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.
Heydrick FP, Comer JF, Wachter RF.Phospholipid analyses of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus showed that virus propagated in L-cell monolayers had a higher sphingomyelin content and a lower phosphatidylcholine content than virus grown in chick fibroblast monolayers. Virus of L-cell origin also was found to possess greater thermal stability than virus derived from the chick fibroblast cell.
Gruber J.Purified and concentrated Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus derived from tissue cultures, rendered noninfectious by ionizing radiation with retention of in vitro serological activity, also retained a high level of immunogenicity. In mice, fluid vaccines afforded excellent protection against lethal challenge with homologous Trinidad strain VEE virus. A direct relationship was observed between concentration of vaccine or number of injections and survival. One intraperitoneal inoculation of undiluted vaccine protected essentially all mice challenged 21 days later with 100,000 mouse intra...
James K, Pullar DM, Morton JB, Dalton RG, Nolan B, Woodruff MF.Methods are described for the intravenous administration of equine antilymphocytic globulin (ALG) to renal transplant recipients. The development of circulating antibodies to the equine IgG has been investigated using primary and secondary immunological procedures. The need for primary immunoassay procedures to assess both the immune response and induction of tolerance to equine IgG in ALG treated patients is extensively discussed.
Nakajima H, Ushimi C.Antigenicity of purified equine infectious anemia (EIA) virus was examined by immunodiffusion against sera obtained from horses experimentally infected with EIA virus. The purified virus reacted with the infected horse serum, and virus-specific precipitating antibody was demonstrated. Furthermore, it was found that purified EIA virus reacted against the serum of horses infected with all strains of EIA virus which were antigenically different from one another. From the result, group-specific components of the virus rather than strain-specific ones were considered to be involved in the reaction....
Sloan PB, Self KA, Kang Q, Lutter JD.To characterize clinical findings and outcomes for horses with heel bulb lacerations. Medical records of a teaching hospital were reviewed to identify horses treated for heel bulb lacerations between February 2004 and October 2018. Long-term outcome was assessed by telephone communication with owners. Results were analyzed to determine association with clinical outcome. 31 mares and 31 geldings of various ages, breeds, and uses were evaluated. Thirty-six horses had a wound of 0 to 2 days' duration, and 17 horses had a wound of > 2 days' duration. Horses with a wound duration of < 2 days had a ...
Johnson AT, Soma LR, Ferouz C.Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) affects a large portion of racing thoroughbred horses. Sites of hemorrhage and causal mechanisms remain unestablished. Our mathematical model was constructed to test the hypothesis that EIPH could be caused by a combination of respiratory and circulatory mechanical factors occurring during exercise. Various physiological data for respiration, blood circulation and exercise were incorporated into the model. Results show that inhalation pressure drops across airway resistances become great enough during exercise to cause rupture of capillaries for bot...
Tulleners E.Transendoscopic laser surgery provides equine surgeons with a safe, reliable, and minimally invasive method of performing many surgical procedures in the upper respiratory tract. Although the Nd:YAG laser has proven efficacy, other newer lasers such as the diode and holmium: YAG lasers may prove to be useful tools for equine upper respiratory tract surgery. Long grasping forceps and a high quality fiberoptic or video endoscope are critical components necessary for performing transendoscopic laser surgery. For many of the most common upper respiratory tract abnormalities, a laryngotomy can be e...
Sarkar P, McIntosh JM, Leavitt R, Gouthro H.Nimesulide is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug recently detected in equine blood and urine samples taken at the race track. The detection of the drug in a blood sample led to the identification of an unknown thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) spot in track urine samples as a metabolite of nimesulide. Characterization of the unknown TLC spot and comparison with the synthesized compound shows that the unknown TLC spot is a previously unreported equine metabolite of nimesulide. The metabolite was identified as resulting from the reduction of the nitro group on nimesulide to an amino group. Thi...
Kydd J, Nielsen M, Waller A.Julia Kydd, Martin Nielsen and Andrew Waller highlight some of the key presentations given at last year's 11th International Equine Infectious Diseases Conference, which was held virtually.
