Epidemiology in horses involves the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in equine populations. It encompasses the investigation of patterns, causes, and effects of diseases and health conditions within horse populations. This field of study aims to identify risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare. Key components of equine epidemiology include disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and the study of disease dynamics within herds or regions. Research in this area often focuses on infectious diseases, zoonotic diseases, and the impact of environmental factors on equine health. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of epidemiology in horses, including disease prevalence, transmission pathways, and strategies for disease prevention and control.
Guillaume-Vasselin V, Lemaitre L, Dhondt KP, Tedeschi L, Poulard A, Charreyre C, Horvat B.Hendra virus (HeV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen, which causes severe respiratory illness and encephalitis in humans and horses. Since its first appearance in 1994, spillovers of HeV from its natural reservoir fruit bats occur on almost an annual basis. The high mortality rate in both humans and horses and the wide-ranging reservoir distribution are making HeV a serious public health problem, especially for people exposed to sick horses. This study has aimed to develop an efficient low-cost HeV vaccine for horses based on Canarypox recombinant vector expressing HeV glycoproteins, attachment...
Ireland JL.Gerontology has become increasingly important in equine veterinary medicine, with aged animals representing a significant proportion of the equine population. Horses are defined as geriatric or aged from age 15 years onwards but can have a life span of more than 40 years. Despite a high level of owner concern for the well-being of their geriatric animal, provision of preventive health care may be suboptimal. Owners seem to under-recognize some of the most prevalent diseases identified in geriatric horses. This review focuses on the demographic characteristics of the equine geriatric populati...
Mönki J, Hewetson M, Virtala AM.Equine gastric glandular disease (EGGD) is a term used to classify erosive and ulcerative diseases of the glandular mucosa of the equine stomach. Epidemiologic studies of risk factors for EGGD have not been reported. Objective: To determine risk factors for EGGD. Methods: Cases (n = 83) had endoscopic evidence of EGGD; controls (n = 34) included healthy horses and horses with equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) without EGGD. Methods: Retrospective case-control study. The data were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression modeling. Analysis was performed on the full dataset. An addi...
Buckley P, Buckley D, Coleman GT, Morton JM.To describe preventive health care provided to a cohort of Pony Club horses in rural New South Wales, Australia, and the associated veterinary involvement. Methods: Prospective longitudinal study Methods: Observational data collected for 48 Pony Club horses using daily owner-kept diaries and monthly veterinary visits for 9-12 months. Results: Frequency of healthcare events varied markedly between the horses; 54% of horses received 5 or more foot-care treatments, 69% received 1-3 anthelmintic treatments, 40% received dental care, 21% received chiropractic care; only 8% were vaccinated. Farriers...
Cazarotto CJ, Balzan A, Grosskopf RK, Boito JP, Portella LP, Vogel FF, Fávero JF, de C Cucco D, Biazus AH, Machado G, Da Silva AS.Many parasitic diseases are considered asymptomatic, even though some studies have shown that they may cause pathological changes in the host. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora spp. and Sarcocystis spp. in horses, and to identify the risk factors for disease. For this, 174 horses were studied, 90 males and 84 females aged between two and 20 years old. Blood samples were collected and stored in tubes without anticoagulant to obtain serum, which was subjected to serological tests for T. gondii, Sarcocystis spp., and...
Lulla V, Lulla A, Wernike K, Aebischer A, Beer M, Roy P.African horse sickness virus (AHSV), an orbivirus in the Reoviridae family with nine different serotypes, causes devastating disease in equids. The virion particle is composed of seven proteins organized in three concentric layers, an outer layer made of VP2 and VP5, a middle layer made of VP7, and inner layer made of VP3 that encloses a replicase complex of VP1, VP4, and VP6 and a genome of 10 double-stranded RNA segments. In this study, we sought to develop highly efficacious candidate vaccines against all AHSV serotypes, taking into account not only immunogenic and safety properties but als...
Welsh CE, Duz M, Parkin TDH, Marshall JF.The average age of the global human population is increasing, leading to increased interest in the effects of chronic disease and multimorbidity on health resources and patient welfare. It has been posited that the average age of the general veterinarian-attended horse population of the UK is also increasing, and therefore it could be assumed that chronic diseases and multimorbidity would pose an increasing risk here also. However, evidence for this trend in ageing is very limited, and the current prevalence of many chronic diseases, and of multimorbidity, is unknown. Using text mining of firs...
