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.
Tirosh-Levy S, Gottlieb Y, Steinman A.Stress has been suggested as a risk factor for Theileria equi peracute disease and may lead to relapse in clinical signs in chronically infected horses. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of stress on T. equi parasitemia in sub-clinically infected horses in two settings: horses hospitalized at a veterinary teaching hospital and horses from an endurance farm. Blood samples were collected from the hospitalized horses (n = 32) upon admission (T0) and at discharge (T1) from the hospital, and results were compared between horses that underwent surgery (stress) and other hospitalized...
Duquesne F, Merlin A, Pérez-Cobo I, Sedlák K, Melzer F, Overesch G, Fretin D, Iwaniak W, Breuil MF, Wernery U, Hicks J, Agüero-García M....The accurate identification of Taylorella equigenitalis strains is essential to improve worldwide prevention and control strategies for contagious equine metritis (CEM). This study compared 367 worldwide equine strains using multilocus sequence typing according to the geographical origin, isolation year and equine breed. The strains were divided into 49 sequence types (STs), including 10 described for the first time. Three major and three minor clonal complexes (CCs), and 11 singletons, were identified. The genetic heterogeneity was low (0.13 STs/strain) despite the wide diversity of geographi...
Sallé G, Guillot J, Tapprest J, Foucher N, Sevin C, Laugier C.Horses are infected by a wide range of parasite species that form complex communities. Parasite control imposes significant constraints on parasite communities whose monitoring remains, however, difficult to track through time. Postmortem examination is a reliable method to quantify parasite communities. Here, we compiled 1,673 necropsy reports accumulated over 29 years, in the reference necropsy centre from Normandy (France). The burden of non-strongylid species was quantified and the presence of strongylid species was noted. Details of horse deworming history and the cause of death were reg...
Ülke ÇG, Deniz SI, Nureddin Ç.Metacarpal tendon diseases are important problems that may cause a decrease in performance and even may finish sport life in equine athletes. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the ratio of return to races and the time of staying away from races and also to detect the prognostic value of ultrasonographic findings in Thoroughbred and Arabian racehorses with metacarpal flexor tendon injury or peritendonitis. Of 120 cases, 84 (70.0%) returned to races. Among these, 82.1% had tendonitis (69/84) and 17.9% peritendonitis (15/84). Among the cases being unable to return to races, 91.7% had tendon...
Legg K, Gee E, Bolwell C, Bridges J, Rogers CW.There are limited data on the training and management practices of Standardbred trainers in New Zealand. The aims of this study were to describe the 2-year-old training practices of Standardbred trainers and to examine if there were differences in the production process between public (commercial) and amateur (licensed-to-train) trainers. An online Qualtrics survey was conducted after the 2016/7 racing season and completed by 154 Standardbred trainers, 88 (57%) of which had 2-year-olds in training. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data stratified by public and licensed-to-train...
Bucak IH, Turgut K, Almis H, Turgut M.The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of patients presenting to a pediatric emergency department in a rural province of Turkey due to horse and donkey bites and to analyze whether these features differ from those of more common animal bites in rural areas. Methods: The records of patients presenting to the pediatric emergency department of a tertiary hospital due to horse and donkey bites over a 3-year period were examined retrospectively. Demographic data, month of presentation, animal species involved (horse or donkey), the body area bitten, treatment applied to the wound ...
Álvarez-Narváez S, Berghaus LJ, Morris ERA, Willingham-Lane JM, Slovis NM, Giguere S, Cohen ND.The practice of prophylactic administration of a macrolide antimicrobial with rifampin (MaR) to apparently healthy foals with pulmonary lesions identified by thoracic ultrasonography (i.e., subclinically pneumonic foals) is common in the United States. The practice has been associated epidemiologically with emergence of R. equi resistant to MaR. Here, we report direct evidence of multi-drug resistance among foals treated with MaR. In silico and in vitro analysis of the fecal microbiome and resistome of 38 subclinically pneumonic foals treated with either MaR (n = 19) or gallium maltolate (...
