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.
Mair TS, Sherlock CE, Boden LA.Few studies have evaluated cortisol concentrations in horses with colic. In humans with septic shock, high cortisol levels are associated with an increased risk of death. The objectives of this study were to compare the serum total cortisol concentrations (STCCs) in horses with colic to those without colic, and to assess whether the STCC relates to the pathological nature or outcome of the disease. STCCs were determined at presentation in horses with colic and in systemically healthy 'control' horses. Horses with colic were grouped based on clinical and clinico-pathological parameters at admis...
Liu H, Yan J, Wang Y, Yan Q, Zhao L, Yan R, He H.Moraxella bovoculi was isolated and identified in ocular fluid samples collected from 9 racehorses with infectious keratoconjunctivitis in China in 2013. All 9 M. bovoculi isolates were hemolytic, Gram-negative diplococci that were phenylalanine deaminase positive. The sequence of the 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene of the isolates matched the 16S rDNA sequence of M. bovoculi. Amplification of the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region followed by AfaI digestion produced a 600-base pair product, a result characteristic of M. bovoculi isolates. The phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rDNA sequence c...
Balasuriya UB, Zhang J, Go YY, MacLachlan NJ.The advent of recombinant DNA technology, development of infectious cDNA clones of RNA viruses, and reverse genetic technologies have revolutionized how viruses are studied. Genetic manipulation of full-length cDNA clones has become an especially important and widely used tool to study the biology, pathogenesis, and virulence determinants of both positive and negative stranded RNA viruses. The first full-length infectious cDNA clone of equine arteritis virus (EAV) was developed in 1996 and was also the first full-length infectious cDNA clone constructed from a member of the order Nidovirales. ...
Balasuriya UB.The primary goals of this chapter are to discuss common viral RNA isolation and purification methods that are routinely used by various diagnostic laboratories, 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 spec...
Chambers TM, Reedy SE.Equine influenza viruses are cultured in embryonated hen eggs, or in mammalian cells, generally Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, using methods much the same as for other influenza A viruses. Mutations associated with host adaptation occur in both eggs and MDCK cells, but the latter show greater heterogeneity and eggs are the generally preferred host. Both equine-1 H7N7 and equine-2 H3N8 viruses replicate efficiently in 11-day-old eggs, but we find that equine-1 viruses kill the embryos whereas equine-2 viruses do not.
Balasuriya UB.Equine influenza (EI) is a highly contagious disease of horses caused by the equine influenza virus (EIV) H3N8 subtype. EI is the most important respiratory virus infection of horses and can disrupt major equestrian events and cause significant economic losses to the equine industry worldwide. Influenza H3N8 virus spreads rapidly in susceptible horses and can result in very high morbidity within 24-48 h after exposure to the virus. Therefore, rapid and accurate diagnosis of EI is critical for implementation of prevention and control measures to avoid the spread of EIV and to reduce the economi...
Chambers TM, Reedy SE.In horses, presumptive diagnosis of equine influenza is commonly made on the basis of clinical signs. This alone is insufficient for confirmation of equine influenza, because other equine infectious respiratory diseases can in some degree have similar clinical presentations. Surveillance and control of equine influenza also necessitate detection of subclinical cases. Effective diagnosis of equine influenza virus infection is critically dependent on obtaining adequate specimens of virus-containing respiratory secretions for testing. These specimens are also valuable as sources for isolation of ...
Chambers TM.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is a common respiratory pathogen of horses and other equids in most parts of the world. EIV are Type A influenza viruses and two subtypes are known: H3N8 and H7N7. Both are believed to have evolved from avian influenza virus ancestors. The H3N8 subtype circulates widely, but the H7N7 subtype is thought to be extinct. The clinical disease in horses, caused by either subtype, is an upper respiratory infection of varying severity depending upon the immune status of the individual animal. It is not normally life-threatening in itself except in very young foals; however...