Gather T, Walter S, Todt D, Pfaender S, Brown RJP, Postel A, Becher P, Moritz A, Hansmann F, Baumgaertner W, Feige K, Steinmann E, Cavalleri JV.Non-primate hepacivirus (NPHV), a recently discovered hepatotropic virus infecting horses, is phylogenetically the closest known homologue of hepatitis C virus (HCV). The main route for acquiring HCV infection in childhood is vertical transmission. However, nothing is known about the natural mode of transmission for NPHV. To investigate the possibility of vertically transmitted NPHV infection in horses, 20 Thoroughbred broodmares and their foals were monitored during foaling season 2015 until 6 months post-partum. Prepartal serum was taken from the mares, and during foaling umbilical cord bloo...
Kettle AN, Wernery U.Glanders is the contagious zoonotic disease caused by infection with Burkholderia mallei. It affects primarily horses, donkeys and mules. The disease was eradicated from large areas of the Western world in the early 20th century, but, over the last 10-20 years, has emerged and re-emerged in areas in which it was previously unknown or had been eradicated. Although glanders was previously thought to manifest in only acute or chronic presentations, it now appears that B. mallei can produce latent infections similar to those caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. These latent infections may or may...
Robin M, Page P, Archer D, Baylis M.African horse sickness (AHS) is an arboviral disease of equids transmitted by Culicoides biting midges. The virus is endemic in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and official AHS disease-free status can be obtained from the World Organization for Animal Health on fulfilment of a number of criteria. AHS is associated with case fatality rates of up to 95%, making an outbreak among naïve horses both a welfare and economic disaster. The worldwide distributions of similar vector-borne diseases (particularly bluetongue disease of ruminants) are changing rapidly, probably due to a combination of globalisa...
Kader A, Liu X, Dong K, Song S, Pan J, Yang M, Chen X, He X, Jiang L, Ma Y.Copy number variation (CNV), an essential form of genetic variation, has been increasingly recognized as one promising genetic marker in the analysis of animal genomes. Here, we used the Equine 70K single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping array for the genome-wide detection of CNVs in 96 horses from three diverse Chinese breeds: Debao pony (DB), Mongolian horse (MG) and Yili horse (YL). A total of 287 CNVs were determined and merged into 122 CNV regions (CNVRs) ranging from 199 bp to 2344 kb in size and distributed in a heterogeneous manner on chromosomes. These CNVRs were integrated with s...
Kuzmina TA, Dzeverin I, Kharchenko VA.An extensive analysis of the relationships between strongylid egg shedding in domestic horses and the strongylid community structure in regard to the age of the horses, their breeds and different strategies of horse management, particularly with anthelmintic treatment programs was performed. Domestic horses (n=197) of different ages (5 months to 22 years) and of various breeds from 15 farms with different types of deworming programs were included in this study. Strongylids (totally, 82,767 specimens) were collected in vivo after deworming of the horses with the macrocyclic lactone anthelmintic...
Malo A, Cluzel C, Labrecque O, Beauchamp G, Lavoie JP, Leclere M.This study identified antimicrobial resistance patterns of commonly isolated bacteria at the Equine Hospital of the Université de Montréal between 2007 and 2013, and compared the results with the resistance patterns observed in tests performed in previous decades in the same hospital. A total of 396 antimicrobial susceptibility tests were analyzed by the Kirby-Bauer method during the period 2007 to 2013 and compared to 233 and 255 tests completed in 1986 to 1988 and 1996 to 1998, respectively. The most common bacteria were Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) and Escher...
Robinson CS, Timofte D, Singer ER, Rimmington L, Rubio-Martínez LM.Bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of septic synovial samples allows instigation of targeted antimicrobial therapy; however, bacterial culture takes more than 24 h and has low sensitivity. This study aimed to identify the most frequently cultured bacteria and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile from septic synovial samples in our referral equine hospital, to allow recommendations regarding appropriate initial antimicrobial therapy prior to culture results. Hospital records for all horses with synovial sepsis and a synovial sample submitted to the microbiology l...
Finley A, Gohari IM, Parreira VR, Abrahams M, Staempfli HR, Prescott JF.NetF-producing Clostridium perfringens have recently been identified as a cause of necrotizing enteritis in neonatal foals, but little is known about its prevalence in clinically normal foals. Foals (n = 88) ranging in age from < 1 wk to 2 to 4 mo (median age 2 to 4 wk) on 8 horse-breeding farms in Ontario were examined on 1 or 2 occasions for the presence of C. perfringens. Of the foals that tested positive, 5 isolates (n = 675) were examined for the netF and enterotoxin (cpe) genes. Colonization by C. perfringens was most marked in foals < 1 wk of age [4.85 ± 2.70 log10 colony-forming...