Elata A, Mossaad E, Satti R, Matar N, Ohari Y, Xuan X, Inoue N, Suganuma K.In Sudan, donkeys are important animals, providing transportation and income possibilities. However, the prevalence of parasites in donkeys in Sudan has not been thoroughly characterized. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to detect selected hemoprotozoan parasites in donkeys in West Omdurman, Khartoum State, Sudan, wherein people depend mainly on donkeys for their daily life. In total, 198 blood samples collected from donkeys in a local market in West Omdurman, were screened using serological and molecular diagnostic techniques. Serologically, 52 (26.3%), 56 (28.3%), and 19 (9.6%) samples w...
Hudson BJ, Chicken C, Blishen A, Todhunter KH, Begg AP, Chan L, Karagiannis T, Raymond B, Bogema D, Adkins AR, O'Sullivan CB, O'Rourke BA....We describe three cases of osteoarticular infection (OAI) in young thoroughbred horses in which the causative organism was identified by MALDI-TOF as . The pattern of OAI resembled that reported with infection in humans. Analysis by 16S rRNA PCR enabled construction of a phylogenetic tree that placed the isolates closer to and , rather than . Average nucleotide identity (ANI) comparison between the new isolate and and however revealed low probability that the new isolate belonged to either of these species. This preliminary analysis suggests the organism isolated is a previously unrecognis...
Maciel JF, Gressler LT, da Silveira BP, Dotto E, Balzan C, Matter LB, Siqueira FM, de Vargas APC.Data about phylogenetic classification of Escherichia coli colonizing calves, lambs and foals are routinely neglected and restricted to outdated methodologies, even in the context of antimicrobial susceptibility (AS) testing. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the phylogenetic diversity and the AS profile of E. coli colony-forming units (CFUs) from faecal samples of healthy animals. Five CFUs of E. coli were randomly selected from each faecal culture of calves (n = 13), foals (n = 13) and lambs (n = 13), totalizing 195 CFUs phylo-typed by quadruplex PCR. The AS profile of five ...
Husso A, Jalanka J, Alipour MJ, Huhti P, Kareskoski M, Pessa-Morikawa T, Iivanainen A, Niku M.The establishment of the intestinal microbiota is critical for the digestive and immune systems. We studied the early development of the rectal microbiota in horse, a hindgut fermenter, from birth until 7 days of age, by qPCR and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. To evaluate initial sources of the foal microbiota, we characterised dam fecal, vaginal and oral microbiotas. We utilised an amplicon sequence variant (ASV) pipeline to maximise resolution and reproducibility. Stringent ASV filtering based on prevalence and abundance in samples and controls purged contaminants while preserving intest...
Ereqat S, Nasereddin A, Al-Jawabreh A, Al-Jawabreh H, Al-Laham N, Abdeen Z.Trypanosoma evansi is the causative agent of surra, a disease that occurs in many animal species. The disease is responsible for substantial losses in global production and can be fatal if not diagnosed early. This study aims to determine the prevalence of T. evansi in livestock, equids and dromedary camels in Palestine. Methods: Blood samples were collected during 2015-2017 from domesticated animals (n = 259 animals; 77% females and 23% males) including camels (n = 87), horses (n = 46), donkeys (n = 28), mules (n = 2), sheep (n = 49) and goats (n = 48) from eight districts: Ariha (Jericho), N...
Khusro A, Aarti C, Rivas-Caceres RR, Barbabosa-Pliego A.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is one of the most common and ubiquitous viral pathogens infecting equines, particularly horses worldwide. The EHV-1 is known to induce not only humoral but also cellular immune responses in horses. Respiratory distress, abortion in pregnant mares, neurological disorders, and neonatal foal deaths represent EHV-1 infection. Despite the limited success of inactivated, subunit, live, and DNA vaccines, over the past few decades, vaccination remains the prime preventive option to combat EHV-1 infection in horses. However, current vaccines lack the potentiality to protec...
