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.
Baptista VDS, Guttmann PM, Rusca AC, Moreira da Silva K, Macieira DB, de Alencar NX, Lessa DAB.Ten mule foals were used to investigate serum IgG concentration. Blood was collected from mares and foals on the day following parturition (D1), at 48 and 72 hr after birth (D2 and D3), and on D7, D14, D21, D28, D35, D42, and D60. Serum IgG concentration was determined by zinc sulfate turbidity test and was above 400 mg/dl at all time points, except for one foal on D2. Mean values were above 800 mg/dl from D1 to D7 and at D60. The difference between mares and foals at each collection time was significant, except at D1. For all other days, foal IgG values were lower than the mare IgG values. Me...
Benfodil K, Büscher P, Abdelli A, Van Reet N, Mohamed-Herif A, Ansel S, Fettata S, Dehou S, Bebronne N, Geerts M, Balharbi F, Ait-Oudhia K.Trypanosoma evansi (T. evansi) is a hemoflagellate parasite that affects a broad range of mammalian hosts and that causes a disease called surra. Diagnosis of surra based on clinical symptoms alone is inaccurate. Therefore, a variety of serological and molecular diagnostic tests are used to assist in the detection of T. evansi infections. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of four serological tests (CATT/T.evansi, immune trypanolysis, ELISA with purified variant surface glycoprotein RoTat 1.2 and with whole cell lysate) and two molecular PCR tests targeting sequenc...
Avila VA, López-García Y, Hernández-Castro R, Salas-Garrido CG, Ramírez-Lezama J, Calderón-Villa R, Martínez-Chavarría LC.Aberrant nematode larval migration in the CNS of horses is rare but frequently fatal; one of the main etiological agents involved in this illness is Halicephalobus gingivalis. This soil nematode has been associated with several fatal equine meningoencephalitis reports worldwide; however, it had never been diagnosed in horses of Mexico. A 10 year-old Andalusian horse presented dysphagia, fever, weakness, prostration and ataxia; the patient expired during the medical attention. Post mortem examination was performed and no gross alterations were found. Histopathology revealed meningoencephalitis...
Miagkoff L, Archambault M, Bonilla AG.To describe the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the most commonly isolated bacteria cultured from synovial fluid samples from horses with suspected septic synovitis treated at an equine referral hospital between May 1, 2008, and September 24, 2017. Methods: 131 synovial fluid samples from 108 client-owned horses. Methods: A retrospective medical record search was conducted to identify horses with suspected septic synovitis and results of synovial fluid bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Data collected included signalment, known or suspected origin of synovial ...
Santos RG, Hurtado R, Gomes LGR, Profeta R, Rifici C, Attili AR, Spier SJ, Mazzullo G, Morais-Rodrigues F, Gomide ACP, Brenig B, Gala-García A....Bacteria of the genusGlutamicibacterare considered ubiquitous because they can be found in soil, water and air. They have already been isolated from different habitats, including different types of soil, clinical samples, cheese and plants. Glutamicibacter creatinolyticus is a Gram-positive bacterium important to various biotechnological processes, however, as a pathogen it is associated to urinary tract infections and bacteremia. Recently,Glutamicibacter creatinolyticusLGCM 259 was isolated from a mare, which displayed several diffuse subcutaneous nodules with heavy vascularization. In this s...
Guzmán C, Calderón A, Oviedo T, Mattar S, Castañeda J, Rodriguez V, Moraes Figueiredo LT.Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is an alphavirus that causes encephalitis with a high impact on public health in Latin America. However, only in Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico have found antibodies in VEEV in bats, using immunohistochemistry, the sensitivity and specificity are improved; thus, it is better for demonstrating natural infection in bats as potential hosts. This study aimed to determine the presence of VEEV in tissues of frugivorous bats. Methods: A prospective descriptive cross-sectional study with a non-probabilistic sampling was carried out in 12 localiti...
