Equine health encompasses the study and management of diseases, disorders, and overall well-being of horses. It involves understanding various physiological systems, preventive care, and treatment strategies to maintain optimal health in equine populations. Common areas of focus include nutrition, infectious diseases, orthopedic conditions, and reproductive health. Research in equine health aims to advance knowledge on diagnostic methods, therapeutic interventions, and management practices that improve horse welfare and performance. This page collects peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse aspects of equine health, offering insights into current findings and advancements in the field.
Gradil C, Joone C, Haire T, Fowler B, Zinchuk J, Davies CJ, Ball B.Fertility control of feral equids is difficult. A 4-month pilot study was conducted with a hormone-free intrauterine device (iUPOD). There was evaluation of i) device retention; ii) contraceptive efficacy; iii) fertility following device removal; iv) effects of device on estrous cycle periodicity and; v) abundance of biofilm on devices after removal from the uterus. The iUPODs were inserted trans-cervically in eight mares at random stages of the estrous cycle. Mares were confined in a paddock with a stallion the following day and remained with the stallion for 120 days. Transabdominal detectio...
Park T, Cheong H, Yoon J, Kim A, Yun Y, Unno T.(1) Background: The intestinal microbiota plays an essential role in maintaining the host's health. Dysbiosis of the equine hindgut microbiota can alter the fermentation patterns and cause metabolic disorders. (2) Methods: This study compared the fecal microbiota composition of horses with intestinal disease and their healthy counterparts living in Korea using 16S rRNA sequencing from fecal samples. A total of 52 fecal samples were collected and divided into three groups: horses with large intestinal disease (n = 20), horses with small intestinal disease (n = 8), and healthy horses (n = 24). (...
Arnold C, Pilla R, Chaffin K, Lidbury J, Steiner J, Suchodolski J.Diarrhea is an adverse effect of antimicrobial therapy in horses. This matched, case-controlled study compared the fecal microbiome and metabolome of horses on antibiotics that developed diarrhea (AAD, = 17) to those that did not develop diarrhea (ABX, = 15) and to a control population not exposed to antibiotics (CON, = 31). Fecal samples were collected from horses that were matched for diet and antimicrobial agent (including dose, route, and duration of therapy). Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes was performed, and QIIME 2.0 was used to generate alpha and beta diversity metrics. Untarg...
de Siqueira SM, da Costa Maia R, do Nascimento Ramos V, da Silva Rodrigues V, Szabó MPJ.We herein describe zebuine cattle tick infestation in a farm in southeast Brazil with an examination accurate enough to detect tick immatures and species other than R. microplus. Cattle were inspected monthly for ticks from May 2015 to May 2017 and 7604 ticks were collected along 276 bovine inspections. Rhipicephalus microplus was the dominant species (7197 specimens, 94.5% from the total), but Amblyomma sculptum was also collected (407/5.5%). Horse tick infestations were evaluated for comparison purposes of A. sculptum infestations of a primary host sharing pastures with bovines. Ticks were c...
Fitzharris LE, Franklin SH, McConnell AK, Hezzell MJ, Allen KJ.Exercise-induced upper airway collapse (UAC) probably occurs when the stabilising muscles of the upper airway are unable to withstand the dramatic changes in airflow and pressure that occurs during exercise. In racehorses, the mainstay of treatment is surgical intervention. In human athletes, exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction has been treated successfully with inspiratory muscle training (IMT). The aims of this study were: (1) to assess the feasibility of IMT in racehorses; and (2) describe the exercising endoscopy findings pre- and post-IMT in racehorses diagnosed with dynamic UAC. Horse...
Mellish MA, Lucas ZN, Puchalski SM, Kusch TA.Laminitis is a painful condition that causes lameness in horses. However, monitoring this condition in feral horses is logistically difficult. Laminitis can be detected postmortem, as inflammation of the sensitive laminae of the hoof changes the relative location of the bony structures within the hoof capsule. Thus, evaluation of cadavers may be used to estimate laminitis prevalence in feral populations of horses. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of laminitis in feral horses inhabiting the Sable Island National Park Reserve, Canada, using radiographic imagery on the h...
Krueger K, Esch L, Farmer K, Marr I.Every animal species has particular environmental requirements that are essential for its welfare, and when these so-called "basic needs" are not fulfilled, the animals suffer. The basic needs of horses have been claimed to be social contact, social companionship, free movement and access to roughage. To assess whether horses suffer when one or more of the four proposed basic needs are restricted, we examined several studies ( = 38) that reported behavioural and physiological reactions to these restrictions. We assigned the studies according to the four types of responses investigated: (a) Str...
