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.
Reardon RJ, Boden L, Stirk AJ, Parkin TD.Accurate diagnosis of racing injuries can be difficult. The objectives of this study were to describe the postmortem (PM) defined distribution of fatal distal limb fractures (DLF) affecting Thoroughbreds racing in Great Britain between February 1999 and August 2005 and then assess the accuracy of veterinary racecourse diagnoses and examine whether these improved following introduction of a computerised recording system. PM examinations were performed on limbs distal to radius or tibia from all cases of fatal DLF occurring on British racecourses during the study period. Results of these examina...
Sutton GJ, Cawley A, Murphy C, Lau ML, Hibbert DB.Horse racing authorities impose a limit on the concentration of plasma 'total carbon dioxide' (TCO2), typically 36 mM with action taken above 37 mM, as measured by an electrochemical gas analyzer. It is of interest to understand the distribution of TCO2 in a 'normal' population of racehorses and determine probabilities of members of this population exceeding these current regulatory and action limits. TCO2 levels in equine plasma samples have been modelled for 12 months (2011-2012) of thoroughbred (3076 measurements) and standardbred (3788 measurements) data in Australia. The two populations h...
Reix CE, Burn CC, Pritchard JC, Barr AR, Whay HR.Lameness is prevalent in working donkeys and has major welfare implications; however, a detailed study of the associated clinical signs is lacking. Objective: To describe the range and prevalence of clinical signs and conformation associated with lameness in working draught donkeys. Methods: Prospective, cross-sectional, observational study. Methods: Data were collected from 102 working draught donkeys in Pakistan. A lameness assessment adapted for working donkeys was used to record clinical signs of lameness, gait, limb conformation and pain responses in the feet, limbs and spine using observ...
BMC public healthFebruary 20, 2014
Volume 14 182 doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-182
Sawford K, Dhand NK, Toribio JA, Taylor MR.After the 2011 cluster of Hendra virus cases in horses in Australia, public health targeted education initiatives at people in the equine industry to reduce human exposure to potentially infected horses. 'Horse owners and Hendra Virus: A Longitudinal cohort study To Evaluate Risk' aims to enhance public health measures through improved understanding of Hendra virus risk perception and risk mitigation strategies among horse owners and horse care providers. This paper describes the stakeholder consultation that was undertaken to ensure the cohort study outcomes were relevant to diverse groups wh...
Abedi V, Razmi G, Seifi H, Naghibi A.Equine piroplasmosis is a hemoprotozoan tick-borne disease with worldwide distribution that is caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. However, the geographical distribution of equine piroplasmosis in Iran is unknown. The aim of the current study was to determine the causative agents and vector ticks of equine piroplasmosis in horses in the North Khorasan Province. In the year 2011, 100 horses were randomly selected from 14 villages. Blood samples and ixodid ticks were collected and examined using microscopical, molecular, and serological methods. Theileria equi infection was microscopic...
Lecis R, Tore G, Scagliarini A, Antuofermo E, Dedola C, Cacciotto C, Dore GM, Coradduzza E, Gallina L, Battilani M, Anfossi AG, Muzzeddu M, Chessa B....We detected a novel papillomavirus (EaPV1) from healthy skin and from sun associated cutaneous lesions of an Asinara (Sardinia, Italy) white donkey reared in captivity in a wildlife recovery centre. The entire genome of EaPV1 was cloned, sequenced, and characterised. Genome is 7467 bp long, and shows some characteristic elements of horse papillomaviruses, including a small untranslated region between the early and late regions and the lack of the retinoblastoma tumour suppressor binding domain LXCXE in E7. Additionally, a typical E6 ORF is missing. EaPV1 DNA was detected in low copies in norma...
Pauvolid-Corrêa A, Campos Z, Juliano R, Velez J, Nogueira RM, Komar N.A recent study reported neutralizing antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV) in horses from four ranches of southern Pantanal. To extend that study, a serosurvey for WNV and 11 Brazilian flaviviruses was conducted with 760 equines, 238 sheep and 61 caimans from 17 local cattle ranches. Among the tested equines, 32 were collected from a ranch where a neurologic disorder outbreak had been recently reported. The sera were initially screened by using a blocking ELISA and then titrated by 90% plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT90) for 12 flaviviruses. Employing the criterion of 4-fold greater ti...
