Topic:Hepatitis
Hepatitis in horses refers to inflammation of the liver, which can arise from various causes including infectious agents, toxins, or immune-mediated processes. This condition affects the liver's ability to perform essential functions such as detoxification, metabolism, and protein synthesis. In horses, hepatitis can manifest in different forms, including acute and chronic, each with distinct clinical presentations and pathological findings. Diagnostic approaches often involve a combination of clinical evaluation, biochemical testing, imaging, and liver biopsy to determine the underlying cause and severity of the disease. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnostic methods, and management strategies for hepatitis in equine patients.
Congenital hepatic fibrosis and cystic bile duct formation in Swiss Freiberger horses. Congenital hepatic fibrosis with autosomal recessive or dominant inheritance has been described in humans, cats, piglets, and dogs. In horses, only two cases of congenital hepatic fibrosis have been previously reported. This retrospective study of records from the Institute for Animal Pathology, University of Berne, identified 30 foals with liver lesions compatible with congenital hepatic fibrosis. Anamnestic data revealed clinical signs of severe liver injury in most affected animals. Pathologic examination showed severely enlarged, firm livers with thin-walled cysts. Histologically, the live...
Medical treatment of cholangiohepatitis and cholelithiasis in mature horses: 9 cases (1991-1998). The medical approach to treatment of cholangiohepatitis and cholelithiasis in 9 horses is described. Seven horses were treated successfully and returned to normal use, with a minimum follow-up period of 12 months. Long-term antimicrobial therapy was believed to be critical in those cases that survived, with a median treatment duration of 51 days (range 17-124 days). Treatment failure was associated with severe periportal and bridging hepatic fibrosis from biopsy material obtained at admission in 2 horses, one of whom also presented with hyperammonaemic hepatic encephalopathy. Transabdominal ul...
Hepatic sarcocystosis in a horse. Hepatic sarcocystosis was diagnosed in a horse in association with refractory bacterial osteomyelitis and plasma cell tumor of the maxilla and hepatic salmonellosis. Gross lesions included pleural, pericardial, and peritoneal effusions, hepatomegaly, gastric ulceration, colonic edema, and proliferative tissues filling 2 maxillary dental alveoli. Histologically, liver was characterized by severe suppurative, necrotizing, periportal hepatitis, and severe periacinar necrosis. Hepatocytes frequently contained protozoal schizonts in various stages of development. In mature schizonts, merozoites wer...
BERNA: a century of immunobiological innovation. At the time the Swiss Serum and Vaccine Institute Berne (BERNA) was found in 1898, few vaccines or immune globulins were available. This short list included vaccines against cholera, typhoid fever, plague, smallpox and rabies and equine anti-tetanus and diphtheria immune globulins. Furthermore, their use was restricted due to limited production capacity, uncertainty regarding safety and no public health infrastructure to promote their utilization. Today, safe and effective vaccines exist for more than 30 infectious diseases while human hyperimmune globulins exist to treat or prevent rabies, te...
Clinicopathological features of equine primary hepatic disease: a review of 50 cases. The clinicopathological features of 50 cases of equine hepatic disease were reviewed. There was a wide range of clinical signs and at least 50 per cent of the animals exhibited either dull demeanour, anorexia, abdominal pain, cerebral dysfunction and/or weight loss. Life-threatening complications of hepatic failure recorded were: gastric impaction in 10 cases, bilateral laryngeal paralysis in seven cases and coagulopathy in five cases. All the cases had high activities of gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and most had high activities of glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) and high concentrations of ...
Hepatocyte growth factor induces rat ovarian surface epithelial cell mitosis or apoptosis depending on the presence or absence of an extracellular matrix. The present studies showed that sequential treatment with equine CG (eCG) and hCG not only induced an increase in ovarian weight, but also caused an estimated 4.6-fold increase in the number of ovarian surface epithelial cells. In addition, eCG-hCG treatment increased ovarian hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) messenger RNA levels. These studies also demonstrated that rat primary ovarian surface epithelial cells as well as a cell line derived from rat ovarian surface epithelium (i.e. ROSE-179 cells) do not express the LH (hCG) receptor. Both of these cells express c-Met, the receptor for HGF. To a...