Ehmann R, Brandes K, Antwerpen M, Walter M, V Schlippenbach K, Stegmaier E, Essbauer S, Bugert J, Teifke JP, Meyer H.Cases of pox-like lesions in horses and donkeys have been associated with poxviruses belonging to different genera of the family . These include the orthopoxviruses vaccinia virus (VACV), horsepoxvirus (HPXV) and cowpoxvirus (CPXV), as well as a potentially novel parapoxvirus and molluscum contagiosum virus (MOCV). However, with the exception of VACV, HPXV and CPXV, the genomic characterization of the causative agents remains largely elusive with only single short genome fragments available. Here we present the first full-length genome sequence of an equine molluscum contagiosum-like virus (EM...
Qi M, Ji X, Zhang Y, Wei Z, Jing B, Zhang L, Lin X, Karim MR, Wang H, Sun M.Giardia duodenalis is a zoonotic intestinal parasite infecting humans and mammals worldwide. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of G. duodenalis in racehorses in China and genetically characterized it. In total, 621 fecal samples were collected from racehorses at 17 equestrian clubs in 15 cities in China. Forty-eight (7.7%) animals from 11 equestrian clubs were positive for G. duodenalis of assemblages A (n = 10), B (n = 36), and E (n = 2), based on the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene. Statistically significant differences in the prevalence of this parasite were...
Ma CL, Ye YL, Wen T, Huang ZM, Pan J, Hu JJ, Tao JP, Song JL.Three cyst-forming Sarcocystis species have been identified in horsemeat; however, there exists considerable confusion concerning their relationships. Here, 74% (34/46) of the examined tissue samples from horses contained sarcocysts based on examination by light microscopy (LM), and the organism was identified as Sarcocystis bertrami based on cyst structure. The S. bertrami cysts were microscopic (up to 6750 μm in length) and exhibited a striated wall with 2.0-5.1 μm villar protrusions (vps) under LM. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed that the vps were tightly pack...
Niller HH, Angstwurm K, Rubbenstroth D, Schlottau K, Ebinger A, Giese S, Wunderlich S, Banas B, Forth LF, Hoffmann D, Höper D, Schwemmle M, Tappe D....In 2018-19, Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1), the causative agent of Borna disease in horses, sheep, and other domestic mammals, was reported in five human patients with severe to fatal encephalitis in Germany. However, information on case frequencies, clinical courses, and detailed epidemiological analyses are still lacking. We report the occurrence of BoDV-1-associated encephalitis in cases submitted to the Institute of Clinical Microbiology and Hygiene, Regensburg University Hospital, Regensburg, Germany, and provide a detailed description of newly identified cases of BoDV-1-induced encephali...
Affolter VK, Dalley B, Kass PH, Brown EA, Sonder C, Bannasch DL.Chronic progressive lymphoedema (CPL) is a disabling condition affecting various draft horse breeds, including Friesian horses. Objective: The high incidence of CPL in Friesian horses suggests a genetic component and a predisposing phenotype. Methods: For the genomic study, 26 affected and 19 control horses were evaluated. Body measurements were taken from 28 affected and nine control Friesian horses. Methods: Axiom® Equine Genotyping Array with a total of 307,474 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) was used for the case/control genome-wide association study (GWAS). Height, weight and leg m...
Hammerschmitt ME, Henker LC, Lichtler J, da Costa FVA, Soares RM, Llano HAB, Pavarini SP.Sarcocystis neurona is the main agent associated with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Apart from horses, S. neurona has been occasionally described causing neurologic disease in several other terrestrial animals as well as mortality in marine mammals. Herein, we describe the clinical, pathological, and molecular findings of a fatal case of S. neurona-associated meningoencephalitis in a domestic cat. The causing agent was analyzed by multilocus genotyping, confirming the presence of S. neurona DNA in the tissue samples of the affected animal. Significant molecular differences were fou...