Acosta Ida C, Da Costa AP, Gennari SM, Marcili A.Trypanosoma and Leishmania infections affect wild and domestic animals and human populations. The growing process of deforestation and urbanization of Atlantic Rainforest areas has given rise to introduction of humans and domestic animals to the sylvatic cycles of Trypanosoma and Leishmania species. Serological, parasitological, and molecular surveys among wild and domestic animals in the Corrego do Veado Biological Reserve, which is an Atlantic Rainforest fragment in the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil, were evaluated. In total, 154 wild animals of 25 species and 67 domestic ani...
Chambers TM, Reedy SE.Serologic tests for equine influenza virus (EIV) antibodies are used for many purposes, including retrospective diagnosis, subtyping of virus isolates, antigenic comparison of different virus strains, and measurement of immune responses to EIV vaccines. The hemagglutination-inhibition (HI), single radial hemolysis (SRH), and serum micro-neutralization tests are the most widely used for these purposes and are described here. The presence of inhibitors of hemagglutination in equine serum complicates interpretation of HI assay results, and there are alternative protocols (receptor-destroying enzy...
Saegerman C, Alba-Casals A, García-Bocanegra I, Dal Pozzo F, van Galen G.West Nile fever (WNF) is a viral zoonotic infection caused by a mosquito-borne flavivirus of the Flaviviridae family. According to a comparative study, the passive surveillance of horses by equine veterinarians appeared to be the most cost-effective system in the European context of WNF. Clinical data issued from a passive epidemiosurveillance network from September 2010 to December 2011 on horses in Spain were statistically compared and used to develop a predictive diagnostic decision tree, both with the aim to improve the early clinical detection of WNF in horses. Although clinical signs wer...
Cummings KJ, Rodriguez-Rivera LD, Mitchell KJ, Hoelzer K, Wiedmann M, McDonough PL, Altier C, Warnick LD, Perkins GA.Nosocomial salmonellosis continues to pose an important threat to veterinary medical teaching hospitals. The objectives of this study were to describe an outbreak of salmonellosis caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Oranienburg within our hospital and to highlight its unique features, which can be used to help mitigate or prevent nosocomial outbreaks in the future. We retrospectively analyzed data from patients that were fecal culture-positive for Salmonella Oranienburg between January 1, 2006, and June 1, 2011, including historical, clinical, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) data...
Gonzalez G, Marshall JF, Morrell J, Robb D, McCauley JW, Perez DR, Parrish CR, Murcia PR.Influenza A viruses (IAVs) can jump species barriers and occasionally cause epidemics, epizootics, pandemics, and panzootics. Characterizing the infection dynamics at the target tissues of natural hosts is central to understanding the mechanisms that control host range, tropism, and virulence. Canine influenza virus (CIV; H3N8) originated after the transfer of an equine influenza virus (EIV) into dogs. Thus, comparing CIV and EIV isolates provides an opportunity to study the determinants of influenza virus emergence. Here we characterize the replication of canine, equine, and human IAVs in the...
Oliveira Filho RB, Campos Malta K, Assis Santana VL, Vance Harrop MH, Tancler Stipp D, Friguglietti Brandespim D, Aparecido Mota R....The present study, the first to spatially characterize Leptospira spp. infection among equids in the Brejo Paraibano micro-region of the Paraiba state in the northeast of Brazil, investigated 257 animals in 26 farms properties. Serum samples from 204 horses, 46 mules and seven donkeys were serologically diagnosed using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The distribution of Leptospira spp. was studied by employing specific antigens from 24 different Leptospira serovars. All farms were georeferenced and their distribution visualised on a map of the Brejo Paraibano micro-region. In additio...
De Briyne N, Atkinson J, Pokludová L, Borriello SP.The Heads of Medicines Agencies and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe undertook a survey to gain an insight into European prescribing of antibiotics for animals, in particular to highlight the diseases for which antibiotics are most commonly said to be prescribed and which different classes, including human critically important antibiotics (CIAs). The survey was completed by 3004 practitioners from 25 European countries. Many older antibiotics (eg, penicillins, tetracyclines) are cited most frequently as the prescribed classes to treat the main food producing species. The frequency of ...