Kim Y, Seo C, Oh S, Kwak J, Jung S, Sin E, Kim H, Ji M, Lee HS, Park HJ, Lee G, Yu J, Kim M, Lee W, Paik MJ.The authors have retracted this article [1] because after publication they became aware that the equine urine samples analysed for loxoprofen in this study were in fact equine plasma samples. Therefore the results and conclusions of this article cannot be relied upon. All authors agree to this retraction.
Leidl W.1. At present there is a wide field of applications for ultrasonography in gynaecological examinations. 2. Pregnancy (under clinical conditions) may be diagnosed in mares from day 14, in cows from day 25/26, in small ruminants from day 35, in sows from day 28/30, in bitches from day 25/28 and in queens from day 20/25 on, either by demonstrating the embryonic vesicle or the embryo or fetus. 3. Control of ovulation is gaining importance in the mare, especially in artificial insemination. 4. The diagnosis of pathological processes in the uterus of mares, bitches and queens is improved considerabl...
McD○ LA, Dart AJ, Schiffman P, Parrot JJ.Enterolithiasis, as a cause of colic, was diagnosed and treated during surgical intervention in 2 Grant's zebras (Equus burchelli bohmi). The zebras were part of a wild herd in a zoo in the western United States. The clinical signs of enterolithiasis in both zebras were similar to those reported for horses. Analysis of the enterolith from 1 zebra revealed a composition identical to enteroliths that have been analyzed from horses. Three other zebras from this herd had enteroliths at necropsy. Enterolithiasis should be considered as a differential diagnosis for zebras with low-grade obstructive ...
Mayr B, Resch S, Hepperle S, Brem G, Reifinger M, Schaffner G.Tumour suppressor p53 is critical in a broad panel of tumour types in human, mouse and other mammals. Regions of the promoter and exon 1 play an important role in expression of p53. In the present study, the DNA sequences of promoter and exon 1 regions of four domestic animal species (dog, cat, horse and cattle) are determined and compared with experimental rodents (mouse, rat and hamster) and man. A broad panel of tumour types have been investigated for mutations in this regulatory area in 90 canine, 136 feline, 25 equine and 10 bovine patients. No mutation was detected in any of the tumours ...
Willis P, Caudle AB, Fayrer-Hosken RA.Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to evaluate the fine structure of equine oocytes cultured in vitro. Oocytes obtained by follicular aspiration were cultured for either zero or 15 hr. After treatment oocytes were processed either by light microscopy (nuclear evaluation) or TEM (cytoplasmic evaluation). Those oocytes cultured for 15 hr were incubated in modified TCM 199 with 15% (v/v) mare serum (day of ovulation) at 39 +/- 0.2 degree C. Evaluation using TEM revealed that cortical granules were present in all oocytes. However, zero-time oocytes contained few cortical granules, and...
Wittich CA, Ward MP, Fosgate GT, Srinivasan R.To determine whether West Nile virus (WNV) disease hyperendemic foci (hot spots) exist within the horse population in Texas and, if detected, to identify the locations. Methods: Reports of 1,907 horses with WNV disease in Texas from 2002 to 2004. Methods: Case data with spatial information from WNV epidemics occurring in 2002 (1,377 horses), 2003 (396 horses), and 2004 (134 horses) were analyzed by use of the spatial scan statistic (Poisson model) and kriging of empirical Bayes smoothed county attack rates to determine locations of horses with WNV disease in which affected horses were consiste...
Lowe JE, Baldwin BH, Foote RH, Hillman RB, Kallefelz FA.Three Quarter-horse stallions were surgically thyroidectomized at 18 months of age. Weekly semen collections were made from these and three control stallions from 25 to 39 months of age. Although the induced state of hypothyroidism in young stallions has a depressing effect on libido and general animation and can be corrected by thyroprotein supplementation, semen characteristics, testicular histology and fertility are not affected by the operation.
Hobo S, Hiraga A, Birks EK, Takahashi T, Hada T, Jones JH.A study was undertaken to find if the reason why horses hypoventilate when running is that they experience expiratory flow limitation due to dynamic airway closure. To test this hypothesis, we measured peak expiratory flows on a Thoroughbred galloping on a treadmill and hypoventilating and compared those flows with the peak dynamically-limited flow that the same horse could achieve during a forced expiratory flow-volume manoeuvre. At the approximate lung volumes at which the horse was ventilating while running, it did not appear to be mechanically limited and appeared to have reserve capacity ...