Balasuriya UBR.The primary goals of this chapter are to discuss common viral RNA isolation and purification methods that are routinely used by various diagnostic laboratories and to highlight the advantages and drawbacks of each method and to identify the most suitable and reliable method to increase the sensitivity and specificity of RT-PCR assays for the detection of equine influenza virus (EIV) in clinical specimens. Our experiences and review of literature show that magnetic bead-based nucleic extraction methods (manual and automatic) work well for isolation and purification of EIV RNA from nasal swab sp...
Pye J, Kilcoyne I, Roy M, Vaughan B, Ormond C, Spriet M.A 20-year-old Quarter horse gelding was referred for evaluation of an acute onset non-weight-bearing right forelimb lameness. Marked soft tissue swelling was apparent over the right scapula and shoulder region; no crepitus was palpable. A complete transverse fracture of the scapular neck was suspected based on ultrasonography and radiographs were obtained to confirm the presumptive diagnosis. A complete, oblique fracture of the right scapular neck with mild cranial and proximal displacement of the distal fragment was detected. Computed tomography of the upper right forelimb was performed post-...
de Lagarde M, Larrieu C, Praud K, Lallier N, Trotereau A, Sallé G, Fairbrother JM, Schouler C, Doublet B.The objective of the study was to identify the genetic determinants and characteristics of expanded-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC) resistance in commensal Escherichia coli from healthy horses in France in 2015. Faecal samples from 744 adult horses were screened for ESC-resistant E. coli isolates. The extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)/AmpC resistance genes were identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. ESC phenotypes were horizontally transferred by conjugation or transformation. Plasmids carrying ESBL/AmpC genes were typed by PCR-based replicon typing, restriction fr...
Linz D, Hesselkilde E, Kutieleh R, Jespersen T, Buhl R, Sanders P.Atrial fibrillation is triggered by the pulmonary veins in humans. Although atrial fibrillation is known to occur in other species, the mechanisms of disease in these are not known. Here we present evidence for pulmonary vein triggers in the horse, where 3D HD Grid mapping was undertaken in the conscious state in the absence of fluoroscopy.
Wernery U, Joseph S, Raghavan R, Dyer B, Spendrup S.Our investigation has shown that multiple vaccinations with inactivated African horse sickness (AHS) vaccines containing all 9 serotypes and produced at the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory in Dubai, UAE, protect horses from AHS. However, the immunization did not prevent African horse sickness fever (AHSF) in approximately 10% of the vaccinated horses despite high enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus neutralizing antibodies. African horse sickness fever is a very mild form of AHS with similar clinical signs. From all 6 horses which had developed AHSF, no virus was isolated from ED...
Souza JRM, Gonçalves PBD, Bertolin K, Ferreira R, Ribeiro ASS, Ribeiro DB, Rechsteiner SMDEF, Araújo RR, Pimentel CA, Pimentel AMH.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation of age and heat cycle to determine reproductive efficiency in young and aged Thoroughbred mares bred on foal heat (FH) or on second heat (SH) after foaling. Embryo mortality (EmbM) was determined every time a mare was found open after a positive pregnancy diagnosis. Parturition to breeding interval, pregnancy rate (PregR) and EmbM rate were the dependent variables and the treatments were breeding on the FH or on SH. The cutoff age to obtain above-average probability for the EmbM was 10 years old. PregR in mares bred on FH was lower ...
Leclere M, Costa MC.Gastrointestinal microbiota can be influenced by several factors, including diet and systemic inflammation, and in turn could act as a modulator of the allergic response. Fecal microbiota of horses with asthma has not been described. Objective: Analyze the bacterial fecal microbiota of horses with and without asthma under different environment and diet conditions, during both remission and exacerbation. Methods: Prospective observational study. Feces from 6 asthmatic and 6 healthy horses were collected under 3 different conditions: on pasture, housed indoors receiving good quality hay ("good h...
Lönker NS, Fechner K, Wahed AAE.One Health (OH) is a crucial concept, where the interference between humans, animals and the environment matters. This review article focusses on the role of horses in maintaining the health of humans and the environment. Horses' impact on environmental health includes their influence on soil and the biodiversity of animal and plant species. Nevertheless, the effect of horses is not usually linear and several factors like plant-animal coevolutionary history, climate and animal density play significant roles. The long history of the relationship between horses and humans is shaped by the servic...