Acosta H, Rondón-Mercado R, Avilán L, Concepción JL.Trypanosoma evansi is a widely-distributed haemoflagellated parasite of veterinary importance that infects a variety of mammals including horses, mules, camels, buffalos, cattle and deer. It is the causal agent of a trypanosomiasis known as Surra which produces epidemics of great economic importance in Africa, Asia and South America. The main pathology includes an enlarged spleen with hypertrophy of lymphoid follicles, congested lungs, neuronal degeneration and meningoencephalitis, where migration of the parasites from the blood to the tissues is essential. Most cells, including pathogenic cel...
Mira J, Herman M, Zakia LS, Olivo G, Araujo JP, Borges AS, Oliveira-Filho JP.Aural plaques can be found on the inner surfaces of one or both ears of horses. Despite their low malignancy, these lesions can sometimes cause discomfort and sensitivity in horses, and a loss in commercial value due to their aesthetic effect. There has been a study describing the epidemiological features and the clinical prevalence of equine aural plaques in Brazil. Objective: To determine the clinical prevalence and selected associated factors of aural plaques. Methods: In the study, 891 horses were assessed for aural plaques. The sample group had a median age of 5 years and comprised both s...
Kim DH, Chung YS, Park YK, Yang SJ, Lim SK, Park YH, Park KT.Antimicrobial-resistant (AR) enterococci have emerged as leading nosocomial pathogens. Transmission of AR Enterococci from animals to humans has been demonstrated. However, there is limited information on the transmission of enterococci from horses to humans. To address this issue, we characterized 260 enterococci isolated from horse-associated samples in Korea in 2013 based on their AR profiles and virulence traits. AR profiling revealed an average ratio of AR enterococci of 23.8%. Seven isolates (2.7%) were multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecalis. Most tetracycline-resistant enterococci ha...
Vieira TS, Vieira RF, Krawczak FS, Soares HS, Guimarães AM, Barros-Filho IR, Marcondes M, Labruna MB, Biondo AW, Vidotto O.Although well established in dogs, Ehrlichia sp. infection has been scarcely reported in horses. The aim was to perform a comprehensive serological and molecular survey for the detection of Ehrlichia spp. in carthorses from Southern Brazil. Blood samples from 190 carthorses from Paraná State were sampled. Horses were also tested for Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Anti-Ehrlichia sp. antibodies were detected by a commercial rapid ELISA, and immunofluorescence antibody assays (IFA) with E. chaffeensis and E. canis as crude antigens. The molecular and phylogenetic analysis of...
Berruex F, Gerber V, Wohlfender FD, Burger D, Koch C.The progression of equine sarcoids (ES) is notoriously unpredictable. Making a choice for the appropriate treatment is challenging when dealing with milder manifestations of ES. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical course of ES in young horses. Methods: A cohort of 61 ES-affected three-year-old Franches-Montagnes horses and a breed-, age- and geographically matched control group of 75 ES-free peers were examined twice over a period of 5-7 years. Owners and caretakers were queried, using a standardized questionnaire. Results: More than half of the 38/61 (62%) horses...
Sant C, d'Abadie R, Pargass I, Basu AK, Asgarali Z, Charles RA, Georges KC.Equine piroplasmosis caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi is endemic in Trinidad and Tobago. Transmission occurs by ticks of the family Ixodidae. T. equi can also be transmitted transplacentally; however transplacental transmission of B. caballi is unknown. This study aims to investigate transplacental transmission of equine piroplasmosis from thoroughbred mares naturally infected via the tick vector. Whole blood and serum samples were collected from 117 mares in the fifth month of pregnancy. Blood samples were also collected from each of their foals (89 in total) within the first 36h ...
Tagliabue S, Figarolli BM, D'Incau M, Foschi G, Gennero MS, Giordani R, Giordani R, Natale A, Papa P, Ponti N, Scaltrito D, Spadari L, Vesco G....Nowadays, leptospirosis is a re‑emerging widespread infectious disease often underestimate worldwide. The National Reference Centre for Leptospirosis (NRCL), at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Brescia (Italy), with the cooperation of all the other Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali (IIZZSS), evaluated the distribution of such important zoonosis in Italy. Serological data obtained between 2010‑2011 by each laboratory were collected by the NRCL and discussed. Serum samples collected from 43,935 animal specimens were analysed by the Microsco...