Hall S, McElligott S, Sadek AR, Griffith C, Waters R, Nader-Sepahi A. Accidents during sporting activities are a common cause of head injury, particularly in children and young adults. Whilst most sporting head injuries are minor, there remains a proportion which is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The epidemiology of sports associated head injuries is variable based on geographical region so the aim of this study was to review the management and outcomes of sporting head injuries managed by a single neurosurgical unit in the South of England. A retrospective review of the Trauma Audit and Research Network database was conducted for all patients ad...
Baird J, Tegtmeyer B, Arroyo L, Stang A, Brüggemann Y, Hazlett M, Steinmann E.Theiler's disease was confirmed within a group horses located on a farm in southwestern Ontario during the summer and autumn of 2005. Five sudden deaths occurred between 3 July and 21 August, 2005, none of which were necropsied, however two of the horses showed clinical signs compatible with hepatic encephalopathy prior to death. No horse on the farm had received a biologic product of equine blood origin in the preceding six months. The only biologics used on the property were the administration of killed vaccines for rabies, tetanus and West Nile Virus to all horses 30 days prior to the onset...
Maharana BR, Potliya S, Ganguly A, Bisla RS, Mishra C, Ganguly I.Equine ocular setariasis arising mainly from ectopic infestation of Setaria digitata is a common vision impairing ophthalmic disease in India, and the identification of this filarial nematode is based solely on morphology. However, morphological characters alone are inadequate to detect and differentiate S. digitata from its congeners. The present communication reports the first phylogenetic characterization of equine S. digitata from India based on sequences derived from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), the mitochondrial small subunit ribosomal DNA (12S rDNA), and the n...
Mawhinney I.Taylorella equigenitalis, the cause of contagious equine metritis (CEM), can be detected by culture but in recent years polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has also been used. In 2008, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Reference Laboratory for CEM in the United Kingdom set up a ring trial for laboratories to assess their ability to identify T. equigenitalis in laboratory-prepared samples because the identification of T. equigenitalis in the laboratory was recognised to be difficult. Freeze-dried culture suspensions in various combinations of any of T. equigenitalis, Taylorella asinige...
Sandin A, Skidell J, Häggström J, Nilsson G.The present study was performed to estimate retrospectively the prevalence of gastric ulceration in necropsied Swedish horses and to evaluate some potential risk factors. Horses (n = 3715) older than age one year and necropsied 1924-1996 were included. Information about breed, gender, age, season of death, clinical signs of colic, Gasterophilus larvae and documentation of diseases in different organs was recorded. Data on size, number and anatomical distribution of gastric ulcers were also obtained. The cold-blooded horses and the Standardbreds were the 2 most dominating breeds in our material...
Deng L, Li W, Zhong Z, Gong C, Cao X, Song Y, Wang W, Huang X, Liu X, Hu Y, Fu H, He M, Wang Y, Zhang Y, Wu K, Peng G.A total of 333 fecal specimens from horses in southwestern China were genotyped based on analysis of the small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) gene. Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium andersoni were identified in 2 and 4 stool specimens, respectively. The identification of C. hominis was confirmed by sequence analysis of the 70-kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) and oocyst wall protein (COWP) genes. Subtyping analysis of the 60-kDa glycoprotein (GP60) gene sequence of C. hominis revealed a new rare subtype Id, named IdA15; only three Id isolates have been reported in humans to date. Multilocus ...
Albright JD, Mohammed HO, Heleski CR, Wickens CL, Houpt KA.Crib-biting is an equine stereotype that may result in diseases such as colic. Certain breeds and management factors have been associated. Objective: To determine: breed prevalence of crib-biting in US horses; the likelihood that one horse learns to crib-bite from another; and owner perceptions of causal factors. Methods: An initial postal survey queried the number and breed of crib-biting horses and if a horse began after being exposed to a horse with this habit. In a follow-up survey, a volunteer subset of owners was asked the number of affected and nonaffected horses of each breed and the e...