Ghosh S, Kobayashi N.Group A rotaviruses (RVA) are a major cause of viral diarrhea in the young of mammals and birds. RVA strains with certain genotype constellations or VP7-VP4 (G-P) genotype combinations are commonly found in a particular host species, whilst unusual or exotic RVAs have also been reported. In most cases, these exotic rotaviruses are derived from RVA strains common to other host species, possibly through interspecies transmission coupled with reassortment events, whilst a few other strains exhibit novel genotypes/genetic constellations rarely found in other RVAs. The epidemiology and evolutionary...
Rapoport A, Aharonson-Raz K, Berlin D, Tal S, Gottlieb Y, Klement E, Steinman A.Equine piroplasmosis imposes great concerns for the equine industry regarding international horse movement, and therefore requires reliable diagnostic tools. Recent studies from South Africa and Jordan, including a preliminary study in Israel, reported extremely low seroprevalence to Babesia caballi (B. caballi) (0-1%) using the acceptable rhoptry-associated protein-1 (RAP-1) cELISA. In accordance with the study from South Africa demonstrating a significant heterogeneity in the rap-1 gene sequence of South African B. caballi isolates, the objectives of this study were to phylogenetically chara...
Encarnação JA, Herzog S, Eickmann M, Becker NI, Hermes N, Herden C.Borna disease (BD) is a severe endemic and fatal disorder caused by the neurotropic Borna disease virus (BDV) which mainly occurs in horses and sheep. Borna disease virus belongs to the order Mononegavirales, which includes many reservoir-bound viruses with high zoonotic and pathogenic properties including the filoviruses and lyssaviruses. Clinically manifest BD occurs in endemic areas of Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Austria. A seasonal accumulation of cases in spring and summer, incidences that vary from year to year, and the recent detection of BDV in bicolored shrews (Crocidura ...
Galvin P, Gildea S, Nelly M, Quinlivan M, Arkins S, Walsh C, Cullinane A.Equine influenza (EI) is a highly contagious respiratory disease of horses. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate two rapid antigen detection kits (Directigen or DFA, and Espline) and a commercial ELISA for the detection of EI nucleoprotein in nasal swabs. Methods: Nasal swab samples from naturally and experimentally infected horses were used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of these assays to virus isolation (VI) and real-time RT-PCR. Results: If real-time RT-PCR was considered as the gold standard, the sensitivity of the other tests in field samples was 68% (DFA), 35% (E...
Hussain MH, Saqib M, Raza F, Muhammad G, Asi MN, Mansoor MK, Saleem M, Jabbar A.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) caused by intraerythrocytic parasites (Theileria equi and Babesia caballi) is an emerging equine disease of world-wide distribution. In Pakistan, the prevalence and incidence of EP are unknown. In order to obtain the first insights into the prevalence of the disease, a total of 430 equids, including 33 mules, 65 horses and 332 donkeys, aging from ≤ 5 to ≥ 10 years of either sex, from five metropolises of Punjab, Pakistan, were serologically tested for the presence of antibodies directed against B. caballi and T. equi, using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorben...
Robin M, Archer D, Garros C, Gardès L, Baylis M.There are concerns that outbreaks of exotic or novel vector-borne viral diseases will increasingly occur within northern Europe and the UK in the future. African horse sickness (AHS) is a viral disease of equids that is transmitted by Culicoides and is associated with up to 95 per cent mortality. AHS has never occurred in the UK; however, it has been suggested that appropriate Culicoides species and climatic conditions are present in northern Europe to support an outbreak. No data are currently available regarding the Culicoides species present on UK equine properties. This study demonstrates ...
McNabb L, Barr J, Crameri G, Juzva S, Riddell S, Colling A, Boyd V, Broder C, Wang LF, Lunt R.Hendra and Nipah viruses (HeV and NiV) are closely related zoonotic pathogens of the Paramyxoviridae family. Both viruses belong to the Henipavirus genus and cause fatal disease in animals and humans, though only HeV is endemic in Australia. In general and due to the acute nature of the disease, agent detection by PCR and virus isolation are the primary tools for diagnostic investigations. Assays for the detection of antibodies against HeV are fit more readily for the purpose of surveillance testing in disease epidemiology and to meet certification requirements in the international movement of...