Yamanaka T, Cullinane A, Gildea S, Bannai H, Nemoto M, Tsujimura K, Kondo T, Matsumura T.The protection induced by an equine influenza (EI) vaccine strain depends on its antigenic relatedness to the challenge virus. Although the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) recommend that both Florida sublineage clade 1 (Fc1) and clade 2 (Fc2) viruses should be included in EI vaccines, Japanese EI vaccines have not, thus far, been updated to include a Fc2 virus. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of antibodies raised against Japanese EI vaccine strains in the neutralisation of recent Fc2 viruses. Methods: Antigenic analysis. Methods: Virus neutralisation tests were performed using a...
Draper AC, Bender JB, Firshman AM, Baird JD, Reed S, Mayhew IG, Valberg SJ.Investigating the epidemiology of shivering in horses. Objective: The purpose of this study was to characterise the signalment, clinical signs and management factors associated with shivering (also known as shivers), a relatively rare, poorly defined movement disorder in horses. Methods: Web-based case series survey and case-control study. Methods: A Web-based survey was used to obtain information from owners, worldwide, who suspected that their horse had shivering. Survey respondents were asked to answer standardised questions and to provide a video of the horse. Authors reviewed the surveys ...
Bilaniuk JW, Adams JM, DiFazio LT, Siegel BK, Allegra JR, Luján JJ, Durling-Grover R, Pawar J, Rolandelli RH, Németh ZH.Patients with equestrian injuries were identified in the trauma registry from 2004 to 2007. We a priori divided patients into three groups: 0 to 18 years, 19 to 49 years, and 50 years old or older. There were 284 patients identified with equestrian-related trauma. Injury Severity Score for the three major age categories 0 to 18 years, 19 to 49 years, and 50 years or older, were 3.47, 5.09, and 6.27, respectively. The most common body region injured among all patients was the head (26.1%). The most common injuries by age group were: 0 to 18 years, upper extremity fractures; 19 to 49 year olds, ...
Davis TZ, Stegelmeier BL, Hall JO.Horses are very susceptible to chronic selenosis if grazed on seleniferous forages for a prolonged period. In this study, mane and tail samples from horses that exhibited classical hoof lesions of chronic selenosis were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for selenium (Se) content. The horses had grazed for 6 months, from approximately May 15 until November 15, each year for three grazing seasons in a pasture containing seleniferous forages and water sources with elevated Se concentrations. The segmented hair samples showed a cyclic pattern in Se concentrations in the mane...
Mancini DA, Pereira AS, Mendonça RM, Kawamoto AH, Alves RC, Pinto JR, Mori E, Richtzenhain LJ, Mancini-Filho J.Equines are susceptible to respiratory viruses such as influenza and parainfluenza. Respiratory diseases have adversely impacted economies all over the world. This study was intended to determine the presence of influenza and parainfluenza viruses in unvaccinated horses from some regions of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Blood serum collected from 72 equines of different towns in this state was tested by hemagglutination inhibition test to detect antibodies for both viruses using the corresponding antigens. About 98.6% (71) and 97.2% (70) of the equines responded with antibody protective tit...
Jönsson L, Egenvall A, Roepstorff L, Näsholm A, Dalin G, Philipsson J.To determine associations of health status and conformation with competition longevity and lifetime performance in young Swedish Warmblood riding horses. Methods: Cohort study and genetic analysis. Methods: 8,238 horses. Methods: Horses were examined for health, conformation, and performance from 1983 to 2005, when they were 4 to 5 years old, and competition results from 1983 to 2012 were evaluated. Associations between conformation, health, and talent scores of young horses and longevity (years in competition) and lifetime performance were analyzed. Odds ratios of competing later in life amon...
Sullivan SL, Anderson GA, Morley PS, Hinchcliff KW.Exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) is associated with impaired short-term race performance but consequences to long-term race performance of Thoroughbred racehorses are unknown. Knowledge of effects of EIPH on performance over a prolonged time would inform the need for management and treatment of this disorder. Objective: To determine the relationship between EIPH detected on a single occasion and long-term athletic performance in Thoroughbred racehorses. Methods: Prospective, longitudinal, observational epidemiological study conducted from 2003 to 2012. Methods: Seven hundred and f...