Antczak DF.The development of placentation that coincided with the evolution of mammals presented new challenges to the transmission of life from one generation to the next, particularly with regard to the possibility of maternal immunological recognition and destruction of the developing conceptus. The balance between immunity and tolerance dominates the immunological relationship between mother and fetus during mammalian pregnancy, and the focal point of this relationship lies at the interface between the trophoblast cells that comprise the outermost layer of the placenta and the maternal endometrial t...
Kinoshita Y, Niwa H, Uchida-Fujii E, Nukada T.Mycoplasma felis causes conjunctivitis in cats and respiratory diseases in horses. We report here the complete genome assembly of equine Mycoplasma felis strain Myco-2, which was isolated from an ill horse in Japan.
Schoster A, van Spijk JN, Damborg P, Moodley A, Kirchgaessner C, Hartnack S, Schmitt S.Fourth-generation cephalosporins can select for extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae in horses, but it is unknown to what extent this occurs compared to penicillin/gentamicin combination treatment. The objective was to evaluate the effect of different antimicrobial treatments on faecal shedding and diversity of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) in horses. Upon hospital admission, 86 horses in need of antimicrobial treatment or prophylaxis were randomly allocated to receive penicillin and gentamicin (PG) or cefquinome (CEF). Untreated horses were included a...
Mortola E, Miceli G, Alarcon L, Azcurra M, Larsen A.In newborn foals the absorption of colostrum immunoglobulins in the small intestine is maximal up to 8 hours after birth and then progressively decreases to become null after 24 hours post-partum. Thus, equine practitioners need a simple, quick, inexpensive and reliable field test to identify foals affected by failure of passive transfer rather than an accurate method yielding quantitative results within the whole range of immunoglobulin concentrations. Objective: As the validity of the immunocrit method to detect failure of passive transfer in foals had not been evaluated before, the object...
Votion DM, François AC, Kruse C, Renaud B, Farinelle A, Bouquieaux MC, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Gustin P.In 2014, atypical myopathy (AM) was linked to Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore maple) in Europe. The emergence of this seasonal intoxication caused by a native tree has raised many questions. This manuscript aims at answering the five most frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding (1) identification of toxic trees; reduction of risk at the level of (2) pastures and (3) equids; (4) the risk associated with pastures with sycamores that have always been used without horses being poisoned and (5) the length of the risk periods. Answers were found in a literature review and data gathered by AM surve...
Tirosh-Levy S, Gottlieb Y, Mimoun L, Mazuz ML, Steinman A.Although the main route of transmission of is through tick feeding, transplacental transmission is also possible and may lead to abortion, or to the birth of a sick or carrier foal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of as a cause of abortions in Israel and the risk of foals being infected at a young age. Eight aborting mares were serologically evaluated for exposure to via the immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and their aborted fetuses were evaluated using PCR and qPCR. In addition, five mares and their foals (aged 4-6 months) from a highly endemic farm were tested for i...
Mehdizadeh Gohari I, Unterer S, Whitehead AE, Prescott JF.The role of type A in canine acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome and foal necrotizing enteritis is poorly characterized. However, a highly significant association between the presence of novel toxigenic and these specific enteric diseases has been described. These novel toxigenic strains produce 3 novel putative toxins, which have been designated NetE, NetF, and NetG. Although not conclusively demonstrated, current evidence suggests that NetF is likely the major virulence factor in strains responsible for canine acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome and foal necrotizing enteritis. NetF is a be...
Waap H, Volkart de Oliveira U, Nunes T, Gomes J, Gomes T, Bärwald A, Dias Munhoz A, Schares G.Equine neosporosis is regarded to be caused either by Neospora hughesi or Neospora caninum and equine besnoitiosis is caused by Besnoitia bennetti, both of which are apicomplexan parasites. N. caninum is the only known Neospora species in Europe, where equine N. caninum infections have been reported as being associated to abortion and reproductive failure. N. hughesi is prevalent in North America and was predominantly linked to neurological disorders. B. bennetti is considered an emergent disease in donkeys in North America and evidence for B. bennetti infection was recently reported in Europe...