Takizawa T, Ito T.Supposing two mathematical models, additive and multiplicative, the authors estimated the secular trends of annual morbidities (1949 approximately 1975) of twelve infectious diseases of domestic animals. For each diseases ten different trend curves were fitted. It was found that five regression equations, namely, those for bovine trichomoniasis, bovine tuberculosis, equine infectious anemia, pullorum disease in chickens, and foulbrood, gave the coefficient of determination of 97.9, 92.7, 91.0, 93.5, and 85.2%, respectively. Four of them were multiplicative, and the remaining one for equine inf...
Stott ML, Osburn BI.Long-term equine lymphocyte cultures were initiated and maintained in continuous culture with medium containing recombinant human interleukin-2. Cultures were successfully maintained with lectin activation signals and recombinant human interleukin-2 or with recombinant human interleukin-2 alone. All cell cultures that were characterized had a T-lymphocyte phenotype and had lectin-dependent or -independent cytotoxicity directed to various cell types. These findings demonstrate that long-term equine T-lymphocytes cultures can be initiated and maintained easily.
Daicker B, Gywat L, Keller M, Spiess B, Brückner R.The authors describe peculiar tumors with brown-white piebald anterior surface, which had grown bilaterally from the corpora nigra (C.N.) of an adult horse and occluded the pupils. The surgical procedure for removing the larger tumor and the postoperative treatment are described. The findings by light and electron microscopy suggest that the tumor represent a so-called adenoma of the iris pigment epithelium. The white patches on its surface consist of newly formed Descemet-like material produced by displaced corneal endothelial cells, which have probably grown on the tumor after contact with t...
Gregg AS, Jones RS, Snowdon SL.A fault in the assembly of a Matrix Large Animal Circle anaesthetic machine resulted in reversal of fresh gas flow through the vaporizer. The fault was discovered only after the sudden development of excessive depth of anaesthesia in two equine patients. Laboratory investigations were conducted to determine the effect of flow reversal on vaporizer output. Results indicated that output concentration was approximately doubled under these conditions.
Lubczyk B, Nothelfer HB.A case of generalized equine leucosis is presented. The most important clinical signs were cachexia, loss of condition, fever, tachycardia, subcutaneous tumors and severe lameness accompanied by edema of the right thoracic limb. Hematology showed anemia and neutrophilia; clinical biochemistry indicated hypalbuminemia, hyperphosphatemia and hyperfibrinogenemia. Necropsy revealed multiple tumors throughout the body which mainly originated from lymph nodes. Histopathologically the tumors consisted of two cell-types: a. uniform lymphocytoid cells with a highly infiltrative growth pattern; b. heter...
Manohar M, Goetz TE, Hassan AS.Work is required to establish the role of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) in metabolism of resting and exercising horses. Objective: To examine the effects of NO synthase inhibition on O2 extraction and anaerobic metabolism at rest, and during submaximal and maximal exertion. Methods: Placebo and NO synthase inhibition (with Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester [L-NAME] administered at 20 mg/kg bwt i.v.) studies were performed in random order, 7 days apart on 7 healthy, exercise-trained Thoroughbred horses at rest and during incremental exercise leading to 120 sec of maximal exertion at 14 m/sec ...
Götz HJ.A case of diprosopus in a foal is described. This is only the second report of such a deformity in the equine species. Hereditary pathology and pathogenesis are discussed.
Walsh DM.The author has completed 40 years as a veterinarian treating horses with laminitis. The article is a recollection of his experiences with laminitis and the various treatment methods he came across while trying to treat the disease.
Legacki EL, Bal BA, Corbin CJ, Loux SC, Scoggin KE, Stanley SD, Conley AJ.The authors apologize for errors in Figure 6 of their article published in the October 2017 issue of Reproduction (vol 154 iss 4 pp 445–454). The authors explain that the addition of data (Figure 6) on steroid concentrations in the chorioallantois to their manuscript on fetal adrenal and fetal gonadal steroids during development of the equine fetus was made in response to reviewer comments. However, in compiling, summarizing and graphing the data, the wrong units were used in the final figure. The manuscript as published represents the data in Figure 6 as “ng/g”, when in fact they are ...