Sandmeyer LS, Kingsley NB, Walder C, Archer S, Leis ML, Bellone RR, Bauer BS.To characterize clinical manifestations, measure frequency, and evaluate risk factors for equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) in Appaloosa horses in western Canada. Methods: 145 Appaloosa horses. Methods: Ophthalmic examinations were completed and eyes were classified as having no or mild clinical signs, or moderate, or severe damage from ERU. Clinical signs, age, sex, base coat color, and pattern were recorded. Whole blood and/or mane hair follicles were collected for DNA extraction, and all horses were tested for the leopard complex (LP) spotting pattern allele. Pedigree analysis was completed on...
Kershaw O, von Oppen T, Glitz F, Deegen E, Ludwig H, Borchers K.The prevalence of EHV-2 in 27 horses with keratoconjunctivitis and 21 clinically healthy horses of different ages and stocks were analyzed. We demonstrated that EHV-2 was present in 12 keratoconjunctivitis cases as shown by nested PCR on ocular swabs. This is statistically more often than in the control group, where only two ocular swabs were EHV-2 positive. Cocultivation was successful on peripheral blood leukocytes of healthy and diseased horses but not on swabs. We isolated ten EHV-2 strains from diseased and nine from control horses, whereas 16 isolates showed different restriction enzyme ...
Shittu I, Meseko CA, Sulaiman LP, Inuwa B, Mustapha M, Zakariya PS, Muhammad AA, Muhammad U, Atuman YJ, Barde IJ, Zecchin B, Quaranta EG, Shamaki D....In December 2018, suspected outbreaks of equine influenza (EI) were observed in donkeys in Sokoto State, in the extreme northwest of Nigeria bordering the Republic of the Niger. Equine influenza virus (EIV) subtype H3N8 was the etiologic agent identified in the outbreaks using real-time RT-qPCR and sequencing of both the partial haemagglutinin (HA) gene and the complete genome. Since then the H3N8 virus spread to 7 of the 19 northern states of Nigeria, where it affected both donkeys and horses. Phylogenetic analysis of the partial and complete HA gene revealed the closest nucleotide similarity...
Pollard D, Wylie CE, Newton JR, Verheyen KLP.Euthanasia is a complex topic, with animal owners using multiple factors to shape their decision-making process. Previous epidemiological studies have described causes of equine mortality in specific populations, but there is limited evidence regarding factors contributing specifically to equine euthanasia in Great Britain (GB). This observational study used a prospective cohort design: the objectives were to describe owner-reported reasons for euthanasia, estimate the rate of euthanasia and identify associated factors in horses/ponies enrolled in a web-based epidemiological study of laminitis...
Sykora S, Samek L, Schönthaler K, Palm F, Borzacchiello G, Aurich C, Brandt S.Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are malignant tumours arising from keratinocytes. In horses, there is increasing evidence for Equus caballus papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV-2) being causally involved in SCC development. However, only little is known regarding intralesional transcription of the virus, and sparse information on the incidence of EcPV-2 infection in healthy equids is available so far. Using RT-PCR, total mRNA from 8 EcPV-2 DNA-positive and 1 EcPV-2 negative SCC/SCC precursor lesions was screened for the presence of EcPV-2 E6 and E1 transcripts. Using PCR, we tested 193 sample specimens...
Kaneene JB, Ross WA, Miller R.A prospective study was designed to document the frequencies of equine health problems in the state of Michigan, USA. A total of 2469 horses from a random sample of 138 equine operations were monitored in the study in two 12-month periods: 1992-1993 and 1993-1994. All the major breeds of horses in the state were proportionately represented in the sample. Using weighted annual incidence densities as measures of disease frequencies, the 10 most frequently observed groups of health problems were (from most to least frequent) leg lameness, dermatological problems, respiratory problems, hoof and fo...
Diab SS, Rodriguez-Bertos A, Uzal FA.Clostridium difficile is commonly associated with diarrhea and colitis in humans and other mammals, including horses. To this date, the epidemiologic, microbiologic, clinical, and diagnostic aspects of C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD) in horses have been thoroughly described. However, reports describing the enteric pathology of this disease in horses are limited. This study presents a comprehensive description of the pathologic characteristics of CDAD in 21 horses and discusses the criteria for the diagnosis of the disease. Case selection was based on C. difficile A/B toxins detection (e...