Loncaric I, Cabal Rosel A, Szostak MP, Licka T, Allerberger F, Ruppitsch W, Spergser J.The aim of the present study was to investigate the diversity of broad-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant spp. isolated from horses in Austria that originated from diseased horses. A total of seven non-repetitive cefotaxime-resistant sp. isolates were obtained during diagnostic activities from autumn 2012 to October 2019. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed. The isolates were genotyped by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Four out of seven isolates were identified as , two as and one as . All isolates displayed a multi-drug resistant phenotype. The detection of resistance genes r...
Cooper LG, Caffe G, Cerutti J, Nielsen MK, Anziani OS.Macrocyclic lactones are the most widely used drugs for the control of gastrointestinal nematodes of horses in Argentina. Ivermectin and moxidectin are used as broad spectrum anthelmintics and although there are several international reports on the resistance of Parascaris spp., the resistance status of the local nematode population is largely unknow. This report informs a case of suboptimal efficacy to both drugs to control Parascaris spp in foals in central Argentina. In February 2018, routine fecal parasite egg counts showed a moderate-high number of Parascaris spp eggs (mean = 680 eggs p...
Vera JHS, Fachiolli DF, Ramires LM, de Lima Saes I, Yamada PH, Gonçalves JA, de Oliveira K, do Amarante AFT, de Soutello RVG.The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the efficacy of three anthelmintic drugs, i.e. fenbendazole, ivermectin and moxidectin; to determine the genera and species of the most abundant strongyles; and to investigate parasite control measures used in herds of horses in the western region of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. This study was onducted between February and December 2013 on 10 farms in this region. Coprological evaluations were conducted for counting the numbers of eggs per gram of feces (EPG) and coprocultures were made in order to identify third-stage larvae (L3) of str...
Bai B, Wang XF, Zhang M, Na L, Zhang X, Zhang H, Yang Z, Wang X.Tetherin is an interferon-inducible type II transmembrane glycoprotein which inhibits the release of viruses, including retroviruses, through a "physical tethering" model. However, the role that the glycosylation of tetherin plays in its antiviral activity remains controversial. In this study, we found that mutation of N-glycosylation sites resulted in an attenuation of the antiviral activity of equine tetherin (eqTHN), as well as a reduction in the expression of eqTHN at the plasma membrane (PM). In addition, eqTHN N-glycosylation mutants colocalize obviously with ER, CD63, LAMP1 and endosome...
de Oliveira Filho EF, Carneiro IO, Ribas JRL, Fischer C, Marklewitz M, Junglen S, Netto EM, Franke CR, Drexler JF.An orthobunyavirus termed Fort Sherman virus (FSV) was isolated in 1985 from a febrile US soldier in Panama, yet potential animal reservoirs remained unknown. We investigated sera from 192 clinically healthy peri-domestic animals sampled in northeastern Brazil during 2014-2018 by broadly reactive RT-PCR for orthobunyavirus RNA, including 50 cattle, 57 sheep, 35 goats and 50 horses. One horse sampled in 2018 was positive (0.5%; 95% CI, 0.01-3.2) at 6.2 × 103 viral RNA copies/mL. Genomic comparisons following virus isolation in Vero cells and deep sequencing revealed high identity of translat...
Pessoa V, Ramilo DW, Pereira da Fonseca I, Ferreira MB, Marti E, Tilley P.Insect Bite Hypersensitivity (IBH) is a common cutaneous disease, affecting a large number of horses worldwide. Several studies have identified Culicoides spp. saliva as a clinically relevant allergen source. The prevalence of IBH in Portugal, particularly in Lusitano horses, is still not known. However, the environmental characteristics of the national territory are favorable to the activity of Culicoides, and several species of this genus can be found, namely C. imicola and C. obsoletus/C. scoticus. In this study we characterized the Culicoides population present in Lusitano stud farms with ...