Souto EPF, Maia LA, Olinda RG, Galiza GJN, Kommers GD, Miranda-Neto EG, Dantas AFM, Riet-Correa F.Two cases of nasal pythiosis are reported in horses from the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil. From January 1986 to December 2015, the Laboratory of Animal Pathology, Federal University of Campina Grande received 830 equine samples, 156 (18.79%) of which were diagnosed with pythiosis. Of these, two horses (1.28%), a male and a female adult cross-breed, had lesions in the nasal cavity. Both horses had access to water reservoirs. Clinically, they had swelling in the rhinofacial region and a serosanguineous nasal discharge. Macroscopically, in case 1, the lesion affected the nasal vestibul...
Creton B, Pageat P, Robejean M, Lafont-Lecuelle C, Cozzi A.Hematophagous insects can be vectors of pathogens and cause significant economic loss in zootechnical production. Among biting insects, many dipteran species feed on horse blood. The black fly (Diptera: Simuliidae) group, is responsible for several disorders in horses and inflicts painful bites that lead to undesirable behaviours in horses, particularly when bites occur in sensitive areas such as the inner ear. A field study was conducted in a French equestrian center during which a semiochemical was applied on horses' ears to assess repellent efficacy against simulid infestation. During the f...
Düttmann C, Flores B, Kadoch Z N, Bermúdez C S.We document the species of ticks that parasitize livestock in Nicaragua. The study was based on tick collection on cattle and horses from 437 farms in nine departments. Of 4841 animals examined (4481 cows and 360 horses), 3299 were parasitized, which represent 68 % of the bovines and 67 % of the equines in study: 59 cows and 25 horses were parasitized by more than one species. In addition, 280 specimens of the entomological museum in León were examined. The ticks found on cattle were Rhipicephalus microplus (75.2 % of the ticks collected), Amblyomma mixtum (20.8 %), A. parvum (2.6 %), A....
Fischer EAJ, Martínez López EP, De Vos CJ, Faverjon C.Equine encephalosis is a midge-borne viral disease of equines caused by equine encephalosis virus (EEV, Orbivirus, Reoviridae), and closely related to African horse sickness virus (AHSV). EEV and AHSV share common vectors and show similar transmission patterns. Until now EEV has caused outbreaks in Africa and Israel. This study aimed to provide insight in the probability of an EEV outbreak in The Netherlands caused by infected vectors or hosts, the contribution of potential source areas (risk regions) to this probability, and the effectiveness of preventive measures (sanitary regimes). A stoch...
Goodale EC, White SD, Outerbridge CA, Everett AD, Affolter VK.Hyperaesthetic leucotrichia (HL) rarely affects horses and causes painful lesions on the dorsum that result in leucotrichia. This may be a variant of erythema multiforme (EM), but there are no studies investigating this condition. Objective: Describe the clinical and histological features of HL and compare them to the histological features of EM. Methods: A retrospective review of medical records from 1985 to 2015 identified 15 horses with HL. Thirteen biopsies of HL and five of EM were evaluated and compared. Results: Arabian horses and their crosses (χ(2) (1) = 8.56, P < 0.01) and A...
Gildea S, Sanchez Higgins MJ, Johnson G, Walsh C, Cullinane A.There is a lack of information concerning concurrent administration of vaccines against equine influenza virus (EIV) and equine herpesvirus 1 and 4 (EHV-1/4). The primary objective of this study was to determine the impact of the concurrent use of EIV and EHV-1/4 vaccines in Thoroughbred racehorses on their humoral immune response to EIV. This study was carried out on a population of 30 horses using an inactivated whole-virus EIV vaccine and an inactivated EHV-1/4 vaccine. Horses were randomly allocated to vaccination group A or B. Horses in group A were vaccinated against EIV and EHV-1/4 2 we...
Smith CS, McLAUGHLIN A, Field HE, Edson D, Mayer D, Ossedryver S, Barrett J, Waltisbuhl D.Hendra virus (HeV) was first described in 1994 in an outbreak of acute and highly lethal disease in horses and humans in Australia. Equine cases continue to be diagnosed periodically, yet the predisposing factors for infection remain unclear. We undertook an analysis of equine submissions tested for HeV by the Queensland government veterinary reference laboratory over a 20-year period to identify and investigate any patterns. We found a marked increase in testing from July 2008, primarily reflecting a broadening of the HeV clinical case definition. Peaks in submissions for testing, and visitat...