Molla AM, Fentahun T, Jemberu WT.Epizootic lymphangitis (EL) is a chronic, contagious, fungal disease of equids. The disease is highly prevalent in cart pulling equines of Ethiopia affecting the livelihood of the cart owning households and welfare of the cart animals. This study estimated the economic impacts of EL and assessed cart owners' knowledge and practices related to the disease in northwest Ethiopia. A multistage cluster sampling approach was implemented to select cart animal owners for the study. A total of 274 cart animal owners were interviewed to collect data for the study. The average annual economic loss per ca...
Ellero N, Lanci A, Ferlizza E, Andreani G, Mariella J, Isani G, Castagnetti C.The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of enzymes involved in extracellular matrix remodeling. MMPs are secreted in a latent form and activated by local and infiltrating cells. MMP-2 and -9 are the most studied in reproduction and have been detected in bovine, ovine, equine and human placenta. There is only one study on MMPs in the equine amniotic fluid (AF) reporting a decrease in the activity of MMP-2 in case of premature delivery. The aim of this study was focused on MMP-2 and -9 activity in AF collected at parturition from mares with normal or high-risk pregnancy. High-risk preg...
Galiazzo G, Tagliavia C, Giancola F, Rinnovati R, Sadeghinezhad J, Bombardi C, Grandis A, Pietra M, Chiocchetti R.Colic is a common digestive disorder in horses and one of the most urgent problems in equine medicine. A growing body of literature has indicated that the activation of cannabinoid receptors could exert beneficial effects on gastrointestinal inflammation and visceral hypersensitivity. The localisation of cannabinoid and cannabinoid-related receptors in the intestine of the horse has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this study was to immunohistochemically localise the cellular distribution of canonical and putative cannabinoid receptors in the ileum of healthy horses. Distal ileum spec...
Pagliara E, Nicolo A, Rossi C, Cammaresi C, Donadio G, Bertuglia A.Perineural anaesthesia is an essential part of lameness investigation in horses. Painful reactions to injections imply a high risk of accidents for veterinarians. To evaluate the efficacy of two topical anaesthetic creams on desensitization of the skin at two perineural injection sites and to evaluate the effects these formulations may have on pain perception distally to the application sites. Randomized, blind, prospective study. 14 healthy horses were randomly divided in two groups of 7 horses each, one treated with EMLA and one with PLIAGLIS preparations. The mechanical nociceptive thresh...
Todini L, Malfatti A.An instance of hormone assay method flaw is reported. In this journal Chronobiology International, two papers appeared in which an ELISA method for human serum or plasma was utilized for blood serum of horse and sheep, respectively. From our testing, it is resulted that such method does not work at all for equine, sheep and other animal species. The use of commercial hormone assay kits for heterologous species always needs a careful validation procedure. First, the same hormone molecule by different species could not share enough homology to be regognized by and react with antibodies utilized ...
Tanaka Y, Suganuma K, Watanabe K, Kobayashi Y.Dourine, caused by infection with Trypanosoma equiperdum, is one of the trypanosomiasis in equids. The clinical course of dourine is long-term, ranging from 1-2 months to several years. Since the pathogenesis of dourine has not yet been elucidated, experimental studies using mouse infection models are needed. Although mice are not susceptible to most T. equiperdum strains, some strains can infect mice. Even in such strains, infected mice develop rapidly transient parasitemia and die within 2-8 days. Therefore, mice experimentally infected with these T. equiperdum strains are not suitable for m...
Haralambus R, Florczyk A, Sigl E, Gültekin S, Vogl C, Brandt S, Schnierer M, Gamerith C, Jenner F.Synovial sepsis is a commonly occurring, potentially career-ending or even life-threatening orthopaedic emergency. Diagnosis of synovial sepsis is currently primarily based on synovial fluid analysis, which often leaves diagnostic ambiguity due to overlap of clinicopathological parameters between septic and aseptic inflammatory synovitis. Objective: To evaluate the reliability of lysozyme (LYS), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and elastase (ELT) as biomarkers for synovial sepsis in horses using a photometric assay to measure increased enzyme activity. Methods: Prospective, single-blinded, analytical, cl...