Corbin LJ, Kranis A, Blott SC, Swinburne JE, Vaudin M, Bishop SC, Woolliams JA.Despite the dramatic reduction in the cost of high-density genotyping that has occurred over the last decade, it remains one of the limiting factors for obtaining the large datasets required for genomic studies of disease in the horse. In this study, we investigated the potential for low-density genotyping and subsequent imputation to address this problem. Results: Using the haplotype phasing and imputation program, BEAGLE, it is possible to impute genotypes from low- to high-density (50K) in the Thoroughbred horse with reasonable to high accuracy. Analysis of the sources of variation in imput...
Abdelbary MM, Wittenberg A, Cuny C, Layer F, Kurt K, Wieler LH, Walther B, Skov R, Larsen J, Hasman H, Fitzgerald JR, Smith TC, Wagenaar JA....In the early 2000s, a particular MRSA clonal complex (CC398) was found mainly in pigs and pig farmers in Europe. Since then, CC398 has been detected among a wide variety of animal species worldwide. We investigated the population structure of CC398 through mutation discovery at 97 genetic housekeeping loci, which are distributed along the CC398 chromosome within 195 CC398 isolates, collected from various countries and host species, including humans. Most of the isolates in this collection were received from collaborating microbiologists, who had preserved them over years. We discovered 96 bi-a...
Rubin JE, Pitout JD.Organisms in the family Enterobactericeae including, Escherichia coli, commonly cause community and hospital-associated infections in both humans and companion animals. The increasing prevalence of infections with organisms producing broad spectrum β-lactamses such as the ESBLs (particularly the CTX-M type), AmpC and carbapenemase enzymes are threatening the future of the β-lactam drugs. While a number of organisms within the Enterobacteriaceae producing these enzymes have been isolated from cats, dogs and horses, E. coli, including isolates indistinguishable from strains found in people, ha...
Sánchez-Casanova RE, Masri-Daba M, Alonso-Díaz MÁ, Méndez-Bernal A, Hernández-Gil M, Fernando-Martínez JA.A wide spectrum of welfare issues is encountered on working equids. The objectives of this study were: (i) to determine the prevalence of cutaneous lesions in working equids in tropical regions of the North-Central of Veracruz State, Mexico, (ii) to identify the most prevalent cutaneous pathological conditions in this population of working equids, and (iii) to identify risk factors associated to the presence of work-related skin wounds. A number of 467 working equids presented for treatment at Donkey Sanctuary Mobile Clinic Program - National Autonomous University of Mexico from seven differen...
Velineni S, Desoutter D, Perchec AM, Timoney JF.Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (Sz) is a tonsillar and mucosal commensal of healthy horses with the potential to cause opportunistic infections of the distal respiratory tract stressed by virus infection, transportation, training or high temperature. The invasive clone varies from horse to horse with little evidence of lateral transmission in the group. Tonsillar isolates are non-mucoid although primary isolates from opportunist lower respiratory tract infections may initially be mucoid. In this study, a novel stably mucoid Sz (SzNC) from a clonal epizootic of respiratory disease ...
de Moura AB, da Silva MO, Farias JA, Vieira-Neto A, de Souza AP, Sartor AA, Fonteque JH, Bunn S.The aims of this study were to determine occurrences of Neospora spp. IgG antibodies in horses from two geographical regions of the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, and identify risk factors for infection. Analyses were performed on 615 samples using the immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT ≥ 1:50). Out of the 615 samples, 25 (4.1%) were positive for Neospora spp. The titers for Neospora spp. were distributed as follows: 1:50 (13), 1:100 (eight), 1:200 (three) and 1:400 (one). Out of the 311 samples taken in the mountain region, eight were positive (2.6%). Among the samples from th...
Wang W, Wang S, Hou C, Xing Y, Cao J, Wu K, Liu C, Zhang D, Zhang L, Zhang Y, Zhou H.Recent studies have found that copy number variations (CNVs) are widespread in human and animal genomes. CNVs are a significant source of genetic variation, and have been shown to be associated with phenotypic diversity. However, the effect of CNVs on genetic variation in horses is not well understood. In the present study, CNVs in 6 different breeds of mare horses, Mongolia horse, Abaga horse, Hequ horse and Kazakh horse (all plateau breeds) and Debao pony and Thoroughbred, were determined using aCGH. In total, seven hundred CNVs were identified ranging in size from 6.1 Kb to 0.57 Mb across a...