Bahrami S, Ghadrdan AR, Mirabdollahi SM, Fayed MR.A total of 105 blood samples from healthy horses from different stables in Yazd province, center of Iran, were examined for the presence of Theileria equi infection using parasitological and molecular methods. Out of the 105 samples, the parasitological method detected T. equi infection in 5 (4.76%) cases while the PCR method gave 24 (22.86%) positive results. Age, gender and breed were not determined as risk factors for T. equi infection in this study. Since blood samples were taken from healthy animals, this implies that 22.86% of horses had subclinical theileriosis in the current study. In ...
Scantlebury CE, Archer DC, Proudman CJ, Pinchbeck GL.Recurrent colic occurs frequently in the general horse population but little evidence exists about what factors place horses at greater risk of recurrent colic. Objective: To quantify time-varying and non time-varying risk factors for recurrent colic among horses attended by first-opinion veterinary surgeons in northwest England. Methods: Nested case-control study. Methods: A nested case-control study was conducted on data from a prospective longitudinal cohort study of 127 horses recruited subsequent to an episode of medical colic. Data were collected on management and recurrent colic episode...
Bannai H, Mae N, Ode H, Nemoto M, Tsujimura K, Yamanaka T, Kondo T, Matsumura T.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is a major cause of winter pyrexia in racehorses in two training centers (Ritto and Miho) in Japan. Until the epizootic period of 2008-2009, a vaccination program using a killed EHV-1 vaccine targeted only susceptible 3-year-old horses with low antibody levels to EHV-1 antigens. However, because the protective effect was not satisfactory, in 2009-2010 the vaccination program was altered to target all 3-year-old horses. To evaluate the vaccine's efficacy, we investigated the number of horses with pyrexia due to EHV-1 or equine herpesvirus type 4 (EHV-4) infecti...
Mares-Guia MA, Rozental T, Guterres A, Gomes R, Almeida DN, Moreira NS, Barreira JD, Favacho AR, Santana AL, Lemos ER.Over the last recent years, the number of Q fever cases have has increased throughout the world. An epidemiological investigation was performed in the area in which the first molecular documentation of Q fever in Brazil was previously reported. Methods: Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and PCR of Coxiella burnetii targeting the htpAB gene were performed in samples from 14 dogs (blood); 1 cat (blood); 10 goats (blood, milk, vaginal swab and anal swab); 3 sheep (blood); and 2 horses (blood). Results: Two dogs, two sheep and five goats were seroreactive. DNA was amplified from 6 milk and 2...
de Novaes Oliveira R, Iamamoto K, Silva ML, Achkar SM, Castilho JG, Ono ED, Lobo RS, Brandão PE, Carnieli P, Carrieri ML, Kotait I, Macedo CI.Eastern equine encephalitis is a viral zoonosis that exhibits complex distribution and epidemiology, and greater importance should be given to this disease by the public-health authorities. In Brazil, although eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) has been identified in vectors and antibodies are sometimes detected in horses and humans, there have been no records of equine encephalitis in horses caused by this virus during the last 24 years. This study describes eighteen cases of eastern equine encephalomyelitis that occurred in six Brazilian states between 2005 and 2009. Viral RNA was iden...
Gerber V, Tessier C, Marti E.Genetic predispositions for guttural pouch tympany, recurrent laryngeal neuropathy and recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) are well documented. There is also evidence that exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage and infectious diseases of the respiratory tract in horses have a genetic component. The clinical expression of equine respiratory diseases with a genetic basis results from complex interactions between the environment and the genetic make-up of each individual horse. The genetic effects are likely to be due to variations in several genes, i.e. they are polygenic. It is therefore unlikel...