Hanafy RA, Lanjekar VB, Dhakephalkar PK, Callaghan TM, Dagar SS, Griffith GW, Elshahed MS, Youssef NH.We isolated and characterized 65 anaerobic gut fungal (AGF; Neocallimastigomycota) strains from fecal samples of five wild (W, axis deer, white-tailed deer, Boer goat, mouflon, and Nilgiri tahr), one zoo-housed (Z, zebra), and three domesticated (D, horse, sheep, and goat) herbivores in the US states of Texas (TX) and Oklahoma (OK), Wales (WA), and the Indian states of Kerala (KE) and Haryana (HA). Phylogenetic assessment using the D1-D2 regions of the large subunit (28S) rDNA and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) identified seven monophyletic clades that are distinct from all curren...
Borgia L, Valberg S, McCue M, Watts K, Pagan J.The aim of this study was to determine whether the glycaemic/insulinaemic responses to hay with non-structural carbohydrate (NSC, soluble carbohydrate) of 17% (HC), 10% (MC) or 4% (LC) differs in control horses and whether these responses differ between control and horses with polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM). Five clinically normal control horses and seven PSSM horses, all unfit and of Quarter Horse breeding (age 9.4 ± 3.4 years, body condition score range: 4.5-6). A crossover design compared the HC and LC hay, with horses randomly assigned to hay type for 5 days, and all horses fed th...
Mair TS, Sutton DG, Love S.This report describes the clinical and pathological features of 4 horses affected by caecocaecal or caecocolic intussusceptions associated with larval cyathostomiasis. In each case, there was clinical and/or pathological evidence of concurrent larval cyathostomosis. They all demonstrated variable signs including diarrhoea, pyrexia, weight loss and subcutaneous oedema and cyathostome larvae were identified in the faeces of 3 of the horses. These cases highlight the need to consider caecal intussusceptions as a possible complication in horses affected by larval cyathostomosis, especially where s...
Norrdin RW, Stover SM.Mechanical overload leads to a common arthrosis in the metacarpal condyle of the fetlock joint of racehorses. This is usually asymptomatic but severe forms can cause lameness. Subchondral bone failure is often present and the predictability of the site provided an opportunity to study of the progression of bone failure from microcracks to actual collapse of subchondral bone. Twenty-five fetlock condyles from racehorses with various stages of disease were selected. Stages ranged from mild through severe subchondral bone sclerosis, to the collapse of bone and indentation or loss of cartilage kno...
Ahern BJ, Parente EJ.Upper respiratory abnormalities are common performance-limiting problems in horses. The complications of various treatment methods, including laryngoplasty surgery, sinus surgery, intermittent dorsal displacement of the soft palate, laser surgery, and tracheal disorders, are discussed.
Mathewos M, Teshome D, Fesseha H.Parasitic infections can cause a variety of respiratory, intestinal, and other problems in horses, as well as contribute to some performance issues. A cross-sectional study was undertaken in and around Bekoji, South Eastern Ethiopia, from November 2020 to June 2021 to identify species and evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in donkeys and horses, using direct fecal smear, floatation methods, and larval cultures. In this study, the overall prevalence of gastrointestinal nematode parasites was 94.5% (363 out of 384), with donkeys accounting for 95.8% and horses accounting for 9...
Downar J, Willey BM, Sutherland JW, Mathew K, Low DE.We report a case of group C streptococcal meningitis in a woman with a history of close animal contact as well as head trauma as a result of a kick by a horse. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures grew Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus, as did a throat culture taken from the colt that had kicked her 2 weeks prior to admission.
Gunson DE, Soma LR.Acute renal papillary necrosis occurred in five horses given normal therapeutic doses of phenylbutazone and deprived of water for 36 to 48 hours prior to euthanasia. Five horses given phenylbutazone alone and four horses subjected to water deprivation alone did not develop papillary necrosis. Urinalyses were normal prior to water deprivation, and also after water deprivation in the horses that did not receive phenylbutazone, but the water-deprived, phenylbutazone-treated horses had many red blood cells, transitional epithelial cells, and large numbers of oxalate crystals in their urine. Ulcera...