Cullinane A, Gildea S, Weldon E.Vaccination is crucial to the control of equine influenza (EI). The study was conducted in an effort to lay the groundwork for achieving international harmonisation of regulatory requirements based on scientific evidence of performance of different vaccination regimes. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of 3 different primary vaccination regimes: vaccination with the minimal intervals permitted by the racing authorities; vaccination in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and vaccination with the longest intervals permitted by the racing authorities. Methods: Randomised, prosp...
Laabassi F, Lecouturier F, Amelot G, Gaudaire D, Mamache B, Laugier C, Legrand L, Zientara S, Hans A.An outbreak of equine influenza (EI) was reported in Algeria between May and July, 2011. The outbreak started in Tiaret, in west province of Algeria, and spread to the other parts of the country affecting almost 900 horses in many provinces. The population studied was composed of 325 horses from different groups of age. Clinical sign expression was age dependent. Indeed, a morbidity rate of 14.9% was observed in horses under 15 months old and a rate of 4.95% in horses over 8 years old. Interestingly, the morbidity rate raised sharply to reach 100% in horses aged between 18 months and 7 yea...
Vannucci FA, Gebhart CJ.Proliferative enteropathy is an infectious disease caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium, Lawsonia intracellularis, and characterized by thickening of the intestinal epithelium due to enterocyte proliferation. The disease is endemic in swine herds and has been occasionally reported in various other species. Furthermore, outbreaks among foals began to be reported on breeding farms worldwide within the past 5 years. Cell proliferation is directly associated with bacterial infection and replication in the intestinal epithelium. As a result, mild to severe diarrhea is the major clinical si...
Hertzberg H, Schwarzwald CC, Grimm F, Frey CF, Gottstein B, Gerber V.The epidemiological situation of strongyle infections in adult horses in Switzerland is characterized by a strong dominance of small strongyles (Cyathostominae) and an overall low level of egg shedding in the faeces. The prevailing attitude towards anthelmintic therapy considers neither husbandry conditions nor pasture hygiene measures. Instead, calendar-based routine medication, comprising usually 3 to 4 annual treatments, is the typical strategy. Such an approach, however, often results in an excessive administration of anthelmintics. With respect to the continuous spread of drug resistant c...
Fritz KL, Kaese HJ, Valberg SJ, Hendrickson JA, Rendahl AK, Bellone RR, Dynes KM, Wagner ML, Lucio MA, Cuomo FM, Brinkmeyer-Langford CL, Skow LC....Appaloosa horses are predisposed to equine recurrent uveitis (ERU), an immune-mediated disease characterized by recurring inflammation of the uveal tract in the eye, which is the leading cause of blindness in horses. Nine genetic markers from the ECA1 region responsible for the spotted coat color of Appaloosa horses, and 13 microsatellites spanning the equine major histocompatibility complex (ELA) on ECA20, were evaluated for association with ERU in a group of 53 Appaloosa ERU cases and 43 healthy Appaloosa controls. Three markers were significantly associated (corrected P-value <0.05): a SNP ...
Sangal V, Jones AL, Goodfellow M, Sutcliffe IC, Hoskisson PA.Rhodococcus equi ('Prescottella equi') is a pathogenic actinomycete primarily infecting horses but has emerged as an opportunistic human pathogen. We have sequenced the genome of the type strain of this species, R. equi strain C7(T) , and compared the genome with that of another foal isolate 103S and of a human isolate ATCC 33707. The R. equi strains are closely related to each other and yet distantly related to other rhodococci and Nocardia brasiliensis. The comparison of gene contents among R. equi strains revealed minor differences that could be associated with host adaptation from foals to...
Corbett CJ, Love S, Moore A, Burden FA, Matthews JB, Denwood MJ.The level of anthelmintic resistance within some cyathostomin parasite populations has increased to the level where sole reliance on anthelmintic-based control protocols is not possible. Management-based nematode control methods, including removal of faeces from pasture, are widely recommended for use in association with a reduction in anthelmintic use to reduce selection pressure for drug resistance; however, very little work has been performed to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of such methods. Methods: We analysed data obtained from 345 donkeys at The Donkey Sanctuary (Devon, UK), m...