Duell JR, Carmichael R, Herrin BH, Holbrook TC, Talley J, Little SE.Ticks are common on horses, but there is a dearth of contemporary data on infestation prevalence, predominant species, and tick-borne disease agents important in this host. To determine the species of ticks most common on horses and the prevalence of equine exposure to and infection with tick-borne disease agents, ticks and blood samples were collected from 73 horses during May, June, and July of 2010. Adult ticks were identified to species, and antibodies to Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., and Borrelia burgdorferi were identified using indirect fluorescence antibody assay, a commercial point-...
Fischer NM, Favrot C, Birkmann K, Jackson M, Schwarzwald CC, Müller M, Tobler K, Geisseler M, Lange CE.The DNA of equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) is consistently found in equine papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas, indicating a causal association of EcPV2 in the pathogenesis of these tumours; however, little is known about the prevalence of this virus. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the geno- and seroprevalence of EcPV2 in clinically healthy horses in Switzerland. Methods: Fifty horses presented to the equine department of the university clinic, displaying no skin or mucous membrane lesions or severe signs of other diseases, were sampled. Methods: Cytobrush samples ...
Aoki T, Chiba A, Itoh M, Nambo Y, Yamagishi N, Shibano KI, Cheong SH.The purpose of this study was to elucidate the colostral and foal serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration values in heavy draft horses in Japan and to examine the effects of peripartum mare condition on colostral immunity. Colostrum was obtained 1 hr after foaling (pre-suckling; n=178). Blood was collected from the jugular vein of the foals (n=147) at 24 to 48 hr after birth. The foaling statuses of 73 mares were recorded. The average colostral IgG concentration was 10,540 ± 3,190 mg/dl (median=10,928; range 1,434-17,514 mg/dl). The average serum IgG concentration obtained from neonatal fo...
Humphreys JM, Pelzel-McCluskey AM, Cohnstaedt LW, McGregor BL, Hanley KA, Hudson AR, Young KI, Peck D, Rodriguez LL, Peters DPC.Mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is the causative agent of West Nile disease in humans, horses, and some bird species. Since the initial introduction of WNV to the United States (US), approximately 30,000 horses have been impacted by West Nile neurologic disease and hundreds of additional horses are infected each year. Research describing the drivers of West Nile disease in horses is greatly needed to better anticipate the spatial and temporal extent of disease risk, improve disease surveillance, and alleviate future economic impacts to the equine industry and private horse owners. To help...
Hosie BD, Gould PW, Hunter AR, Low JC, Munro R, Wilson HC.A myopathy of horses at grass in east and south east Scotland was recognised in the autumn and winter of 1984 and the spring of 1985. The clinical signs resembled those of paralytic myoglobinuria. Grossly increased creatine kinase activities and the passage of dark brown urine were consistent features. However, the horses were not in training, most of them died and the muscles affected were those of posture and respiration rather than movement. The condition may be unrelated to nutritional myopathy because all the cases had adequate levels of alpha-tocopherol although their selenium status var...
Peng TL, Armiladiana MM, Ruhil HH, Maizan M, Choong SS.The occurrence of Setaria digitata in a horse is reported for the first time in Malaysia. An 8-year-old Thoroughbred cross mare was referred to the University Veterinary Clinic with the primary complaint of corneal opacity and excessive eye discharge. After initial treatment with Terramycin eye ointment, corneal opacity cleared partially to reveal a moving thread-like cylindrical worm in the anterior chamber of the eye. The parasite was successfully removed surgically, and examination under the light microscope revealed that the isolated worm (length = 45 mm) was a 5th stage larva of S. ...
Bermúdez C S, Zaldívar Y, Domínguez A L, Hernández M, de Antinori MEB, Krawczak FS.Rickettsia amblyommatis is widely distributed in the Americas, and has been reported to infect different species of ticks within its distribution. In Panama, R. amblyommatis is the most common Rickettsia and its presence was molecularly detected in nine species of ticks and one flea species. This work described the isolation of R. amblyommatis in Vero cells by shell vial technique, from Amblyomma mixtum ticks collected from a captive tapir from Gamboa (Colon province), and a horse from El Valle de Antón (Cocle province). These represent the first isolations of R. amblyommatis in Panama.