Riggs CM, Riggs SJ, Cheung TY, Tsang F, Oldaker L.Equine surgical facilities are not always available, even in situations where high-value horses are involved in relatively high-risk activities. Objective: To develop a self-contained equine surgical unit that can be relocated and transported by road. Methods: Proof of concept. Methods: A modular operating suite for horses, which included a theatre, scrub room, instrument preparation and storage room, and an anaesthetic induction/recovery box: Transportable Equine Operating Theatre (TEOT) was designed, constructed and tested. A second, larger unit was then built following the same design crite...
Zayed M, Adair S, Dhar M.Synovial fluid contains cytokines, growth factors and resident mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The present study aimed to (1) determine the effects of autologous and allogeneic synovial fluid on viability, proliferation and chondrogenesis of equine bone marrow MSCs (BMMSCs) and (2) compare the immunomodulatory properties of equine synovial fluid MSCs (SFMSCs) and BMMSCs after stimulation with interferon gamma (INF-γ). To meet the first aim of the study, the proliferation and viability of MSCs were evaluated by MTS and calcein AM staining assays. To induce chondrogenesis, MSCs were cultured in ...
Araki M, Ohtaki T, Kimura J, Hobo S, Taya K, Tsunoda N, Taniyama H, Tsumagari S, Nambo Y.Immunohistochemical investigations of the expression of surfactant protein A (SP-A) and surfactant protein D (SP-D) in the uterine and placental tissues of 13 pregnant mares were performed using anti-horse monoclonal primary antibodies. Strong positive reactions for both SP-A and SP-D were observed in the trophoblasts in the microcotyledons of the placentae at 182 to 314 days of gestation; in uterine glandular epithelial cells, faint-to-weak reactions were observed during gestation. This study describes, for the first time, the changes in the SP-A and SP-D expression levels in the endometrium ...
Kalantari RK, Rouzbehan Y, Fazaeli H, Direkvandi E, Salem AZM.The aim of this study was to investigate, the effect of different levels of concentrates and grain processing on feeding behavior, nutrient digestibility, fecal pH and blood metabolites in the horse. Sixteen 5 to 11 years old Turkmen horses with an initial body weight 433±50 kg were used in this experiment based on completely randomized design. Four treatments were studied, in three treatments were used 20, 25 and 30% of concentrate containing processed grains (A20, A25 and A30, respectively), and in one treatment was used 25% of concentrate containing whole grain (B25). The amount of feed in...
Tura G, Savini F, Gallina L, La Ragione RM, Durham AE, Mazzeschi M, Lauriola M, Avallone G, Sarli G, Brunetti B, Muscatello LV, Girone C, Bacci B.Sarcoids are the most common cutaneous tumor of equids and are caused by bovine papillomavirus (BPV). Different clinical subtypes of sarcoids are well characterized clinically but not histologically, and it is not known whether viral activity influences the clinical or histological appearance of the tumors. The aim of this study was to verify whether the development of different clinical types of sarcoids or the presence of certain histological features were associated with BPV distribution within the tumor. The presence of BPV was assessed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and visualized in ...
Morris ERA, Boyle AG, Riihimäki M, Aspán A, Anis E, Hillhouse AE, Ivanov I, Bordin AI, Pringle J, Cohen ND.Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (SEE) is a host-restricted bacterium that causes the common infectious upper respiratory disease known as strangles in horses. Perpetuation of SEE infection appears attributable to inapparent carrier horses because it neither persists long-term in the environment nor infects other host mammals or vectors, and infection results in short-lived immunity. Whether pathogen factors enable SEE to remain in horses without causing clinical signs remains poorly understood. Thus, our objective was to use next-generation sequencing technologies to characterize the genome, me...
Bell C, Rogers S.A key welfare concern for the equine population in the U.K. has been identified as delayed death, leading to prolonged suffering of horses. Reasons why some horse owners fail to have their horses euthanised include financial cost, emotional attachment, peer pressure, negative attitudes towards killing and poor recognition of behavioural indicators of equine pain and stress. The Five Freedoms framework of welfare was used to build a Likert-style survey to investigate the factors underlying attitudes of horse owners towards welfare measures in an end-of-life decision. Participants were asked to ...