Ye C, Yan W, McDonough PL, McDonough SP, Mohamed H, Divers TJ, Chang YF, Yang Z.Leptospirosis, caused by Leptospira spp., is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in the world. We tested four recombinant proteins of Leptospira interrogans, namely, rLipL21, rLoa22, rLipL32, and rLigACon4-8, to evaluate their potential for use as antigens for the diagnosis of equine leptospirosis. We employed equine sera (n = 130) that were microscopic agglutination test (MAT) negative and sera (n = 176) that were MAT positive for the 5 serovars that most commonly cause equine leptospirosis. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA compared to MAT were 82.39% and 86.15%, respectively, fo...
Hodgkinson JE.The future implementation of improved and sustainable control strategies for the major equine parasites will be dependent on a greater insight into their basic biology, pathogenicity and epidemiology together with an enhanced ability for accurate diagnosis. This paper will provide a review of the current molecular methods under development for the detection of equine parasites and their application to current scientific questions. In particular, the strongyles are recognised as important pathogens of horses and recent advances made in the study of this parasitic group at the single species lev...
Rathbone P, Arango-Sabogal JC, De Mestre AM, Scott CJ.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is important in equine reproduction, as antimicrobials have historically been widely used in the management of breeding mares. However, evidence of the characteristics of AMR in uterine isolates is limited in the UK. The objective of this retrospective study was therefore to describe temporal changes in AMR patterns of bacteria isolated from the endometrium of Thoroughbred broodmares in south-east England between 2014 and 2020. Endometrial swabs were processed for microbiology and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). For frequently isolated bacteria, chang...
Sergeant ES, Grewar JD, Weyer CT, Guthrie AJ.African horse sickness (AHS) is a severe, often fatal, arbovirus infection of horses, transmitted by Culicoides spp. midges. AHS occurs in most of sub-Saharan Africa and is a significant impediment to export of live horses from infected countries, such as South Africa. A stochastic risk model was developed to estimate the probability of exporting an undetected AHS-infected horse through a vector protected pre-export quarantine facility, in accordance with OIE recommendations for trade from an infected country. The model also allows for additional risk management measures, including multiple PC...
Wise LN, Ueti MW, Kappmeyer LS, Hines MT, White SN, Davis W, Knowles DP.The equid hemoprotozoan parasite Theileria equi is endemic in most regions worldwide. Infection of horses is a cause of significant economic loss due to costs associated with disease and restriction of trade with non-endemic nations. The ability of certain drugs such as imidocarb dipropionate to eliminate persistent T. equi infection and transmission risk is controversial. The anti-protozoal agent ponazuril has been used successfully to treat equine Sarcosystis neurona and Toxoplasma gondii. The hypothesis that ponazuril inhibits replication of T. equi in vitro was tested. T. equi infected equ...
Morley PS, Townsend HG, Bogdan JR, Haines DM.To describe 3 epidemics of respiratory tract disease caused by influenza virus infections in a large population of horses. Methods: Cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal observational studies. Methods: All horses stabled at a Thoroughbred racetrack. Methods: During a 3-year period, descriptive information was collected as horses arrived at the racetrack and throughout race meetings. Routine observations and physical examinations were used to classify horses' disease status. Cause of epidemics was established by use of serologic testing and identification of influenza virus in nasal secr...
Menezes RC, Campos MP, Popielarczyk M, Kiupel M.We report a new case of cutaneous leishmaniosis caused by Leishmania (Mundinia) martiniquensis in a horse in Florida, USA. A 10-year-old neutered male Quarter horse was presented with multifocal to coalescing, raised, ulcerated and oozing, non-healing wounds on both pinnae of several weeks' duration. After a few months, the lesions regressed spontaneously. Biopsies of the lesions were performed with microscopical findings of epidermal hyperplasia with multifocal ulceration and focally extensive, dermal pyogranulomatous inflammation with numerous intact and degenerate neutrophils being surround...
Båverud V, Gunnarsson A, Karlsson M, Franklin A.The antimicrobial susceptibility of 50 Clostridium difficile isolates, 36 of them from horse feces and 14 from environmental sites, was determined by broth microdilution. The antimicrobial agents tested were avilamycin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, neomycin, oxacillin, oxytetracycline, penicillin, spiramycin, streptomycin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, vancomycin, and virginiamycin. All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin (MIC 16 microg/ml), oxytetracycline (MIC >/=32 microg/ml), spiramycin (MIC > 16 microg/ml), and virginiamycin (MIC 8-16 mi...