Lee SH, Lee SE, Seo MG, Goo YK, Cho KH, Cho GJ, Kwon OD, Kwak D, Lee WJ.The present study investigated the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) antibodies by ELISA in horses reared in Korea. Serum samples were collected from 2009 through 2013 from 816 horses reared in Korea. Analysis was performed using a commercial toxoplasmosis ELISA kit to detect anti-T. gondii antibodies. Overall, 24 out of 816 horses (2.9%) were seropositive for T. gondii. The result was analyzed by age, gender, breed and region. Significant differences were observed according to breed and region (P<0.05). This is the first nationwide serological investigation of T. gondii in ho...
Dow SM, Leendertz JA, Silver IA, Goodship AE.In this study a method of analysing ground reaction forces was developed to help in the diagnosis of subclinical flexor tendon injury. A Kistler force plate was used to obtain records from a population of Thoroughbreds in National Hunt training over a period of two years. Characteristic features of the force patterns generated were measured and shown to have low variance, both between horses and over a period of two racing seasons in animals that were sound throughout the trial. Specific changes in the loading pattern of the limb, which correlated with injury of the superficial digital flexor ...
Costa MF, Thomassian A.To our knowledge no studies evaluating risk factors to EIPH have been undertaken with such a population of horses in Brazil, which is one of the few countries in the racing community to accept the use of frusemide (FUR) as a prerace medication for bleeders. We also compared national results with those already in the literature. Objective: To verify the influence of variables such as distance of the race, racetrack surface, going and season of the year in the recurrence and severity of EIPH and its effect on the finishing position of flat racing Thoroughbreds in Brazil. Methods: 2118 post race ...
Szymańska-Czerwińska M, Jodełko A, Pluta M, Kowalik S, Niemczuk K.Coxiella burnetii is the causative agent of Q fever. The cases of the disease are recorded in various species, including domestic animals. The aim of this investigation was to estimate the seroprevalence of C. burnetii in ruminants including cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. Totally, 2082 serum samples from 936 goats, 933 cattle, 89 sheep, and 124 horses, including various horse breeds, were tested by ELISA or complement fixation test. The examination revealed that Polish horses are seronegative while in the populations of cattle and small ruminants, seropositive animals are presented. The per...
Stewart AJ, Cuming RS.Fungal respiratory disease is a rare occurrence in horses. Fungal organisms are ubiquitous in the equine environment; however, there is a geographic predisposition for disease development, with fungal respiratory infections seen more commonly by practitioners working in tropical or subtropical environments. Diagnosis and treatment of fungal respiratory infections pose a challenge for the equine practitioner, and the prognosis for complete resolution of infection is often guarded; however, new antifungal medications are likely to improve treatment success. This article summarizes the available ...
Warnick LD.Fecal egg counts often are used for diagnosing equine strongyle infections and estimating the number of eggs shed in the feces. An individual egg count should be interpreted in view of the normal fluctuation of egg numbers in an individual horse. In this study, the daily variability of strongyle fecal egg counts from horses was investigated. The Cornell-McMaster egg-counting technique was used to estimate the eggs per gram of feces in repeated daily fecal samples from 39 horses. The variation of the daily egg counts across 4 days was greater than would be expected if a consistent number of egg...
Haenni M, Targant H, Forest K, Sévin C, Tapprest J, Laugier C, Madec JY.Coagulase-positive staphylococci (CoPS) are potential causative agents of equine infections, but they are rarely responsible for the death of the animal. In the current study, staphylococci implicated in the death or euthanasia of horses were retrospectively studied in 3,457 necropsies performed over a decade (1995-2006). Morbidity associated with CoPS was 1.7%, representing 60 isolates of CoPS, which were identified as Staphylococcus aureus (59) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (1). Coagulase-positive staphylococci (alone or in association with another bacterial species) were associated wi...
Posnett ES, Ambrosio RE.A genomic library of Babesia caballi DNA was constructed in the plasmid vector pUC13. The specificity of the clones for B. caballi was established by the lack of hybridization to Babesia equi, Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina and equine DNA. Two probes, pBC11 and pBC191, were isolated that could detect 0.25 ng and 0.125 ng of B. caballi DNA, corresponding to a parasitaemia of 0.12% and 0.06% respectively. pBC191 could detect B. caballi parasites in the blood of an experimentally infected horse as well as in naturally infected horses.