Gozalo-Marcilla M, Ringer SK.Recovery remains the most dangerous phase of general anaesthesia in horses. The objective of this publication was to perform a structured literature review including levels of evidence (LoE) of each study with the keywords "recovery anaesthesia horse", entered at once, in the search browsers PubMed and Web of Science. The two authors independently evaluated each candidate article. A final list with 444 articles was obtained on 5 April 2021, classified as: 41 "narrative reviews/expert opinions", 16 "retrospective outcome studies", 5 "surveys", 59 "premedication/sedation and induction drugs", 27...
Oreff GL, Fenu M, Vogl C, Ribitsch I, Jenner F.For research on tendon injury, many different animal models are utilized; however, the extent to which these species simulate the clinical condition and disease pathophysiology has not yet been critically evaluated. Considering the importance of inflammation in tendon disease, this study compared the cellular and molecular features of inflammation in tenocytes of humans and four common model species (mouse, rat, sheep, and horse). While mouse and rat tenocytes most closely equalled human tenocytes' low proliferation capacity and the negligible effect of inflammation on proliferation, the wound...
Cameron A, Harris P, Longland A, Horseman S, Hockenhull J.Laminitis and obesity are leading welfare issues for UK leisure horses. Limiting grass intake is a common preventative measure but may result in other aspects of welfare being compromised. This study aimed to determine how commonly different restricted grazing methods are used in the UK, barriers limiting their accessibility, and the potential benefits and welfare issues associated with each. A cross-sectional online survey was distributed with questions relating to horse carers' opinions of different restricted grazing practices, which methods they used, and how they implemented these. Closed...
Fussell D, Bizikova P, Breuhaus B, Harris RA, Moore AR, Chen L, Linder KE.Bullous amyloidosis is a rare disease in humans that has not been described in a veterinary species in the peer-reviewed literature. The human disease is characterised by haemorrhagic vesicles and bullae on the skin and mucosae, which form due to amyloid deposition. Objective: To describe the clinical features, laboratory analysis and histopathological features of an unique presentation of bullous disease in a horse. Methods: A 17-year-old thoroughbred mare presented for weight loss and severe oral cavity ulcers. Methods: Investigations involved haematological evaluation, chemistry profiles, g...
Pusterla N, Barnum S, Miller J, Varnell S, Dallap-Schaer B, Aceto H, Simeone A.Here we report on an EHV-1 outbreak investigation caused by a novel genotype H752 (histidine in amino acid position 752 of the ORF 30 gene). The outbreak involved 31 performance horses. Horses were monitored over a period of 35 days for clinical signs, therapeutic outcome and qPCR results of EHV-1 in blood and nasal secretions. The morbidity of the EHV-1 outbreak was 84% with 26 clinically infected horses displaying fever and less frequently anorexia and distal limb edema. Four horses showed mild transient neurological deficits. Clinically diseased horses experienced high viral load of EHV-1 i...
Theelen MJP, Luiken REC, Wagenaar JA, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Rossen JWA, Zomer AL.Several studies have described the faecal microbiota of horses and the factors that influence its composition, but the variation in results is substantial. This study aimed to investigate the microbiota composition in healthy equids in The Netherlands under standard housing and management conditions and to evaluate the effect of age, gender, horse type, diet, pasture access, the season of sampling and location on it. Spontaneously produced faecal samples were collected from the stall floor of 79 healthy horses and ponies at two farms. The validity of this sampling technique was evaluated in a ...
Souza AF, Souza Junior AA.The equine hoof balance has been the subject of several studies, reflecting the importance of hooves for the good health and performance of these animals. An important condition for the hooves health is its loading, where too much weight in a small area can increase the chances of lameness. Therefore, an equation has been proposed to identify the relationship between body mass and hoof size and has been used in several studies. However, a clear description of how it was developed and what its results really indicate is not available in the literature. In light of this, this article aims to des...
Quiney L, Stewart J, Routh J, Dyson S.There is a lack of understanding of the pathological and/or physiological nature of lumbosacral region pain. Objective: To describe the gross variations of the osseous and soft tissues of the lumbosacral region and report the histological findings of sections of nerve tissue in affected and control horses. Methods: Descriptive post-mortem case series. Methods: All horses had undergone full clinical and gait assessment, including ridden exercise. Horses with a substantial response to infiltration of local anaesthetic solution around the sacroiliac joint regions were included in the affected gro...