Higgins C, Huber L.Rhodococcus equi, a gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen and a soil saprophyte, is one of the most common causes of pneumonia in young foals. It poses a threat to the economy in endemic horse-breeding farms and to animal welfare annually. Many farms use thoracic ultrasonographic screening and antimicrobial treatment of subclinically affected foals as a preventive measure against severe R. equi infections. The wide use antimicrobials to treat subclinically affected foals has contributed to the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR)-R. equi in both clinical isolates from sick foals a...
Pusterla N, Kass PH, Mapes S, Wademan C, Akana N, Barnett C, MacKenzie C, Vaala W.Recent surveillance studies for equine respiratory viruses have shown that equine influenza virus (EIV) continues to be a prevalent respiratory virus of equids throughout the United States and Europe. Objective: To gain a better understanding of the prevalence and epidemiology of EIV shed by horses, mules and donkeys in the United States from March 2010 to November 2013. Methods: 2,605 equids. Methods: Nasal secretions from index cases with acute onset of respiratory disease were tested by qPCR for EIV. Multilevel logistic regression was used to model the association between EIV status and pre...
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...
Rocheleau JP, Arsenault J, Lindsay LR, DiBernardo A, Kulkarni MA, Côté N, Michel P.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a highly pathogenic arbovirus that infects humans, horses, and other animals. There has been a significant increase in EEEV activity in southeastern Canada since 2008. Few data are available regarding nonlethal EEEV infections in mammals, and consequently the distribution and pathogenicity spectrum of EEEV infections in these hosts is poorly understood. This cross-sectional study focuses on the evaluation of viral activity in southern Quebec's horses by seroprevalence estimation. A total of 196 horses, 18 months and older, which had never been vaccin...
Bolwell CF, Rogers CW, Benschop J, Collins-Emerson JM, Adams B, Scarfe KR, Gee EK.A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of in a cohort of horses and to evaluate potential risk factors for seropositivity in horses in New Zealand. The convenience sample included 499 Thoroughbred racing and breeding horses from 25 commercial properties in North Island, New Zealand. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic data on horses and property-level information on grazing and management practices, pest (rodent) management, access to natural waterways, other livestock on the property, and possible contact with wildlife. The microscopic agglutinati...
Calderón JC, Astudillo M, Romero MH.Introduction: Police working horses are in close contact with their managers and the general population during recreational and patrol activities, which can favor the transmission of leptospirosis among the horses and the occupationally exposed personnel. Objective. To characterize epidemiologically leptospirosis through serology, urine culture and PCR in working horses and in the occupationally exposed population in six police stations in Colombia. Materials and methods. We tested 153 castrated male horses and 123 people in six police stations in the municipalities of Manizales, Pereira, Arme...
McManus DP, Rishi AK.A segment of the ribosomal RNA gene of Schistosoma mansoni and a DNA fragment specific to Echinococcus granulosus, cloned in plasmids, have been used as DNA probes to assess the extent of genetic variability within E. granulosus and some distinct strains have been identified. The DNA analysis, involving restriction endonuclease digestion and Southern blot hybridization with the probes, did not demonstrate any significant genetic variation within the U.K. horse/dog or sheep/dog strains but confirmed the distinctiveness of the two strains shown in previous studies. The sheep/dog strain was shown...
LeBlanc MM, Neuwirth L, Jones L, Cage C, Mauragis D.The position of the uterus within the abdomen may affect a mare's ability to rapidly clear the uterine lumen of contamination. In this study, the position of the uterus was determined from left and right lateral flank scintigrams taken 1 and 2 h after intrauterine infusion of radiocolloid. Scintigraphy was performed during estrus in 44 mares, 24 were reproductively normal and 20 exhibited a delay in uterine clearance. Reproductively normal mares were nulliparous (n = 14) or pluriparous (n = 10), 3 to 21 yr of age, had no history of persistent uterine infections and cleared > 50% of a radioc...
Bohórquez GA, Luzón M, Martín-Hernández R, Meana A.Although several techniques exist for the detection of equine tapeworms in serum and feces, the differential diagnosis of tapeworm infection is usually based on postmortem findings and the morphological identification of eggs in feces. In this study, a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method for the simultaneuos detection of Anoplocephala magna, Anoplocephala perfoliata and Anoplocephaloides mamillana has been developed and validated. The method simultaneously amplifies hypervariable SSUrRNA gene regions in the three tapeworm species in a single reaction using three pairs of pri...