Mendez D, Buttner P, Speare R.Following the emergence of Hendra virus (HeV), private veterinarians have had to adopt additional infection control strategies to manage this zoonosis. Between 1994 and 2010, seven people became infected with HeV, four fatally. All infected people were at a higher risk of exposure from contact with horses as they were either veterinary personnel, assisting veterinarians, or working in the horse industry. The management of emerging zoonoses is best approached from a One Health perspective as it benefits biosecurity as well as a public health, including the health of those most at risk, in this ...
A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the circulation and risk factors associated with West Nile virus (WNV) exposure in equine and wild bird populations following the largest epidemic outbreak ever reported in Spain. A total of 305 equids and 171 wild birds were sampled between November 2020 and June 2021. IgG antibodies against flaviviruses were detected by blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA) in 44.9% (109/243) and 87.1% (54/62) of unvaccinated and vaccinated equids, respectively. The individual seroprevalence in unvaccinated individuals (calculated on animals serop...
Tokateloff N, Manning ST, Weese JS, Campbell J, Rothenburger J, Stephen C, Bastura V, Gow SP, Reid-Smith R.This study estimated the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in nasal swabs of 458 horses in western Canada. The rate of colonization was 1.3% +/- 5.84% [95% confidence interval (CI)], a rate similar to those reported elsewhere. Colonization tended to be transient and seemed unrelated to stress or administration of antimicrobials. Five of the 6 isolates were Canadian epidemic MRSA-5, a human clone that appears to predominate in horses in North America. The other isolate was spa type 539 (t034), a sequence type 398 strain, and this is the first report of this clone ...
Skotarczak B, Wodecka B, Rymaszewska A, Adamska M.Ixodes ricinus has the potential to transmit zoonotic pathogens to humans and domestic animals. The feeding I. ricinus (n = 1737) collected from 49 Shetland ponies and questing ones from vegetation (n = 371) were tested for the presence and differentiation of the bacterial species. DNA of I. ricinus ticks was examined with PCR and sequencing analysis to identify species of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl), Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Rickettsia spp. Altogether, 24.3 % I. ricinus of the infested horses and 12.4 % ticks from vegetation carried at least one pathogen species. Horse-f...
Daly JM, Whitwell KE, Miller J, Dowd G, Cardwell JM, Smith KC.Equine influenza is usually a transient and self-limiting disease. However, during an outbreak of equine influenza in the UK in 2003 there were reports of unusually severe clinical signs among unvaccinated animals. Two influenza-infected horses developed neurological signs, and one was subjected to euthanasia. Post-mortem examination of the brain revealed viral-type non-suppurative encephalitis, and influenza virus antigen was demonstrated by immunolabelling of sections of nasal mucosa. A syndrome known as influenza-associated encephalopathy has been described in man. Although not proved, the ...
COllinson PN, O'Rielly JL, Ficorilli N, Studdert MJ.Ocular problems characterized by conjunctivitis, epiphora, and keratopathy were detected in 35 of 80 Thoroughbred weanling foals that also had respiratory disease. Ocular problems were determined to be caused by infection with equine herpesvirus type 2 (EHV-2) and were successfully treated with ophthalmic medication containing idoxuridine. Equine herpesvirus type 2 isolated from 3 of 5 foals from which samples were collected. The identity of the causative virus as EHV-2 was confirmed by use of electron microscopy, restriction endonuclease DNA fingerprinting, and Southern blot analysis.
Boyle AG, Sweeney CR, Kristula M, Boston R, Smith G.To identify factors associated with an increased likelihood that horses would have a serum Streptococcus equi SeM-specific antibody titer > or = 1:1,600. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: 188 healthy client-owned horses. Methods: A single serum sample from each horse was tested for SeM-specific antibody titer with an ELISA. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with having a titer > or = 1:1,600. Results: Age, breed, and vaccination status were significantly associated with the likelihood of having a titer > or = 1:1,600. The odds of having a ...