Pollard CL, Gibb Z, Swegen A, Lawson EF, Grupen CG.NAD deficiency has recently been linked with increased occurrences of congenital abnormalities and embryonic death in human and animal subjects. Early embryonic death is a major component of pregnancy loss in mares and very little is known regarding the requirement for NAD in horses. The aim of this study was to quantify NAD and its metabolites in the plasma and urine of mares after orally administering an acute dose of nicotinic acid and determine the absorption, metabolism and excretion of this essential precursor for NAD biosynthesis. Nicotinic acid (5 g per os) was administered to four ma...
Weller R, Pfau T, Verheyen K, May SA, Wilson AM.There is a lack of scientific data and studies on the effect of conformation on performance or on orthopaedic health. Objective: To investigate the relationship between conformation, injury and performance in racehorses used for racing over fences. Methods: Over 2 years, 108 National Hunt racehorses were followed and their medical and performance data recorded. Conformation was measured in 3D with a computerised motion analysis system. Linear multiple regression models were used to evaluate the effect of conformation on measures of race performance and stepwise forward logistic regression mode...
Gildea S, Arkins S, Cullinane A.In Ireland, horses may be protected against equine influenza virus (EIV) as a result of natural exposure or vaccination. Current mandatory vaccination programmes are targeted at highly mobile horses. A correlation between antibody levels as measured by single radial haemolysis (SRH) and protective immunity against EIV has been established. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the susceptibility of selected populations of horses by quantifying their antibodies to EIV. Methods: Blood samples were collected from Thoroughbred weanlings, yearlings, racehorses and broodmares, teas...
Zanet S, Bassano M, Trisciuoglio A, Taricco I, Ferroglio E.Equine Piroplasmosis (EP) caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi is a disease affecting the health and the international movement of horses. In order to assess prevalence of Piroplasmid infection in the Northwestern part of Italy and to evaluate the associated risk factors, whole blood was collected from 135 horses from 7 different stables across the study area. PCR and sequencing were used to assess prevalence of infection and to identify detected Piroplasms to species level. A total of 23 horses (P=17.04%; CI95%: 10.70-23.38%) was found to be infected with Piroplasms and T. equi was th...
Antczak DF, Bailey E, Barger B, Guerin G, Lazary S, McClure J, Mottironi VD, Symons R, Templeton J, Varewyck H.The Third International Workshop on Lymphocyte Alloantigens of the Horse was held on 25-27 April 1984 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Twelve laboratories from five countries participated. The principal purpose of this Workshop was to determine the phenotypic and gene frequencies of the 10 equine lymphocyte antigens (ELA) and a non-ELA lymphocyte antigen, ELY-2.1, in several breeds of horse. A total of 86 alloantisera characterized in previous workshops were tested against lymphocytes from 1179 horses. In addition, several experimental antisera were also tested against the same panel of lympho...
Weese JS, Rousseau J.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an emerging equine and zoonotic pathogen. Infection control protocols can be used to control MRSA in human hospitals, but measures to eradicate MRSA on horse farms have not been evaluated. Objective: To describe an MRSA eradication programme that was used to attempt to eliminate MRSA colonisation among horses and horse personnel on 2 equine farms. Methods: Active surveillance cultures and infection control protocols were implemented on 2 farms with endemic MRSA. Results: Active screening and strict implementation of infection control protoc...
Gérard N, Delpuech T, Oxvig C, Overgaard MT, Monget P.In the ovary of mammalian species, terminal follicular growth is accompanied by a decrease in intrafollicular levels of IGF-binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) and IGFBP-4. The decrease in IGFBP-4 levels is essentially due to an increase in proteolytic cleavage by intrafollicular pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in growing healthy follicles. The decrease in IGFBP-2 levels is partly due to a decrease in mRNA expression by follicular cells. In addition, we have recently shown that IGFBP-2 is also proteolytically cleaved by PAPP-A in bovine and porcine growing follicles. In the present work...
Rho JY, Currey JD, Zioupos P, Pharr GM.The equine radius is a useful subject for examining the adaptation of bone histology to loading because in life the anterior cortex is loaded almost entirely in tension, the posterior cortex in compression. The histology of the two cortices is correspondingly different, the osteones and the interstitial lamellae in the posterior cortex having a more transversely oriented fibre arrangement than those in the anterior cortex. Presumably as a result of this histological difference, the posterior cortex is stronger in compression than the anterior cortex; the anterior cortex is stronger in tension ...