Eosinophilic colitis and hepatitis in a horse with colonic intramucosal ciliated protozoa. Tissues from a 9-year-old American Standardbred gelding with a history of anorexia, mild colic, and unexpected death were submitted to the Laboratories of Veterinary Diagnostic Medicine at the University of Illinois for histopathologic examination. Microscopic diagnoses were severe subacute, diffuse eosinophilic colitis with intralesional protozoa and a subacute to chronic eosinophilic portal hepatitis with granuloma formation. Two tissue-invading, ciliated protozoa were identified in large numbers within the colonic mucosa. The ciliates were Polymorphella ampulla and Cycloposthium sp., Phylum...
[Jenner’s cowpox vaccine in light of current vaccinology]. Two hundred years ago Edward Jenner inoculated James Phipps with vaccinia and 181 years later smallpox had disappeared from the surface of the earth as a result of generalized vaccination. Compared to the requirements of modern vaccinology, the procedures used by Jenner and his successors, were extremely primitive because of an almost total lack of knowledge in the field of microbiology and immunology. The active principle of smallpox vaccine is vaccinia virus, which in many respects, differs from that of natural cowpox; the term "cowpox" has been used for more than a century and a half to des...
Hepatic disease associated with administration of tetanus antitoxin in eight horses. Seven horses developed clinical or subclinical hepatitis 48 to 87 days after administration of tetanus antitoxin. One horse had mildly high hepatic enzyme activity 120 days after inoculation with tetanus antitoxin. The first horse developed signs of depression, lethargy, and anorexia. During hospitalization, signs of hepatoencephalopathy were noticed, and laboratory data were consistent with hepatic disease. Another horse that was found dead had gross and histologic lesions compatible with serum hepatitis. Screening of serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and aspartate transaminase activities...
Idiopathic acute hepatic disease in horses: 12 cases (1982-1992). Acute hepatic disease was diagnosed in 16 horses during the study period. Twelve of those cases were characterized as idiopathic acute hepatic disease (IAHD). In 9 of the 12 (75%) cases of IAHD, the horses were female, and 7 of the 9 females were lactating and had been treated with tetanus antitoxin at parturition. Diagnosis of IAHD was based on anamnesis, clinical signs, and results of serum biochemical analyses, hepatic biopsy, and postmortem examination. Within 1 year of the illness, 75% (9/12) of the horses had died or had been euthanatized. Not all horses had the typical fulminant signs a...
Serum hepatitis in two brood mares. Two adult Quarter Horse mares from the same farm developed signs of hepatic disease approximately 2 months after parturition. Both mares had received tetanus antitoxin at the time of foaling. One mare developed subcutaneous edema of the distal aspect of all 4 limbs, photodermatitis involving unpigmented areas of skin, and high serum activities of liver-specific enzymes. The other mare had signs of acute hepatic failure, including icterus, hepatic encephalopathy, and high serum activities of liver-specific enzymes, and died. The second mare had signs typical of serum hepatitis (Theiler's diseas...
Hepatic cirrhosis and hemochromatosis in three horses. Hemochromatosis, an iron storage disease, was diagnosed in 3 horses with hepatic cirrhosis. Each horse had bridging portal fibrosis and abundant iron deposits in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. Serum concentrations of liver-derived enzymes and total bile acids were high. However, serum iron concentration was not high, and iron binding capacity was only 46% saturated in the 1 horse in which it was measured. However, the concentration of iron in the liver of this horse was 20 times the reference limits. Hemochromatosis is common in mynah birds and human beings. There are several types of this iron...
Kleingrass-associated hepatotoxicosis in horses. Chronic hepatic disease was diagnosed in 6 horses with history of anorexia and weight loss. These horses consistently had abnormally high serum gamma-glutamyltransferase activities, total and direct bilirubin and blood ammonia values, and sulfobromophthalein clearance times, whereas serum iditol dehydrogenase, aspartate transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase activities were variable. In the 6 horses, histologic examination of the liver revealed lesions of chronic hepatitis with varying degrees of fibrosis. All 6 horses had ingested kleingrass (Panicum coloratum) for variable periods. Three hea...