Hesselbarth J, Schwarz S.Strains of Staphylococcus (S.) intermedius from dogs, pigeons, horses and mink were typed by comparison of rRNA gene restriction fragment length polymorphisms (ribotyping) and the resulting ribotypes examined by cluster-analysis. Digestion of whole-cell DNA with HindIII resulted in 9 ribotypes with 3 to 4 bands. Separation of isolates from different host animal species was not possible. EcoRI yielded 11 different patterns with 4 to 9 fragments. The EcoRI-ribotypes of all canine strains grouped in one cluster encompassing four closely related ribotypes. Isolates were indistinguishable with resp...
Blanco-Lobo P, Rodriguez L, Reedy S, Oladunni FS, Nogales A, Murcia PR, Chambers TM, Martinez-Sobrido L.Vaccination remains the most effective approach for preventing and controlling equine influenza virus (EIV) in horses. However, the ongoing evolution of EIV has increased the genetic and antigenic differences between currently available vaccines and circulating strains, resulting in suboptimal vaccine efficacy. As recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the inclusion of representative strains from clade 1 and clade 2 Florida sublineages of EIV in vaccines may maximize the protection against presently circulating viral strains. In this study, we used reverse genetics tech...
Stock KF, Hamann H, Distl O.Genetic parameters were estimated for the prevalence of osseous fragments in distal (DIJ) and proximal interphalangeal (PIJ), fetlock (FJ) and hock joints (HJ) of Hanoverian Warmblood horses by using residual maximum likelihood (REML) with linear animal models. The analyses were based on the results of 10 standardized radiographs of all four limbs of 3725 young riding horses selected for sale at auction. Transformation factors onto the underlying liability scale were verified by a simulation study. The heritability estimates of osseous fragments on the liability scale were in the range of h2 =...
Freestone JF, Carlson GR.Case records of horses with muscle disorders presenting to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of the University of California, Davis, over a nine year period were evaluated. The objectives of the review were to identify the common myogenic muscle problems and their clinical features. Muscle disease of idiopathic aetiology following exercise was by far the most common condition noted. Other causes of myogenic muscle disorders included congenital, infectious, immune-mediated and nutritional factors.
Glaser AL, Chirnside ED, Horzinek MC, de Vries AA.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is a small, enveloped, positive-stranded RNA virus, in the family Arteriviridae , W.H.ich can infect both horses and donkeys. While the majority of EAV infections are asymptomatic, acutely infected animals may develop a wide range of clinical signs, including pyrexia, limb and ventral edema, depression, rhinitis, and conjunctivitis. The virus may cause abortion and has caused mortality in neonates. After natural EAV infection, most horses develop a solid, long-term immunity to the disease. Marzz and geldings eliminate the virus within 60 days, but 30 to 60% of acut...
Papadopoulos E, Rowlinson M, Bartram D, Carpenter S, Mellor P, Wall R.An in vitro assay was used to assess the efficacy of the proprietary pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin applied to horses (Deosect spray, 5.0%, w/v Fort Dodge Animal Health) against the biting midge Culicoides nubeculosus (Meigen) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) and the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti Linneaus and Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae). Hair was collected from the back, belly and legs of the horses immediately prior to treatment and 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days after treatment, and also from untreated controls. In laboratory assays groups of 10 adult female C. nubeculosus, Ae. aegy...
Van Den Wollenberg L, Vandendriessche V, van Maanen K, Counotte GHM.Straightforward testing procedures to enable the diagnosis of insulin dysregulation (ID) in horses that are suitable for use in daily veterinary practice are needed because of the risk that ID could result in laminitis. In our study (that included 90 horses), we compared the proportion of horses classified as ID-positive, ID-suspect, and ID-not diagnosed according to the basal insulin concentration (BIC) with the proportion of horses classified as ID-positive or ID-negative according to a practical and feasible version of an oral sugar test (OST). Furthermore, BIC, basal glucose concentration,...