Pycock JF, Newcombe JR.The effects on pregnancy rate of three different treatments to remove intrauterine fluid were assessed in 1267 mares. The mares were mated and allocated, in strict rotation, to four treatment groups: 1) untreated controls, 2) intrauterine infusion of broad spectrum antibiotics, 3) intravenous injection of oxytocin, 4) intravenous injection of oxytocin followed by intrauterine antibiotics. The pregnancy status of the mares was determined 13 to 15 days and 27 to 30 days after ovulation by transrectal ultrasonography. The pregnancy rate of group 4 (72 per cent) was higher than that of group 2 (64...
Kirisawa R, Toishi Y, Akamatsu A, Soejima K, Miyashita T, Tsunoda N.In the spring of 2015, two stallions reared in Farms A and B in Hokkaido in Japan showed symptoms of equine coital exanthema. Equine herpesvirus 3 (EHV-3) was isolated from penis swab samples of both stallions, and the isolates from each stallion in Farms A and B were designated as SS-1 and YS-1 strains, respectively. BamHI restriction profiles of SS-1 and Japanese reference strain Iwate-1 were indistinguishable, but the BamHI-A fragment of YS-1 was larger than those of SS-1 and Iwate-1 by 1.9 kbp because of the lack of two BamHI sites. Nucleotide sequence analyses of glycoprotein G (gG), gB, ...
Valentine BA, Cooper BJ.Muscle samples were obtained at necropsy from 225 horses and ponies 1 year of age or older. Samples were processed in routine manner and were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and with periodic acid-Schiff for glycogen. Sections were examined for abnormal glycogen content and amylase-resistant complex polysaccharide and for chronic myopathic change (excessive fiber size variation, increase in number of internal nuclei). A total of 101 horses and ponies with lesions of polysaccharide storage myopathy were identified. Age of affected horses ranged from one to 30 years, with a mean of 14.7 years...
Gaudaire D, Lecouturier F, Ponçon N, Morilland E, Laugier C, Zientara S, Hans A.In 2009, a major outbreak of equine infectious anaemia (EIA) was reported in the south-east of France. This outbreak affected three premises located in the Var region where the index case, a 10-year-old mare that exhibited clinical signs consistent with EIA, occurred at a riding school. Overall, more than 250 horses were tested for EIAV (equine infectious anaemia virus) antibodies, using agar gel immunodiffusion test, and 16 horses were positive in three different holdings. Epidemiological survey confirmed that the three premises were related through the purchase/sale of horses and the use of ...
Mejia-Pereira S, Perez-Ecija A, Buchanan BR, Toribio RE, Mendoza FJ.Endocrine disorders are common in donkeys. Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is thought to be a frequent disturbance in donkeys due to their longevity. However, information on PPID dynamic testing in donkeys is lacking. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the previously described guidelines for PPID diagnosis in horses in donkeys with suspicion of PPID. Methods: Prospective experimental study. Methods: Eighty donkeys were evaluated for PPID suspicion based on clinical signs and baseline adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations. Six mix-breed donkeys (one ...
Oduori DO, Onyango SC, Kimari JN, MacLeod ET.Equine piroplasmosis is one of the most significant tick-borne disease of equids. The prevalence of this disease in donkeys of semi-arid Kenya remains largely unexplored. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate the extent to which donkeys in Nuu division, Kenya have been exposed to the haemoprotozoans Babesia caballi and Theileria equi, the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis. The study also assessed the effect of age and sex on seroprevalence. A stratified sampling approach was used and three hundred and fourteen donkeys were sampled across nine sub-locations in Nuu divisi...
Herd RP.The need for improved parasite control strategies to conserve anthelmintic efficacy and to avoid drug-related problems are addressed. Recent surveys have revealed a trend for sole dependence on ivermectin by livestock owners in the USA, with little regard for epidemiologic-based strategies, or the annual rotation of unrelated anthelmintic groups. Innovative parasite control strategies for cattle, sheep, and horses in northern USA are presented. The importance of closer monitoring and more rational use of anthelmintics is stressed.