Imagawa H, Ishida S, Uesugi S, Masanobu K, Fukunaga Y, Nakagomi O.Serotype G3 equine rotaviruses isolated in Japan made up a common genogroup and were classified into two different genotypes. The genomes of serotype G3 equine rotaviruses with an identical electropherotype (isolated from 1982 to 1989) were very closely related to each other regardless of the year in which they were isolated. Serotype G3 equine rotavirus BI originating from England belonged to the same genogroup of serotype G3 equine rotaviruses isolated in Japan, although BI was classified as having a different genotype. The genomes of both serotype G10 equine rotavirus R-22 and serotype G10 ...
Eydal M, Bambir SH, Sigurdarson S, Gunnarsson E, Svansson V, Fridriksson S, Benediktsson ET, Sigurdardóttir ÓG.Opportunistic infections with the free living nematode Halicephalobus gingivalis are infrequently reported in horses but the cases are widespread geographically. The nematodes are believed to penetrate wounds and subsequently reproduce within the host tissues. This paper reports two cases of a fatal disease in stallions of the Icelandic breed in Iceland. Case 1: a stallion, which sustained injuries to the mouth after an accident, developed severe neurological signs and had to be euthanatized. Histological examination revealed mild inflammation and malacia in the cerebellum associated with the ...
Pollock PJ, Russell T, Hughes TK, Archer MR, Perkins JD.To report a technique for eye enucleation in standing sedated horses and to report outcome in 40 horses. Methods: Retrospective study. Methods: Horses (n=40) requiring eye enucleation. Methods: The eye was enucleated using a transpalpebral technique in 40 horses restrained in stocks and sedated. Anesthesia of orbital structures was provided by local nerve blocks and infiltration of the surgical site with local anesthetic solution. Results: Affected eyes were successfully enucleated with the horse standing. Short-term complications included moderate swelling (5 horses) and wound discharge (1). ...
Molla AM, Fentahun T, Jemberu WT.Epizootic lymphangitis (EL) is a chronic, contagious, fungal disease of equids. The disease is highly prevalent in cart pulling equines of Ethiopia affecting the livelihood of the cart owning households and welfare of the cart animals. This study estimated the economic impacts of EL and assessed cart owners' knowledge and practices related to the disease in northwest Ethiopia. A multistage cluster sampling approach was implemented to select cart animal owners for the study. A total of 274 cart animal owners were interviewed to collect data for the study. The average annual economic loss per ca...
Hultgren BD.The congenital absence of myenteric ganglia in the terminal portion of the ileum, cecum, and entire colon of white foals with overo spotted parents was reported. Males as well as females were affected. The foals were generally normal at birth but did not defecate. Signs of colic were noticed between 5 and 24 hours after birth, with death occurring at 23 to 132 hours.
Kaya G, Sommerfeld-Stur I, Iben C.A hospital-based case study was conducted at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna for a 1-year period. The purpose of this study was to determine possible alterable and non-alterable risk factors of equine colic in Austria. The investigated parameters were obtained from hospital medical records (individual factors, duty of the horse, deworming, change in diet and water intake), from questionnaires (feed intake, watering types, housing and pasture practices) and from http://www.orf.at (weather-related factors). Moreover, 221 collected feed samples were investigated through hygienic qual...
Hung GC, Chilton NB, Beveridge I, Gasser RB.In order to maximise the positional homology in the primary sequence alignment of the second internal transcribed spacer for 30 species of equine strongyloid nematodes, the secondary structures of the precursor ribosomal RNA were predicted using an approach combining an energy minimisation method and comparative sequence analysis. The results indicated that a common secondary structure model of the second internal transcribed spacer of these nematodes was maintained despite significant interspecific differences (2-56%) in primary sequences. The secondary structure model was then used to refine...
Bucknell D, Hoste H, Gasser RB, Beveridge I.The community structure exhibited by strongyloid nematodes from the large intestines of horses was examined using data from autopsies of 150 horses. Thirty-one species of nematodes were encountered, but they were not clearly divisible into core and satellite species. Multiple congeneric, consubfamilial and confamilial species were a prominent feature of the community and were more common than singleton infections. Multivariate analyses provided evidence of a stable community of helminths dominated by positive interactions but with few negative interactions, suggesting the absence of competitio...