Kharchenko VA, Lichtenfels JR, Pilitt PA, Krecek RC.As part of a revision of the systematics of the Cyathostominea of equids, we determined that the single type-specimen of Cylicocyclus adersi Boulenger, 1920 is missing and a modern description of this rare species parasitic in donkeys Equus asinus L. and zebras E. burchelli (Gray) and E. zebra L. is not available. Systematists at a workshop on the systematics of the Cyathostominea of horses, convened on August 11, 1997 in Sun City, South Africa, listed C. adersi as a species inquirenda . Herein, we provide a redescription of C. adersi and propose a neotype for the species. The distinctive shap...
Wilde MH, Dinger JE, Hoagland TA, Graves-Hoagland RL, Woody CO.Transcervical diagnostic techniques may alter the length of the equine estrous cycle and affect subsequent luteal function. Therefore, nine mares were used to determine the effect of cervical dilation on plasma 13, 14-dihydro, 15-keto-prostaglandin F(2) (PGFM), progesterone (P(4)) and posttreatment duration of luteal function. Mares were given a daily score of 0 to 4 based on sexual receptivity. Five days following the end of receptivity, mares were randomly assigned to one of three, 3 x 3 latin squares. Control mares received no cervical dilation. Cervically stimulated mares recieved cervical...
Collins EA.Four cases of equine lameness were treated with intra-articular polysulphated glycosaminoglycan. Two, two-year-old flat racers were treated conservatively after traumatic injury. They subsequently became lame owing to the formation of new bone and osteophytes. Two older steeplechasers were lame owing to degenerative joint disease. The four horses were treated with intra-articular injections of polysulphated glycosaminoglycans and, after three or four injections, they became clinically sound and were able to continue racing with varying degrees of success.
Beard WL, Lohse CL, Robertson JT.The blood supply to the descending colon of the horse was studied by gross dissection and methyl methacrylate corrosion casts. The arterial supply is derived from the left colic artery and cranial rectal artery with the left colic artery supplying approximately the proximal three fourths. Each artery gives off four to eight arcuate arteries that form a series of anastomosing arcades. The arcade pattern continues to form a marginal artery that parallels the long axis of the colon. Small branches from the marginal artery anastomose with adjacent branches to form a secondary arcade. The secondary...
Tivey ML.Mary-Ellen Lloyd Tivey of the Royal Veterinary College, suggests that greater collaboration and encouraging engagement from horse owners and vets is key to strengthening scanning surveillance in equine populations.
Peters JW.The most feared complication after a rectal examination of horses and ponies is to cause a tear of all the layers in the intraperitoneal part of the rectum. The description of the anatomy is an attempt to explain that the rectal tear is mostly located in the dorsal or dorsolateral part of the rectum. This article describes a relatively simple suture technique for the rectal tear by using the needle of Deschamp which is modified by Professor B. Huskamp. Furthermore there is a description of this method as treatment of two horses in practice circumstances. The issue whether causing a rectal tear...
Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.Hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis(HYPP) is characterized by intermittent episodes of muscular tremor, weakness, and collapse, and is probably caused by abnormal electrolyte transport in the muscle cell membrane. During an episode of HYPP, most animals are severely hyperkalaemic. HYPP is a hereditary disease and occurs only in American Quarter horses or crossbreds. Because these horses are now being imported into the Netherlands, HYPP should be included in the differential diagnosis of horses showing signs of muscle tremor, paresis, or paralysis. The present article reviews the literature on HYP...
Rozanova SL, Rozanova ED, Nardid OA.Experimental data are presented which were obtained under comparative evaluation of influence of different freezing-thawing conditions on antioxidant properties of isolated proteins: human serum albumin, cytochrome c from the horse heart and glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger. The observed protein antioxidant activity alterations are assumed to be a result of protein conformational changes. The character of freezing-thawing influence on the protein antioxidant activity depends on the molecular structure and cooling conditions.