Miller RI.Although 'phycomycosis' is a common disease of horses in northern Australia little is known about the causative fungi. In this paper the laboratory methods for diagnosis are described. These revealed 38 cases caused by Pythium sp. (Hyphomyces destruens), 6 cases caused by Basidiobolus haptosporus and 2 caused by Conidiobolus coronatus. Laboratory studies on the chemotatic behaviour of zoospores of Pythium sp. showed that they were strongly attracted to both animal hairs and plant tissue. Because of this behaviour a simple baiting method using human hair was used to trap the fungus from water s...
Andreassen SM, Vinther AML, Nielsen SS, Andersen PH, Tnibar A, Kristensen AT, Jacobsen S.Septic arthritis is a common and potentially devastating disease characterized by severe intra-articular (IA) inflammation and fibrin deposition. Research into equine joint pathologies has focused on inflammation, but recent research in humans suggests that both haemostatic and inflammatory pathways are activated in the joint compartment in arthritic conditions. The aim of this study was to characterize the IA haemostatic and inflammatory responses in horses with experimental lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced joint inflammation. Inflammation was induced by IA injection of LPS into one antebrach...
Sheats MK, Davis KU, Poole JA.Farmers are routinely exposed to organic dusts and aeroallergens that can have adverse respiratory health effects including asthma. Horses are farm-reared large animals with similar exposures and can develop equine asthma syndrome (EAS). This review aims to compare the etiology, pathophysiology, and immunology of asthma in horses compared to farmers and highlights the horse as a potential translational animal model for organic dust-induced asthma in humans. Severe EAS shares many clinical and pathological features with various phenotypes of human asthma including allergic, non-allergic, late o...
Mediannikov O, Davoust B, Cabre O, Rolain JM, Raoult D.Bartonellae are gram-negative facultative intracellular alpha-proteobacteria from the family Bartonellaceae. The natural history of bartonellae consists of a reservoir/host, which is a vertebrate with chronic intravascular infection with sustained bacteremia, and a vector (usually an arthropod) that transfers the bacteria from the reservoir to a susceptible yet uninfected host. In order to reveal the sources and reservoirs of Bartonella infection in animals and vectors in New Caledonia, we collected the blood samples of 64 dogs, 8 cats, 30 bovines, 25 horses and 29 wild deer Cervus timorensis ...
Tyma JF, Epstein KL, Whitfield-Cargile CM, Cohen ND, Giguère S.OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of oral omeprazole administration on the fecal and gastric microbiota of healthy adult horses. ANIMALS 12 healthy adult research horses. PROCEDURES Horses were randomly assigned to receive omeprazole paste (4 mg/kg, PO, q 24 h) or a sham (control) treatment (tap water [20 mL, PO, q 24 h]) for 28 days. Fecal and gastric fluid samples were collected prior to the first treatment (day 0), and on days 7, 28, 35, and 56. Sample DNA was extracted, and bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences were amplified and sequenced to characterize α and β diversity and differential ...
Gough MR, Thibaud D, Smith RK.Tiludronate regulates bone remodelling through a decrease of the resorptive process and should therefore ameliorate the remodelling processes active in osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal joints ('bone spavin') and alleviate pain associated with abnormal bone lysis. Objective: To confirm the efficacy of tiludronate, administered as a single infusion at a dose of 1 mg/kg bwt, in the treatment of bone spavin in the horse. Methods: A double blind placebo controlled trial on 108 clinical cases of bone spavin was undertaken. The lameness score of the lamest limb was assessed following distal tarsal...
García BM, Moran AM, Fernández LG, Ferrusola CO, Rodriguez AM, Bolaños JM, da Silva CM, Martínez HR, Tapia JA, Peña FJ.Cryopreservation introduces extreme temperature and osmolality changes that impart lethal and sublethal effects on spermatozoa. Additionally, there is evidence that the osmotic stress induced by cryopreservation causes oxidative stress to spermatozoa. The main sources of reactive oxygen species in mammalian sperm are the mitochondria. In view of this, the aim of our study was to test whether or not osmotic stress was able to induce mitochondrial damage and to explore the osmotic tolerance of the mitochondria of stallion spermatozoa. Ejaculates from 7 stallions were subjected to osmolalities ra...
