathology and histopathology in this case supported a probable diagnosis of primary septic cholangiohepatitis.
Fröhlich W, Wlaschitz S, Riedelberger K, Reifinger M.A case of endocarditis of the aortic valve in a 11 year old thoroughbred is presented. Diagnostic approach, the value of echocardiography, and the various symptoms, complications and prognosis are discussed. The horse with ruptured aortic valves due to endocarditis with severe aortic and mitral regurgitation causing congestive heart failure, was euthanised due to bad prognosis.
Hoffmann B, Joseph S, Patteril NAG, Caveney MR, Elizabeth SK, Muhammed R, Wernery R, Wernery U.African horse sickness (AHS) is a viral disease of equids, caused by a virus of the genus Orbivirus, family Reoviridae. The African horse sickness virus (AHSV) genome is made up of ten double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) segments that together code for seven structural and four nonstructural proteins. AHS is endemic in sub-Saharan countries. The efficacy and safety of inactivated AHS vaccines containing all nine serotypes, produced at the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates have been proven in the past. All nine AHSV serotypes were isolated from 102 samples col...
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.
Gideon L.Esophageal anastomosis was performed on 2 foals after resecting a midcervical stricture. Nasogastric tube alimentation and antibiotic therapy allowed these foals to recover, and they matured to useful performing horses. These cases demonstrated a feasible and successful surgical management regimen for the strictured esophagus.