Borges IA, Reynolds MG, McCollum AM, Figueiredo PO, Ambrosio LLD, Vieira FN, Costa GB, Matos ACD, de Andrade Almeida VM, Ferreira PCP, Lobato ZIP....Since 1999 (VACV) outbreaks involving bovines and humans have been reported in Brazil; this zoonosis is known as Bovine Vaccinia (BV) and is mainly an occupational disease of milkers. It was only in 2008 (and then again in 2011 and 2014) however, that VACV was found causing natural infections in Brazilian equids. These reports involved only equids, no infected humans or bovines were identified, and the sources of infections remain unknown up to date. The peculiarities of Equine Vaccinia outbreaks (e.g., absence of human infection), the frequently shared environments, and fomites by equids and...
Khaing EM, Hurtado PR, Hurtado E, Zaw A, White J, Warrell DA, Alfred S, Mahmood MA, Peh CA.Snakebite envenoming is a serious problem in Myanmar. The great majority of snakebite in this country is due to Russell's Viper (Daboia siamensis). For many years, the Burma Pharmaceutical Industry has produced a monovalent antivenom to Russell's Viper in horses. At present, the only way of determining the level of antibody against D. siamensis venom in hyperimmune horse serum is to perform venom neutralisation tests in mice. In this study, we describe the development of an in vitro ELISA assay to estimate neutralising capacity of horse serum. We found a strong correlation between the ELISA as...
Toombs-Ruane LJ, Riley CB, Kendall AT, Hill KE, Benschop J, Rosanowski SM.To describe antimicrobial susceptibility, and identify antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in bacteria isolated from New Zealand foals. Methods: A database search was performed of submissions to a veterinary pathology laboratory between April 2004 and December 2013 for bacterial culture of samples from foals <3 weeks of age. Culture and susceptibility results were compiled with demographic information. Susceptibility results were as defined for the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test based on Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Multi-drug resistance (MDR) was defined as ...
Hornok S, Genchi C, Bazzocchi C, Fok E, Farkas R.Peripheral blood samples were collected randomly from 195 horses in various parts of Hungary, and the presence of microfilariae was evaluated by the Knott technique. On the basis of morphological identification 18 of the horses (9.2 per cent) were infected with Setaria equina, and the infection was confirmed in 10 animals by pcr and sequencing. The level of microfilaraemia was between 1 and 1138 larvae in 2 ml of blood. There was no correlation between the time of sampling or the sex of the animals (stallions versus mares) and the prevalence of infection, but the prevalence decreased with age....
Scare JA, Steuer AE, Gravatte HS, Kálmán C, Ramires L, Dias de Castro LL, Norris JK, Miller F, Camargo F, Lawyer A, De Pedro P, Jolly B, Nielsen MK.Anthelmintic resistance among cyathostomin parasites is a wide-spread problem. The parasite control guidelines written by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) encourages the preservation of anthelmintic efficacy by reducing treatment frequency, using targeted deworming, and implementing environmental management practices. While there is knowledge regarding parasite management practices of affluent horse farms in the United States, surveys rarely explore the rural and underserved regions. The purpose of this study was to observe the management practices of horse farms in rura...
Swayze RD, Bhogal HS, Barabé ND, McLaws LJ, Wu JQ.Western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) is a mosquito-borne RNA virus which causes lethal infection in humans and equines. There are no commercial vaccines or anti-WEEV drugs available for humans. We used replication-defective, human adenovirus serotype-5 (HAd5) as a delivery vector for developing WEEV vaccine. Our previous study found delivery of both E1 and E2 envelope proteins of WEEV by HAd5 vector offers complete protection against lethal challenge of WEEV. In this paper, we constructed a HAd5-vectored E1 vaccine, Ad5-E1. Mice given single-dose vaccination of Ad5-E1 were completely prote...
Van Eeden C, Zaayman D, Venter M.Recently Shuni virus (SHUV) has been identified in clinical cases of neurological disease in horses in South Africa. Being that it was one of the less recognized orthobunyaviruses, with limited clinical descriptions of disease dating back to the 1960s and 1970s, SHUV-specific assays were never developed. In this study, the development of a nested real-time PCR assay is described for the detection of SHUV by means of melt-curve analysis using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probe technology. The assay was validated against previously positive clinical specimens and a dilution seri...