Zhu H, Damdinjav B, Gonzalez G, Patrono LV, Ramirez-Mendoza H, Amat JAR, Crispell J, Parr YA, Hammond TA, Shiilegdamba E, Leung YHC, Peiris M....Virus ecology and evolution play a central role in disease emergence. However, their relative roles will vary depending on the viruses and ecosystems involved. We combined field studies, phylogenetics and experimental infections to document with unprecedented detail the stages that precede initial outbreaks during viral emergence in nature. Using serological surveys we showed that in the absence of large-scale outbreaks, horses in Mongolia are routinely exposed to and infected by avian influenza viruses (AIVs) circulating among wild birds. Some of those AIVs are genetically related to an avian...
Lloyd S, Smith J, Connan RM, Hatcher MA, Hedges TR, Humphrey DJ, Jones AC.One hundred and fifty horse owners, primarily private owners and riding schools, replied to a questionnaire concerning the practices they used to control parasites. Twenty-seven had experienced a parasite problem. Faecal samples from 188 horses selected at random showed that worm control practices were generally successful; however, many owners were not following recommendations for slowing the development of resistant parasites. In 1996, 86 per cent of the owners were using either three or two classes of anthelmintic a year, and they used a median of six doses with a range from one to 11. App...
Sigg L, Gerber V, Gottstein B, Doherr MG, Frey CF.In Switzerland, the prevalence and incidence of equine piroplasma parasite (EPP) infections are unknown. In order to obtain a first insight into the prevalence, a representative sample of 689 sera of horses from Switzerland was serologically tested for the presence of antibodies directed against T. equi and B. caballi using the Indirect Fluorescence Antibody Test (IFAT). A total of 50 (7.3%) horses were seropositive for EPP: overall, the seroprevalence of T. equi was significantly higher than that of B. caballi (p=0.002). The seropositivities in indigenous horses (animals bred and raised in Sw...
Meana A, Luzon M, Corchero J, Gómez-Bautista M.Three coprological methods were tested to establish the reliability of in vivo diagnosis of Anoplocephala perfoliata. A total of 107 faecal samples were analyzed, and the presence of tapeworms were confirmed postmortem in 24 animals with burdens that ranged from 1 to 248 worms; most of them (71%) with less than 100 parasites. Best results were obtained with a combination of two sedimentation/flotation methods, detecting only half the parasitized animals (54% sensitivity). No relationship could be established between tapeworm burden and egg detection, but results indicate that coprological meth...
Foley JE, Spier SJ, Mihalyi J, Drazenovich N, Leutenegger CM.To characterize isolates of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis from horses, cattle, and sheep in Colorado, Kentucky, Utah, and California in samples collected during perceived epidemics of infection (increased numbers of cases identified) in 2002 and 2003, and determine how closely isolates were related and their possible source. Methods: 54 isolates of C pseudotuberculosis from 49 horses, 4 cattle, and 1 sheep. Methods: Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, PCR assay for the gene encoding the phospholipase D (PLD) toxin, biochemical analyses, and tests...
Santinelli I, Beccati F, Arcelli R, Pepe M.There are scant data on the incidence of different anatomical variants of the equine caudal cervical spine, despite interest in cervical pathology. Objective: To identify morphological radiographic variation in the 6th and 7th cervical vertebrae and the first thoracic vertebra in horses of different breeds and to determine whether there are breed- and sex-related differences. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study. Methods: Radiographs of the cervical spine of 270 horses were assessed retrospectively. The Chi-square test, or Fisher's exact test when appropriate, was used to test for associat...