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis of horses: an association with acute enteritis. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis was identified in 19 horses. In 16 cases mycotic lesions were associated with enterocolitis; 14 cases appeared to result from Salmonella infection. Pulmonary lesions included multifocal areas of acute necrosis, leukocytoclastic vasculitis, and thrombosis with fibrinosuppurative inflammation surrounding mycelial masses. Thromboemboli with fungi were in the brain and kidneys of three cases. Factors which appeared to predispose to pulmonary aspergillosis included corticosteroid therapy, disseminated neoplasms, hepatitis, pleuritis, and peritonitis. This study sugg...
Suspected hepatotoxicity in neonatal foals: preliminary report of an emerging syndrome. An apparently new and emerging fatal hepatic disease affecting foals is described. Characteristics included evidence of hepatic failure, marked biliary hyperplasia, hepatocellular necrosis and occasionally fibrosis. Generally, the features of the disease appear to differ markedly from other hepatic diseases of neonatal foals.
Toxic hepatopathy in neonatal foals. Six foals of three different breeds, born to healthy mares, appeared normal at birth, and died at two to five days of age with icterus, ataxia, head pressing, and terminal hepatic coma. Their livers were less than one-half normal weight. Most of the liver was dark red-brown and slightly rubbery. Histologically, these areas were characterized by severe bile ductule proliferation, mild portal tract fibrosis, and massive hepatocellular necrosis and lobular collapse. A small proportion of the liver, usually on the peripheral part of the lobes, was grossly light brown and slightly raised. Histologi...
Ulcerative duodenitis in foals. Seven foals aged 18 days to 3 1/2 months had either single or multiple full-circumference segments or long antimesenteric bands of necrotizing duodenitis, sharply delineated from adjacent viable duodenum. Perforation of the necrotic wall had occurred in all foals, leading to acute fibrinous peritonitis. On the mucosal surface severe diffuse, acute inflammation and ulceration involved the anterior half of the duodenum. Two further foals, aged 28 and 30 days, had lesions that are believed to be a chronic form of this disease. Both foals had a thickened duodenal wall, with large areas of mucosa r...
Equine myositis and septicemia caused by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus infection. Myositis and septicemia caused by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus were diagnosed in a mare. The infection was characterized clinically by ventral swelling and edema, diarrhea, listlessness, and rectal temperature of 39.4 C. The mare was treated symptomatically for 2 days but died on the 3rd day. Conditions seen at necropsy were myositis, enteritis, typhlitis, colitis, and hepatitis. Lymph nodes were moderately enlarged throughout the body. Gross lesions in musculature were edema, scarring, petechiae, and an occasional exxhymosis. The enteritis was catarrhal, with excessive mucus and moderate hyper...
Four cases of Tyzzer’s disease in foals in England. A rodent pathogen, Bacillus piliformis, has been recognised as causing a rapidly fatal hepatitis in 4 foals in England. The disease in foals has been recognised in America since 1973. A clinico-pathological account of the 4 cases is given and the differential diagnosis discussed. The 4 foals' ages fell within a very narrow range (24-34 days). Some of the properties of this unusual intracellular pathogen are reviewed. For the first time in the equine the bacillus was seen in association with myocardial lesions. There are marked differences in the epidemiology of the disease in the mouse and in ...
Spongy degeneration in the central nervous system of domestic animals. Part III: Occurrence and pathogenesis hepatocerebral disease caused by hyperammonaemia. Severe spongy degeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) was seen in 11 cattle, 19 sheep, 4 pigs and 1 goat, associated with a variety of hepatic diseases, particularly those caused by hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids. It was also seen in a milder form in 2 of 8 horses examined, 1 dog of 5 dogs examined, and in 1 rabbit only of a large number of laboratory animals examined. This paper reports results of experiments which confirmed initially that the CNS disease cold be caused by pyrrolizidine alkaloid intoxication. This was done by poisoning lambs with lasiocarpine. As the disease was...