Burk SV, Dangoudoubiyam S, Brewster-Barnes T, Howe DK, Carter CN, Bryant UK, Rossano MG.Parascaris equorum is an intestinal nematode of foals and young horses that can produce mild to severe pathology. Current diagnosis is limited to detection of patent infections, when parasite eggs are identified during fecal examinations. This study examined the use of larval P. equorum excretory-secretory (ES) products in a western blot test for diagnosis of prepatent equine P. equorum infection. Sera from adult mares negative for patent P. equorum infections, foals prior to consuming colostrum, and P. equorum infected foals were used as controls in this study. Study samples included sera fro...
Davaasuren B, Amgalanbaatar T, Musinguzi SP, Suganuma K, Otgonsuren D, Mossaad E, Narantsatsral S, Battur B, Battsetseg B, Xuan X, Inoue N.Trypanosoma equiperdum, which is the etiological agent of dourine, spreads through sexual intercourse in equines. Dourine (T. equiperdum) has been reported in Mongolia, where it is considered an economically important disease of horses. T. evansi has also been reported in Mongolian domestic animals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential application of recombinant T. evansi GM6 (rTeGM6-4r)-based diagnostic methods on a farm with an outbreak of non-tsetse transmitted horse trypanosomosis. Ninety-seven percent homology was found between the amino acid sequences of T. equiperdu...
Durham AE, Hall YS, Kulp L, Underwood C.Streptococcus equi represents a common hazard to equids worldwide. Environmental contamination with bacteria shed from an infected horse may represent a significant source of contagion and further knowledge of ex vivo bacterial survival under different conditions is important for disinfection and isolation protocols. Objective: To determine the potential duration of survival and vigour of growth of S. equi inoculated onto surfaces relevant to equine veterinary practice and stabling in summer and winter. Methods: Repeat sampling of environmental inocula of S. equi. Methods: Cultures of S. equi ...
Onyiche TE, Taioe MO, Molefe NI, Biu AA, Luka J, Omeh IJ, Yokoyama N, Thekisoe O.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a tick-borne disease of economic importance, relevant in the international movement of equids. The causative agents are at least two apicomplexan protozoan parasites Babesia caballi and Theileria equi. To date, there is no study that estimates global and regional exposure of equids to EP. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled prevalence and heterogeneity of EP using random-effects model. Six electronic databases were searched for publications on EP and assessed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Revie...
Cuxson JL, Hartley CA, Ficorilli NP, Symes SJ, Devlin JM, Gilkerson JR.A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been previously associated with EHV-1 neurological disease in several countries around the world. This disease is very uncommon in Australia and little information is available about the presence of this SNP in Australian EHV-1 isolates. The ORF30 sequence of 66 Australian EHV-1 isolates was determined and the genotype was compared to the disease manifestation of the case from which the virus was isolated. Of the 66 isolates, 61 were from cases of abortion and 5 were cases associated with equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM). There was no asso...
Dutta SK, Rice RM, Hughes TD, Savage PK, Myrup AC.An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed which was specific and sensitive in detecting antibodies to Ehrlichia risticii in Potomac horse fever (PHF). The ELISA antibody titers were correlated with the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) titers. E. risticii propagated in human histiocyte culture was purified on renografin gradient and the band of the organisms at a density of 1.182 g/ml was used as antigen. ELISA antibody titers were determined through computer assisted analysis, the observed antibody titers were derived by serial serum dilutions and using a resultant...
Welsh CE, Duz M, Parkin TDH, Marshall JF.Electronic medical records from first opinion equine veterinary practice may represent a unique resource for epidemiologic research. The appropriateness of this resource for risk factor analyses was explored as part of an investigation into clinical and pharmacologic risk factors for laminitis. Amalgamated medical records from seven UK practices were subjected to text mining to identify laminitis episodes, systemic or intra-synovial corticosteroid prescription, diseases known to affect laminitis risk and clinical signs or syndromes likely to lead to corticosteroid use. Cox proportional hazard ...
Emet M, Beyhun NE, Kosan Z, Aslan S, Uzkeser M, Cakir ZG.This is a retrospective and registry-based descriptive study including animal- related injuries represented by the most crowded Emergency Department (ED) in Eastern Turkey over a period of two years. Animal-related injuries were 0.2% of all ED admittances; dominant in males and were high in summer. 68% of the subjects were exposed to mammalians. Most prominent injuries were dog bites (30%), horse (22%) and livestock-related injuries (12%). Hospitalization was significantly higher in mammalian animal injuries compared to non-mammalian injuries. The highest hospitalization rate was measured for ...