Davoust B, Maquart M, Roqueplo C, Gravier P, Sambou M, Mediannikov O, Leparc-Goffart I.In Africa, infection with West Nile virus (WNV) is frequent but almost always asymptomatic in humans and equids. The aim of this study was to identify whether any other domestic animal living in the same enzootic locality may be the sentinel of WNV circulation. In northwest Senegal, blood samples were collected from 283 adult domestic animals (136 sheep, 64 horses, 29 donkeys, 29 goats, 14 cattle, and 11 dogs), in three localities near Keur Momar Sarr. Each serum was tested for WNV immunoglobulin G using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The prevalence among donkeys, horses, dogs, goats, catt...
Ghori MT, Khan MS, Khan JA, Rabbani M, Shabbir MZ, Chaudhry HR, Ali MA, Muhammad J, Elschner MC, Jayarao BM.Glanders is an infectious and contagious bacterial disease of equines. A little is known about its seroprevalence and risk factors in working equines in countries where the disease is endemic. Also, there are no reports on prevalence of the disease in areas where there is a prior evidence of Burkholderia (B.) mallei detection in soil. A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected districts (n=09) of Punjab province of Pakistan during 2014-2015. A total of 1008 serum samples were screened for detection of antibodies to B. mallei with complement fixation test followed by western blot. The ov...
Favaro PF, Fernandes WR, Reischak D, Brandão PE, Silva SOS, Richtzenhain LJ.Equine influenza is one of the major respiratory infectious diseases in horses. An equine influenza virus outbreak was identified in vaccinated and unvaccinated horses in a veterinary school hospital in São Paulo, SP, Brazil, in September 2015. The twelve equine influenza viruses isolated belonged to Florida Clade 1. The hemagglutinin and neuraminidase amino acid sequences were compared with the recent isolates from North and South America and the World Organisation for Animal Health recommended Florida Clade 1 vaccine strain. The hemagglutinin amino acid sequences had nine substitutions, com...
Klein WR, Bras GE, Misdorp W, Steerenberg PA, de Jong WH, Tiesjema RH, Kersjes AW, Ruitenberg EJ.A total of 30 horses with single or multiple sarcoid tumors of the skin were randomly divided into three treatment groups: (i) cryosurgical treatment, (ii) intralesional immunotherapy with a live BCG vaccine, (iii) intralesional immunotherapy with a BCG cell wall preparation. Complete tumour regression was obtained in all 10 cryosurgically treated horses, in 6 of 10 live BCG treated horses, and in 7 of 10 BCG cell wall treated horses. One live BCG and 2 BCG cell wall treated horses showed partial tumour regression of more than 50% of the tumour area. Eleven horses with sarcoid tumours were not...
Rajpar I, Barrett JG.Tendon injury is a significant clinical problem due to poor healing and a high reinjury rate; successful treatment is limited by our poor understanding of endogenous tendon stem cells. Recent evidence suggests that adult stem cells are phenotypically diverse, even when comparing stem cells isolated from the same tissue from the same individual, and may in fact exist on a spectrum of proliferation and differentiation capacities. Additionally, the relationships between and clinical relevance of this phenotypic variation are poorly understood. In particular, tenogenic capacity has not been studie...
Ramsauer AS, Wachoski-Dark GL, Fraefel C, Tobler K, Brandt S, Knight CG, Favrot C, Grest P.There is growing evidence that equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) infection is causally associated with the development of equine genital squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Early stages of disease present clinically as plaques or wart-like lesions which can gradually progress to tumoural lesions. Histologically these lesions are inconsistently described as benign hyperplasia, papilloma, penile intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), carcinoma in situ (CIS) or SCC. Guidelines for histological classification of early SCC precursor lesions are not precisely defined, leading to potential misdiagnosis. Th...
de Mestre AM, Rose BV, Chang YM, Wathes DC, Verheyen KLP.Early pregnancy loss (EPL) between days 15-65 after breeding has been shown to occur in 7.9% of equine pregnancies with substantial economical, welfare and safety implications. Whilst maternal age has been recognised as an important risk factor in relation to the incidence of EPL, few other risk factors have been conclusively identified. Further, multivariable data analysis of risk factors for EPL is sparse. A prospective cohort investigation of thoroughbred broodmares in the United Kingdom was conducted over the 2013 and 2014 breeding seasons. Information relating to 28 factors including mare...
Abe N, Matsubara K.The Cryptosporidium horse genotype, a zoonotic protozoan parasite first found in a Prezewalski wild horse, has not been found in any other mammal but calves, horses, and humans. Hedgehogs, popular exotic pet animals in Japan, are a reservoir of two zoonotic Cryptosporidum: C. parvum and C. erinacei (previously known as the hedgehog genotype). Recently, after finding Cryptosporidium infection in a four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), we identified the isolate genetically as the Cryptosporidium horse genotype. Its subtype (VIbA13) was the same as that of an isolate from a pet shop employee...
