Equine diseases encompass a wide range of health conditions that can affect horses, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and genetic conditions. These diseases can impact the overall health, performance, and well-being of horses. Common equine diseases include equine influenza, equine herpesvirus, laminitis, and equine metabolic syndrome. Diagnosis and management of these diseases often require a combination of clinical evaluation, laboratory testing, and appropriate treatment strategies. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment options for various equine diseases, providing valuable insights for veterinarians and researchers in the field.
Winder NC, von Fellenberg R.The peroxidase anti-peroxidase technique was used to demonstrate free and intracellular immunoglobulin (Ig) within the lungs of 23 horses with chronic small airway disease. Histologically, all the horses had chronic bronchiolitis; however, the lesions varied in degree from mild in eight horses, to moderate in nine horses and severe in six horses. Lungs from three horses which had no gross or histopathological lesions were used as controls. In comparison with control horses, horses with mild chronic bronchiolitis had increased numbers of Ig A-containing and non-immunoglobulin staining cells aro...
Bohanon TC.An 8-cm compressed mass of dry cracked corn was found obstructing the duodenum of a horse with signs of colic. The mass was manipulated aborally and removed through jejunal enterotomy. The horse recovered and the impaction did not recur.
Wright JA, Hodson NP.Lesions in a wide range of cranial nuclei are described in 11 horses with grass sickness. Similar changes were seen in one horse with laminitis, but not in control animals. It is suggested that such lesions are non-specific in nature.
Kirkpatrick CE, Saik JE.Ciliated protozoa of several morphological types were found in the colonic tissue of 8 horses, mostly immature Standardbreds. Most of the protozoa observed appeared similar to those normally found as commensals in the equine large intestinal lumen. In all cases, organisms were located in the lamina propria; organisms were also found in the submucosa of 2 horses. The association of colonic disease with the presence of intramural ciliates was unclear.
Hayden DW, Johnson KH, Wolf CB, Westermark P.Systemic amyloidosis involving the digestive tract is described in an 11-year-old Morgan stallion. The disease was characterized clinically by weight loss, ptyalism, anaemia, persistent mature neutrophilia, hypoalbuminaemia and hypergammaglobulinaemia. The D-xylose absorption test indicated malabsorption. Necropsy revealed oral, oesophageal and gastric ulcers and reddened segments of small bowel mucosa with scant haemorrhages. Microscopically, amyloid deposits were found throughout all tissue layers of the digestive tract, except the serosa. Deposits of amyloid were most apparent in the small ...
Dean PW, Robertson JT.A urachal remnant, causing pollakiuria and dysuria, was diagnosed by rectal palpation of a urinary bladder adhesion and endoscopic visualization of a urinary bladder diverticulum. Surgical excision of the remnant resulted in relief of abnormal micturition, but the filly was euthanatized 9 months after surgery because of a chronic ventral midline incisional infection. Pollakiuria and dysuria associated with urachal abscessation occur most commonly in calves. This report documents the syndrome in a horse.
McCarthy RN, Hutchins DR.A retrospective analysis of 74 cases that underwent surgery for colic was undertaken to determine short and long term survival rates and the incidence of post-operative complications. In 28 cases colic was related to small intestinal lesions and in 46 cases to large intestinal lesions. Pre-operative packed cell volume and heart rate were found to be inversely related to short-term survival. Twenty-five horses (34%) recovered from surgery and were discharged. Of 18 of these cases with available histories, 6 subsequently had one or more episodes of colic since surgery of which 5 eventually died ...
Nixon AJ, Adams RM, Teigland MB.Bilateral subchondral cystic lesions of the femoral head in a horse resulted in lameness. The lesions had resulted in degenerative disease in the left coxofemoral joint. The cause of lameness was confirmed by use of intra-articular anesthesia, joint fluid analysis, and radiography. Subchondral cystic lesions involving the femoral head should be considered in the differential diagnosis of equine lameness localized in the upper portion of the hind limb.
Koblik PD, O'Brien TR, Coyne CP.The effect of dorsopalmar projection obliquity on calculation of distal phalangeal rotation (DPR) angle was determined in 8 feet obtained from 5 horses that had been euthanatized because of laminitis. A true lateromedial view of each foot served as a reference, with additional views taken at 5, 10, 15, and 20 degrees of x-ray tube head rotation in both a dorsal and in a palmar direction. Projection obliquity resulted in consistent underestimation of DPR angle. Where projection obliquity exceeded 10 degrees, there were significant (P less than 0.05) differences in DPR angle. The magnitude of un...