Gari FR, Ashenafi H, Tola A, Goddeeris BM, Claes F.Study on comparative sensitivity of parasitological, serological, and molecular tests on 237 horses originating from two dourine-suspected districts of Arsi-Bale highlands of Ethiopia was conducted to determine the prevalence of the disease and degree of agreement of the diagnostic tests. Accordingly, the prevalence of the disease was found to be 4.6%, 36.7%, and 47.6% by parasitological Woo test, RoTat 1.2 and 18S PCR tests, respectively. The seroprevalence of the disease was 27.6% in CATT/Trypanosoma evansi test. In Ethiopia, it was for the first time that trypanosomes from dourine suspected...
Takai S, Chaffin MK, Cohen ND, Hara M, Nakamura M, Kakuda T, Sasaki Y, Tsubaki S, Martens RJ.Rhodococcus equi isolates (462) obtained from 64 soil samples collected on 5 R. equi-endemic horse-breeding farms and isolates from 100 infected foals in Texas were examined to determine the prevalence and genotypic diversity of virulence-associated plasmids. Isolates were tested for the presence of 15-17-kDa virulence-associated protein antigens (VapA) by immunoblotting and virulence-associated plasmids by PCR. Plasmid DNAs were isolated and analyzed by digestion with restriction endonucleases for estimation of size and comparison of polymorphisims. Rhodococcus equi were isolated from soil of...
Hitchens PL, Hultgren J, Frössling J, Emanuelson U, Keeling LJ.There are Swedish animal welfare regulations concerning the body condition of horses and general advice on keeping horses including that horses should be fed so that they do not become over- or underweight relative to their use. Compliance is assessed by official animal welfare inspectors. The objective of this study was to determine whether the national animal welfare control database could be used to estimate the prevalence and risk factors for overweight horses in Sweden. The official animal welfare control checklist for horses contains 45 checkpoints (CP) of which CP-8 pertains to the acce...
Carfora V, Caprioli A, Grossi I, Pepe M, Alba P, Lorenzetti S, Amoruso R, Sorbara L, Franco A, Battisti A.A Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) was isolated in Italy from a pathological sample of a mare presenting chronic purulent sinusitis and that had undergone frontal-sinus surgery three months before. Humans, horses, dogs and environmental samples were subsequently collected at the mare's stable and at the Veterinary Hospital, where the mare was operated/hospitalized, and screened for the presence of MRSA that was detected from other horses and from the environment at both sites. All the MRSA isolates belonged to clonal complex (CC)8, ST8-t11469-SCCmec-IVa, and showed similar phen...
Malaluang P, Wilén E, Frosth S, Lindahl J, Hansson I, Morrell JM.Antibiotics are added to semen extenders in insemination doses but their effect on the vaginal microbiota of the inseminated female is unknown. The objectives of this study were to define the equine vaginal microbiota and its antimicrobial resistance, and to determine whether it changes after exposure to antibiotics in semen extenders. Vaginal swabs were taken prior to sham-insemination (day 0), and again on days 3, 7, and 14 after insemination. Isolated bacteria were identified by MALDI-TOF and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by microdilution. The bacteria isolated from the vagina dif...
Clarke CN, Tsuei BJ, Butler KL.Morbidity and financial loss caused by equine-related injuries may be significant. The purposes of this study were to determine the patterns of equine-related injury and the impact on outcomes. Methods: A 10-year retrospective review of equine-related injuries was performed. Age, gender, mechanism, injury severity score, Glasgow Coma Score, length of stay, surgical interventions, and mortality were assessed. Results: Of 80 emergency department evaluations, 76 patients were admitted and form the basis of this study. The most frequent mechanism of injury was fall (68%), followed by crush injurie...
Smet A, Cools P, Krizova L, Maixnerova M, Sedo O, Haesebrouck F, Kempf M, Nemec A, Vaneechoutte M.We previously reported the presence of an OXA-23 carbapenemase in an undescribed species of the genus Acinetobacter isolated from horse dung at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium. Here we include six strains to corroborate the delineation of this taxon by phenotypic characterization, DNA-DNA hybridization, 16S rRNA gene and rpoB sequence analysis, % G+C determination, MALDI-TOF MS and fatty acid analysis. The nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain UG 60467(T) showed the highest similarities with those of the type strains of Acinetobacter bouvetii (98.4 %)...
Burgess BA, Noyes NR, Bolte DS, Hyatt DR, van Metre DC, Morley PS.Salmonella enterica is the most commonly reported cause of outbreaks of nosocomial infections in large animal veterinary teaching hospitals and the closure of equine hospitals. Rapid detection may facilitate effective control practices in equine populations. Shipping and laboratory testing typically require ≥48 h to obtain results. Lateral flow immunoassays developed for use in food-safety microbiology provide an alternative that has not been evaluated for use with faeces or environmental samples. Objective: We aimed to identify enrichment methods that would allow commercially available ra...