Moore RM, Schneider RK, Kowalski J, Bramlage LR, Mecklenburg LM, Kohn CW.Bacterial culture and susceptibility results were analysed from 233 horses with septic arthritis/tenosynovitis or osteomyelitis that developed after fracture repair. Antibiotics were deemed highly effective, effective or ineffective if > or = 85%, 70-84.9% or < 70% of the isolates were susceptible respectively. In total, 424 bacterial types were isolated; 386 were aerobic or facultative and 38 were anaerobic. Enterobacteriaceae (28.8%) were the most common bacterial group isolated, followed by non-beta-haemolytic streptococci (13.0%), coagulase-positive staphylococci (11.8%), beta-haemol...
Broström H, Larsson A, Troedsson M.A survey of allergic dermatitis (sweet itch) in Sweden contained information on 441 Icelandic horses. Results of a questionnaire indicated that approximately 15 per cent of the country's Icelandic horses suffered from the disease. The prevalence of allergic dermatitis was significantly higher among horses imported from Iceland (26.2 per cent) compared to that of Swedish-born animals (6.7 per cent). In addition, horses born in Iceland were significantly more severely affected than horses born in Sweden. The risk of allergic dermatitis in Sweden appeared to be more than six times higher for hors...
Takai S, Kawazu S, Tsubaki S.An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to diagnose Corynebacterium (Rhodococcus) equi infection in foals. In tests done with different antigen-extraction procedures (sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium deoxycholate, polyoxy-ethylene [9] p-tert-octylphenol, polyoxy-ethylene [9-10] p-tert-octylphenol, sonification, homogenization, and heat treatment at 121 C), Tween 20 was a satisfactory reactive antigen. Using hyperimmune rabbit sera or infected foal sera, we investigated the specificity and the sensitivity of the ELISA with the Tween 20 antigen of the different serotypes or of the is...
Senior JM.General anesthesia in horses carries an increased risk of morbidity and mortality compared with other species. In recent years the number and complexity of epidemiologic studies in equine anesthesia has increased. The ability to interpret such studies and understand epidemiologic terminology is vital for veterinarians for them to make potential improvements to their anesthetic practice and to allow them to communicate effectively the findings of such studies to colleagues and owners. This article provides the equine clinician with a basic understanding of the methodologies that can be used in ...
Gonçalves S, Julliand V, Leblond A.Many factors have been identified as risk factors for colic in horses in several epidemiological studies. The aim of our paper was to review the results of 12 epidemiological studies, in order to assess the impact of each risk factor for colic. According to the literature, the factors that increase the risk of colic are feeding practices (type and quality of food, type and changes of feeding), the intrinsic factors of horses (sex, age and breed), management (type and changes of housing and activity), medical history (a previous colic, administration of a medical treatment) and parasite control...
Balasuriya UBR, Hedges JF, Nadler SA, McCollum WH, Timoney PJ, MacLachlan NJ.An imported carrier stallion (A) from Europe was implicated in causing an extensive outbreak of equine viral arteritis (EVA) on a Warmblood breeding farm in Pennsylvania, USA. Strains of equine arteritis virus (EAV) present in the semen of two carrier stallions (A and G) on the farm were compared to those in tissues of foals born during the outbreak, as well as viruses present in the semen of two other stallions that became persistently infected carriers of EAV following infection during the outbreak. The 2822 bp segment encompassing ORFs 2-7 (nt 9807-12628; which encode the G(S), GP3, GP4, G(...
Yildirim Y, Yilmaz V, Kirmizigul AH.The herpesviruses infections in equides are caused by five different serotypes of viruses, belonging to family Herpesviridae. The goal of this study was to conduct a seroepidemiological investigation of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and type 4 (EHV-4) in horses and donkeys raised in two provinces and their villages in northeastern Turkey. A total of 666 samples from 423 horses and 243 donkeys that were not immunized against these infections were tested with ELISA. While 52.48% of tested horse sera was found to carry specific antibodies to EHV-1, 83.69% of these serums were found to carry s...