Wyatt CR, Davis WC, McGuire TC, Perryman LE.Six monoclonal antibodies reacting with equine T lymphocytes at different stages of maturation were selected from antibodies produced against lymphoid cell preparations. EqT12 and EqT13 antibodies identified subsets of cortical thymocytes with high terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase (TdT) activity and no phytolectin responsiveness. EqT12+ thymocytes were scattered throughout the cortex while EqT13+ thymocytes were located in the subcapsular cortex. EqT12 bound to small numbers of bone marrow cells, splenocytes, and circulating lymphoid cells, but not to mature T lymphocytes. EqT13 bound to v...
Sundquist B, Lövgren K, Morein B.A monovalent experimental ISCOM vaccine has been prepared with the envelope glycoproteins haemagglutinin and neuraminidase of the equine virus strain A/Solvalla/79 (H3N8). In vaccination trials on BALB/c mice the ISCOM vaccine induced more than ten times higher serum antibody titres measured in ELISA than a corresponding experimental micelle vaccine. Similarly, in guinea-pigs the ISCOMs induced about tenfold higher haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and neuraminidase inhibition (NI) titres than a micelle vaccine or a conventional killed influenza whole virus vaccine. Horses vaccinated with a di...
Murray MJ, Ball MM, Parker GA.A 3-month-old foal with a history of persistent fever and leukocytosis was found to have pneumonia, ulceration of the squamous portion of the stomach, and dilatation of the distal portion of the esophagus. The foal was euthanatized and necropsied. The distal portion of the esophagus was severely dilated, and there was severe ulceration and mural thickening of the stomach at the cardia. Because of the severe gastric ulceration and mural thickening, the gastroesophageal junction was fixed in an open position, permitting gastroesophageal reflux. The megaesophagus and pneumonia were considered to ...
Kloppe LH, Varner DD, Elmore RG, Bretzlaff KN, Shull JW.A breeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of insemination timing on the fertility of mares bred with frozen/thawed equine semen. One stallion and 60 reproductively sound, estrous-synchronized mares were included in the study. Mares were assigned to one of three groups (n = 20): 1) insemination with fresh semen every other day during estrus from detection of a 35-mm follicle until ovulation, 2) insemination with frozen/thawed semen every day during estrus from detection of a 35-mm follicle until ovulation or 3) insemination with frozen/thawed semen once, within 6 h after ovulation. ...
Palmer JE, Whitlock RH, Benson CE.Equine ehrlichial colitis was experimentally induced in 18 ponies, using Ehrlichia risticii-infected blood. Four ponies (group 1) were treated with oxytetracycline (6.6 mg/kg of body weight, IV, q 12 h), beginning 14 hours before inoculation and continuing for 5 days after inoculation. Four additional ponies (group 2) were treated similarly for 10 days after inoculation. The remaining 10 ponies were used as nontreated, infected controls. Clinical disease was delayed in 3 group-1 ponies and in 4 group-2 ponies. Protective immunity developed in the remaining pony that did not develop clinical di...
Greenblatt DJ, Engelking LR.Adult female ponies (130-225 kg) with chronically implanted external biliary fistulas (T-tubes) participated in three-way cross-over studies using either i.v. lorazepam (10 mg) or acetaminophen (2 g), two model drugs biotransformed mainly by hepatic conjugative reactions. The objectives were to determine the systemic pharmacokinetics, urinary and biliary excretion and degree of enterohepatic circulation (EHC) of these compounds. Trial conditions were: A: EHC intact, with blood and urine, but not bile, collected after i.v. drug administration; B: EHC interrupted, with blood, urine and bile coll...
Platt H.A retrospective study was carried out on post-mortem and biopsy tissue samples from 26 horses with non-alimentary lymphoma. On the basis of their histopathology and cytology, the cases were grouped into several categories: (1) Lymphoblastic lymphomas (6 cases) and primary lymphoblastic leukaemia (2 cases). (2) Histiolymphocytic lymphomas involving the skin (6 cases) or lymph nodes (3 cases). (3) Lymphomas showing follicular development (4 cases). (4) Plasmacytic lymphomas (4 cases). (5) Lymphocytic lymphoma (1 case). Most affected horses were middle-aged or old but lymphoblastic neoplasms tend...