Santos DW, Madeira de Carvalho LM, Molento MB.Cyathostomins comprise around 50 parasite species of equids, offering a great challenge regarding their individual identification. The objective of our work was to improve identification of infective third stage larvae (L3) with a morphological key supplemented with detailed scientific illustrations based on our research and available literature. The highlighted features were; the number, arrangement, and shape of intestinal cells (IC), general features and the total body length of the eight different Cyathostomin sensu latum types (Type A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H), Gyalocephalus capitatus, and Po...
Hemphill DD, McIlwraith CW, Samulski RJ, Goodrich LR.Adeno-associated virus (AAV) receptors range from heparan sulfate proteoglycan to sialic acid moieties present on cell surfaces. Abundance of the glycan profiles is greatly influenced by animal species, cell type, and culture conditions. The objective of this study was to determine whether AAV serotypes' transduction efficiencies specifically in the equine monolayer culture model are an accurate representation of transduction efficiencies in tissue explants, a model more closely related to in vivo transduction. It was found that AAV 2 and 2.5 transduced cells more efficiently in explants than ...
Werner LA, Hardy J, Bertone AL.To compare intra-articular (IA) and bone gentamicin concentrations achieved after intra-articular administration or regional intravenous perfusion (RIP). Methods: Experimental study. Methods: Twelve healthy adult horses. Methods: Horses were assigned to 2 treatment groups (n = 6/group): Group 1, 1 g gentamicin administered simultaneously in both left and right metacarpophalangeal joints and group 2, 1 g gentamicin administered simultaneously in both left and right lateral palmar veins. Serum, synovial fluid, and bone biopsy specimens were collected. Gentamicin concentrations were determined by...
Delling U, Lindner K, Ribitsch I, Jülke H, Brehm W.The objective of this study was to compare bone marrow (BM) aspirates from the sternum and the tuber coxae of middle-aged horses. Bone marrow was obtained from the sternum and both tubera coxae of 12 healthy, 13-year-old geldings. Two different puncture techniques were used for the tuber coxae. The 2 syringes used for sternal sampling were evaluated separately. The mononuclear cell (MNC) fraction of the BM was isolated and the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were culture-expanded. At the sternum, BM aspiration was always possible. Bone marrow aspiration at the tuber coxae required straight and d...
Wise LN, Kappmeyer LS, Silva MG, White SN, Grause JF, Knowles DP.Certain countries including the United States remain non-endemic for particular infectious diseases such as equine piroplasmosis through import restrictions and surveillance. Endemic regions often employ premunition as the primary method to control disease, however in non-endemic countries, chemosterilization combined with methods to confirm parasite elimination are required to maintain disease-free status. The ability of imidocarb diproprionate (ID) to clear persistent Theileria equi infection from infected horses has been shown through the inability of treated horses to transmit via blood tr...
Peterson RB, Goyal SM.A comparative study was carried out to determine the relative sensitivities of eight different cell culture systems to six different herpesviruses of animals. The cells used were: OFL (ovine fetal lung), ML (mink lung), FK (ferret kidney), PTK-2 (potoroo kidney), TEK (turkey embryo kidney), ED (equine dermal), BT (bovine turbinate), and PK15 (porcine kidney). The viruses tested were: PRV (pseudorabies) of swine, CPHV (caprine herpesvirus), IBRV (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus), DN-599 strain of bovine herpesvirus type 4, EHV-1 (equine herpesvirus), and CHV (canine herpesvirus). On the...
Okamura K, Sasaki N, Yamada M, Yamada H, Inokuma H.Although extensive work has been done to elucidate the beneficial and unfavorable effects of gastrointestinal prokinetic agents in humans, little is known on the effects of these agents in horses. In this study, we compared the effects of mosapride, metoclopramide, cisapride, and lidocaine on equine gastric emptying, jejunal and caecal motility and evaluated these agents' adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Methods: Seven healthy adult Thoroughbreds. Methods: Mosapride 1.0mg/kg and 2.0mg/kg, metoclopramide 0.2mg/kg, and cisapride 1.0mg/kg were dissolved in 100mL distilled water for oral administrat...