Saqib M, Hussain MH, Sajid MS, Mansoor MK, Asi MN, Fadya AA, Zohaib A, Sial AU, Muhammad G, Ullah I.Toxoplasmosis is a serious threat for livestock in addition to being of zoonotic significance. In this study, serodiagnosis of equine toxoplasmosis was conducted in a randomly selected population from the 3 metropolises of Punjab, Pakistan. To this end, 272 draught equines were screened using a commercial latex agglutination assay kit. Association of probable risk factors of equine toxoplasmosis was also documented. A total of 91 (33.5%) equines were found sero-positive for Toxoplama (T.) gondii having antibody titers ranging between 1:32 to 1:612. The highest rates of seropositive cases were ...
van Weeren PR, Jeffcott LB.Twenty years ago a supplement of Equine Veterinary Journal was devoted to equine osteochondrosis (OC) and recognised the importance of this developmental disease to the equine industry. In the accompanying editorial several controversial issues were identified and a number of areas for further research were highlighted. Today, equine OC is still a major clinical problem, but the on-going research has resulted in much improved knowledge and understanding of this highly complicated disease. There is still conflicting evidence on the prevalence of OC due to the dynamic character of the condition,...
Delesalle C, de Bruijn M, Wilmink S, Vandendriessche H, Mol G, Boshuizen B, Plancke L, Grinwis G.White muscle disease (WMD) is a nutritional myopathy caused by selenium (Se) deficiency. In most soils, Se is present in low concentrations, sometimes even below 0.2 mg/kg, a trend which is seen in many countries. Apart from total soil Se concentrations, soil conditions may be such that the bio-availability of Se is so low that it causes very low uptake in plants which can ultimately lead to deficiency problems in animals. This is the first case series to report clinical WMD in foals in areas deficient in Se, in the Netherlands. The aim of the current report is to provide an overview of the c...
Salem SE, Scantlebury CE, Ezzat E, Abdelaal AM, Archer DC.Colic is an important health problem in managed horse populations. Currently, there is limited information about colic prevalence and risk factors for colic in working horse populations. Objective: To determine the prevalence of, and risk factors for, colic in a working horse population in Egypt and to describe management practices in this working horse population. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Owners of 350 working horses were interviewed. Data about their horses, management and colic episodes in the preceding 12 months were collected. Dental examination was conducted on 342 horse...
Nielsen MK, Sauermann CW, Leathwick DM.Anthelmintic resistance is widespread in equine cyathostomin populations across the world, and with no new anthelmintic drug classes in the pharmaceutical pipeline, the equine industry is forced to abandon traditional parasite control regimens. Current recommendations aim at reducing treatment intensity and identifying high strongylid egg shedders in a targeted treatment approach. But, virtually nothing is known about the effectiveness of these recommendations, nor their applicability to different climatic regions, making it challenging to tailor sustainable recommendations for equine parasite...
Dolente BA, Beech J, Lindborg S, Smith G.To evaluate risk factors associated with development of catheter-associated jugular thrombophlebitis in hospitalized horses. Methods: Retrospective case-control study. Methods: 50 horses with thrombophlebitis and 100 control horses. Methods: Medical records from 1993 through 1998 were searched for horses with thrombophlebitis. Horses that were hospitalized for at least 5 days, had an i.v. catheter placed in a jugular vein (other than for solely anesthetic purposes), and had no evidence of thrombophlebitis during admission or hospitalization were chosen as controls. Signalment, history, clinico...
Menzies-Gow NJ, Stevens KB, Sepulveda MF, Jarvis N, Marr CM.The aim of this study was to evaluate both the repeatability (intraobserver agreement) and reproducibility (interobserver agreement) of Obel grading, the most widely accepted method for describing the severity of equine laminitis. The study comprised two parts. In study A, to test intraobserver agreement, 25 ponies were graded twice by a single blinded experienced equine veterinary surgeon, on the first occasion via clinical examination and on the second occasion via a video recording of the initial clinical examination. In study B, to test interobserver agreement, video recordings of 13 ponie...