McKinnon AO, Squires EL, Harrison LA, Blach EL, Shideler RK.During breeding of mares, ultrasonographic detection of uterine fluid accumulations in the first postpartum ovulatory period was associated with significantly decreased pregnancy rates, when compared with rates in control mares (P less than 0.005). The previously gravid uterine horn was recognized as the larger horn, when assessed for size by ultrasonography, for a mean of 21 days (range, 15 to 25 days) after parturition. On the basis of similar measurements obtained during 3 ultrasonographic scans (5-day period), uterine involution was determined to be completed in a mean of 23 days (range, 1...
Livesey MA, Arighi M, Ducharme NG, Horney FD, Hurtig MB.Incarceration of the large colon by the suspensory ligament of the spleen was diagnosed and surgically corrected on exploratory celiotomy in 76 horses exhibiting abdominal pain. The condition was diagnosed most frequently during the winter months in mature males of mean age 4.7 years. Clinical signs progressed slowly and included mild to moderate abdominal pain and distension with moderate tachycardia. The mean duration of colic prior to surgical intervention was 20.7 hours. The mild nature of the colic, the findings on palpation per rectum, and the continued passage of feces in 40% of horses,...
McDonald J, Gall R, Wiedenbach P, Bass VD, DeLeon B, Brockus C, Stobert D, Wie S, Prange CA, Ozog FJ.A one step enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test for morphine was evaluated as part of a panel of pre- and post-race tests for narcotic analgesics in racing horses. This ELISA test is very sensitive to morphine with an I-50 for morphine of about 400 pg/ml. The test is also rapid, and ten samples, a normal pre-race complement, can be analyzed in about thirty minutes. The test can be read with an inexpensive spectrophotometer, or even by eye. The test readily detects the presence of morphine or its metabolites in equine blood for up to six hours after administration of sub-therapeutic d...
Bostedt H.A clinical study about the effects of a beta 2-mimetic agent (Clenbuterol) in mares with pregnancy disorders or disorders during the periparturient period (n = 34) is reported. In general, a single dose of 0.3 mg Clenbuterol given i.v. induces sufficient tocolysis. Subsequent doses or follow-up treatment depend upon individual development during dystocia, indication of treatment and clinical preparturient status (dorsoflexio uteri ante partum, abortus imminens, preparturient labor pains).
Lyons ET, Drudge JH, Tolliver SC.During 1986, fecal specimens were collected 1 or more times from each of 164 horse foals (158 Thoroughbred and 6 mixed light horse type), ranging in age from 0 to 252 days, on 13 farms in central Kentucky. To detect natural infection with Eimeria leuckarti, feces were examined for oocysts. Oocysts were found in 67 (41%) of the foals on 11 (85%) of the farms. The earliest age at which oocysts were first detected was 15 days (1 foal); the latest age was 123 days (1 foal). The mean age for the first appearance of oocysts in the feces of the 67 foals positive for E leuckarti was approximately 70 d...
Lavoie JP, Pascoe JR, Kupershoek CJ.The partitioning of total pulmonary resistance (RL) into upper airway resistance and lower airway resistance (RI) was studied in 8 Thoroughbred geldings. In addition, the phase shift and amplitude distortion of 3 catheters used for pressure measurements in this study were evaluated under static and dynamic conditions. Flow rate was obtained from a heated pneumotachograph attached to a tight-fitting mask placed over the nose. Electronic integration of the flow signal gave tidal volume. Transpulmonary pressure (PL) was obtained from calculation of the difference between the esophageal balloon ca...
Yoxall AT.This paper is an introduction to a series of commissioned articles on therapeutic medicine to be published in Equine Veterinary Journal under differing authorship, during the next 2 years. It presents an account of fundamental concepts common to the use of all drugs and introduces some pharmacokinetic principles to which reference will be made in later articles.
Roberts SJ, Hillman RB.Various common problems encountered daily pleasure horse practice will be discussed covering diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
AZZONE GF.In a series of model reactions, it is shown that residues
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the new principle are discussed.
Sage SE, Nicholson P, Leeb T, Gerber V, Jagannathan V.We used Pacific Biosciences long-read isoform sequencing to generate full-length transcript sequences in equine bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cells. Our dataset consisted of 313,563 HiFi reads comprising 805 Mb of polished sequence information. The resulting equine BALF transcriptome consisted of 14,234 full-length transcript isoforms originating from 7017 unique genes. These genes consisted of 6880 previously annotated genes and 137 novel genes. We identified 3428 novel transcripts in addition to 10,806 previously known transcripts. These included transcripts absent from existing genome...