Hagiwara K, Kamitani W, Takamura S, Taniyama H, Nakaya T, Tanaka H, Kirisawa R, Iwai H, Ikuta K.A pregnant mare showing pyrexia, reduced appetite, ataxia and paresis was euthanized and examined for the presence of Borna disease virus (BDV). Her brain, showing multiple neuronal degeneration and necrosis with hemorrhage, and the histologically normal brain of the fetus were both positive for BDV RNA. The BDV nucleotide sequences were identical in the mare and fetus in the second open reading frame (ORF). This is the first report of the possible vertical transmission of BDV in a horse.
Smith M, Tzipori S.Rotavirus RNA prepared from calf, pig, mouse, deer, foal and dog-adapted human isolates was compared using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Reproducible differences in the RNA migration patterns were found between all isolates. There were 11 clearly resolved segments in the pig, mouse and foal samples. The calf rotavirus RNA and deer rotavirus RNA separated into 9 bands and 10 bands, respectively. The dog-adapted human virus migrated in 12 bands, and this probably results from the complex passage history of the original human rotavirus isolate.
McDonnell A, Love S, Tait A, Lichtenfels JR, Matthews JB.Three nucleotide data sets, one nuclear (ITS-2) and two mitochondrial (COI and l-rRNA), have been investigated in order to determine relationships among species of Strongylinae and Cyathostominae, intestinal parasites of the horse. The data exhibited a strong mutational bias towards A and T and in the COI gene, silent sites appeared to saturate rapidly partly due to this substitution bias. Thus, the COI gene was found to be less phylogenetically informative than the l-rRNA and ITS-2 genes. Combined analysis of the l-rRNA and ITS-2 genes supported a monophyletic clade of the cyathostomes with T...
van Weeren PR, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Ooste , Barneveld A.The influence of inherent variables (sex, birth weight, final achieved height, monthly weight gain rates and osteochondrosis (OC) status of the parents) on the occurrence of osteochondrotic lesions in the femoropatellar and tarsocrural joints in a group of foals was investigated as part of a research project aimed at the study of the development of osteochondrosis and the influence of exercise on the development of the musculoskeletal system in Warmbloods. The foals were genetically predisposed to develop OC, being offspring of sires that all had radiographically proven OC in either the femoro...
Pitel PH, Romand S, Pronost S, Foucher N, Gargala G, Maillard K, Thulliez P, Collobert-Laugier C, Tainturier D, Fortier G, Ballet JJ.Neospora caninum, an apicomplexan protozoan parasite, is recognized as a major cause of abortion in cattle while limited information is presently available on association between equine Neospora infections and abortions. The aim of the present study was to document prevalence of antibodies against Neospora sp. in aborted mares as a clue to the role of N. caninum in mare reproductive failure in Normandy, France. Using an agglutination test, the number of animals with elevated (>80) anti-Neospora sp. antibody titer was higher in a group of 54 aborted mares than in randomly chosen groups of 45 ma...
Molesan A, Wang M, Sun Q, Pierce V, Desideri R, Palmer S, Todhunter R, Kelly K.Postmortem evaluation of racehorses has focused primarily on musculoskeletal injuries; however, horses also die suddenly on the track (sudden death [SD]). Although cardiac conditions are frequently suspected as a cause of death, SD racehorses are often autopsy negative; however, previous studies have been limited due to inconsistent or insufficient cardiac sampling and lack of controls. SD in New York (NY) and Maryland (MD) racehorses was evaluated in an observational case vs control study comparing clinical information, postmortem evaluation including cardiac dissection, and cardiac conductio...
Troedsson MH, Liu IK.The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical ability of the mare's uterus to eliminate non-antigenic 51Cr microspheres during an infectious challenge. Mares both potentially susceptible and resistant to chronic uterine infections were used in this study. The procedure described serves as a model of the uterine capacity to clear physically infectious agents and inflammatory products during the acute phase of an infection. Based on the results from intra-uterine bacterial challenges, reproductive history, examination per rectum and endometrial biopsies, mares were classified as pote...