Donahue JM, Williams NM.The clinical signs, laboratory findings, diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention and control of two emerging causes of placentitis and abortion in horses are described in this article. Leptospirosis has been reported as a significant cause of fetal loss in horses in Kentucky, Northern Ireland, and England. Most abortions result from infection by serovars kennewicki or bratislava. Nocardioform placentitis has become the most common cause of placentitis in central Kentucky horses. Nocardioform placentitis is associated with infection by unnamed, gram-positive, filamentous, branching b...
Newton AM, Nielsen AM.The literature contains many studies on the types of injuries sustained in horseback riding incidents. Most advocate the use of equestrian helmets to prevent head trauma. However, information is limited on other specific prevention strategies. Methods: A 4-year, retrospective, and prospective review of medical records pertaining to horse-related injuries in a southwestern Colorado hospital yielded a sample of 85 patients who had been injured while riding or tending to horses. In addition to the record review, patients were interviewed during ED discharge, inpatient treatment, or in a follow-up...
Shnaiderman-Torban A, Paitan Y, Arielly H, Kondratyeva K, Tirosh-Levy S, Abells-Sutton G, Navon-Venezia S, Steinman A.Extended-spectrum β-lactamase Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) have been investigated in adult horses, but not in foals. We aimed to determine shedding and infection in neonatal foals and mares. Rectal swabs were sampled from mare and foal pairs on admission and on the 3rd day of hospitalization; enriched, plated, and bacteria were verified for ESBL production. Identification and antibiotic susceptibility profiles were determined (Vitek2). Genotyping was performed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Genes were identified by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Medical data were analyzed for risk factors (...
Thorsteinsdóttir L, Torfason EG, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V.The horse population in Iceland is a special breed, isolated from other equines for at least one thousand years. This provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate old and new pathogens in a genetically closed herd. Both types of equine gammaherpesviruses, EHV-2 and EHV-5, are common in Iceland. Genetic variation was examined by sequencing four genes, glycoprotein B (gB), glycoprotein H (gH), DNA polymerase and DNA terminase for 12 Icelandic and seven foreign EHV-2 strains. One Icelandic virus isolate, gEHV-Dv, induced syncytium formation, an uncharacteristic cytopathy for EHV-2 in equine...
Bryant NA, Paillot R, Rash AS, Medcalf E, Montesso F, Ross J, Watson J, Jeggo M, Lewis NS, Newton JR, Elton DM.During 2007, large outbreaks of equine influenza (EI) caused by Florida sublineage Clade 1 viruses affected horse populations in Japan and Australia. The likely protection that would be provided by two modern vaccines commercially available in the European Union (an ISCOM-based and a canarypox-based vaccine) at the time of the outbreaks was determined. Vaccinated ponies were challenged with a representative outbreak isolate (A/eq/Sydney/2888-8/07) and levels of protection were compared.A group of ponies infected 18 months previously with a phylogenetically-related isolate from 2003 (A/eq/South...
Lin Y, Wang XF, Wang Y, Du C, Ren H, Liu C, Zhu D, Chen J, Na L, Liu D, Yang Z, Wang X.Lentiviruses harbour high genetic variability for efficient evasion from host immunity. An attenuated equine infectious anaemia (EIA) vaccine was developed decades ago in China and presented remarkably robust protection against EIA. The vaccine was recently proven to have high genomic diversity, particular in . However, how and to what extent the high diversity relates to immune protection remains unclear. In this study, we compared immune protections and responses of three groups of horses stimulated by the high-diversity vaccine EIAV_HD, a single molecular clone of the vaccine EIAV_LD with ...
Baird J, Tegtmeyer B, Arroyo L, Stang A, Brüggemann Y, Hazlett M, Steinmann E.Theiler's disease was confirmed within a group horses located on a farm in southwestern Ontario during the summer and autumn of 2005. Five sudden deaths occurred between 3 July and 21 August, 2005, none of which were necropsied, however two of the horses showed clinical signs compatible with hepatic encephalopathy prior to death. No horse on the farm had received a biologic product of equine blood origin in the preceding six months. The only biologics used on the property were the administration of killed vaccines for rabies, tetanus and West Nile Virus to all horses 30 days prior to the onset...