Othman AA, Hiblu MA, Abbassi MS, Abouzeed YM, Ahmed MO.The present study investigated the colonization rates and antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus species isolated from the nostrils of healthy horses. A nonselective laboratory approach was applied, followed by confirmation using a Phoenix automated microbiological system. Among the 92 horses included in the study, 48.9% (45/92) carried Staphylococcus species of mostly the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) type yielding 70 Staphylococcus strains. Of these strains, 37.1% (26/70; 24 CoNS and 2 coagulase-positive staphylococci; CoPS) were identified as methicillin-resistant staphylo...
Kennedy CR, Bush AO.Using data sets derived from published literature, the contribution of congeneric species to helminth component community richness is evaluated. Consideration of the frequency distribution of congeners in relation to host and parasite groups reveals that the distributions are unimodal, that singletons are the commonest class and that the frequency of occurrence of congeners decreases with increasing number of species per genus. Congeners may be found in any group of hosts or parasites, but are more common amongst cestodes of aquatic birds. Two patterns of occurrence of congeneric species are r...
Muzari MO, Burgess GW, Skerratt LF, Jones RE, Duran TL.Tabanid flies in Australia are potential vectors of the parasite Trypanosoma evansi which causes the animal disease surra. It is endemic to most of south-east Asia and could enter Australia, but evaluation of the potential impact of a surra incursion requires identification of the major hosts of Australian tabanids. This study investigated the natural pattern of feeding and host preference by tabanid flies of Townsville, north Queensland by identification of ingested blood in trap-caught tabanids using ELISA. The assays were developed for identification of horse, cow, macropod and pig blood me...
Fukunaga Y, Matsumura T, Sugiura T, Wada R, Imagawa H, Kanemaru T, Kamada M.Serum cross neutralisation tests were conducted with a recent American isolate (84KY-A1) and a European isolate, (Wroclaw-2) and compared with the prototype and modified viruses of the Bucyrus strain of equine arteritis virus by using virus specific immune horse sera. The modified Bucyrus strain was neutralised and showed high neutralisation titres with all the immune sera. The prototype Bucyrus strain was also substantially neutralised, followed by the 84KY-A1 strain. As a result of the tests with the modified Bucyrus strain as the antigen, 20 seropositive horses were discovered among home-br...
Ginther OJ, Bergfelt DR, Leith GS, Scraba ST.Pregnancy was determined by ultrasound on Days 11, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 in 154 ponies and 27 horses. In ponies, the embryonic loss rate for Days 11 to 15 (28 154 , 18.2%) was greater (P<0.01) than for any of the subsequent five-day intervals (0% to 3.3%). There were no losses during Days 11 to 15 in horses (0 27 ), and the difference between ponies and horses was significant. The loss rates for the seven periods encompassing Days 15 to 50 were not significantly different among periods. Pseudopregnancy occurred more frequently (P<0.01) following embryonic loss after Day 20 (...
Greenwood S, Chow-Lockerbie B, Epp T, Knight C, Wachoski-Dark G, MacDonald-Dickinson V, Wobeser B.Equus caballus papillomavirus type-2 (EcPV-2) has been proposed as a causal factor in equine genital squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This study had 2 objectives: first, calculate the frequency of papillomavirus (PV) and EcPV-2 infection in papillomas, carcinomas in situ (CIS), and SCCs in Western Canadian horses; and second, determine if EcPV-2 status of equine SCCs is associated with overall survival (OS). EcPV-2 status of 115 archived tissue samples, spanning 6 years, was determined using broad spectrum (MY09/11) and EcPV-2-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, EcPV-2-E6/E7 chromog...
Crawford KL, Finnane A, Phillips CJC, Greer RM, Woldeyohannes SM, Perkins NR, Kidd LJ, Ahern BJ.Musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) continue to affect Thoroughbred racehorses internationally. There is a strong interest in developing training and management strategies to reduce their impact, however, studies of risk factors report inconsistent findings. Furthermore, many injuries and fatalities occur during training rather than during racing, yet most studies report racing data only. By combining racing and training data a larger exposure to risk factors and a larger number of musculoskeletal injuries are captured and the true effect of risk factors may be more accurately represented. Furtherm...
Yngvesson J, Rey Torres JC, Lindholm J, Pättiniemi A, Andersson P, Sassner H.We compared welfare measures of horses among Swedish riding schools (RS) during winter where horses were kept either in group housing ( = 8) or in tie-stalls/boxes ( = 8), Health data for six previous months were obtained for all horses at each RS from their records. Ten horses per RS were examined, with the exception of one where only 8 horses were examined. Health conditions and body condition score (BCS) using the Henneke scale were recorded and management factors were quantified (health check routines, feeding, housing-related risk factors, time outside). RS-recorded health data (for 327 h...
