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Topic:Infection
Infections in horses encompass a range of diseases caused by various pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. These infections can affect different systems within the horse, such as the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and integumentary systems, leading to a variety of clinical signs depending on the pathogen and the severity of the infection. Common infectious diseases in horses include equine influenza, strangles, and equine herpesvirus. Diagnosis often involves clinical examination, laboratory testing, and sometimes imaging, to identify the causative agent and assess the extent of the disease. Treatment strategies may include antimicrobial therapy, supportive care, and preventive measures such as vaccination and biosecurity practices. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases in equine populations.
Antibodies to a novel leptospiral protein, LruC, in the eye fluids and sera of horses with Leptospira-associated uveitis. Screening of an expression library of Leptospira interrogans with eye fluids from uveitic horses resulted in identification of a novel protein, LruC. LruC is located in the inner leaflet of the leptospiral outer membrane, and an lruC gene was detected in all tested pathogenic L. interrogans strains. LruC-specific antibody levels were significantly higher in eye fluids and sera of uveitic horses than healthy horses. These findings suggest that LruC may play a role in equine leptospiral uveitis.
Mitigation of pyrexia by a Th-1-biased IgG subclass response after infection with equine herpesvirus type 1 in horses pre-immunized with inactivated vaccine. The immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclass response was investigated in horses with or without pyrexia after natural infection with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) in the field. All horses were kept at the training centers of the Japan Racing Association and were immunized with an inactivated EHV-1 vaccine before EHV-1 infection. An IgG subclass response dominated by IgGa and IgGb was induced in horses without pyrexia after EHV-1 infection. In contrast, horses that developed pyrexia showed increased IgGc and IgG (T) subclass production in addition to IgGa and IgGb. Although inactivated EHV-1 vaccin...
Whole genome scan identifies several chromosomal regions linked to equine sarcoids. Despite the evidence for a genetic predisposition to develop equine sarcoids (ES), no whole genome scan for ES has been performed to date. The objective of this explorative study was to identify chromosome regions associated with ES. The studied population was comprised of two half-sibling sire families, involving a total of 222 horses. Twenty-six of these horses were affected with ES. All horses had been previously genotyped with 315 microsatellite markers. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) signals were suggested where the F statistic exceeded chromosome-wide significance at P < 0.05. The QTL...
In vitro potential of equine DEFA1 and eCATH1 as alternative antimicrobial drugs in rhodococcosis treatment. Rhodococcus equi, the causal agent of rhodococcosis, is a severe pathogen of foals but also of immunodeficient humans, causing bronchopneumonia. The pathogen is often found together with Klebsiella pneumoniae or Streptococcus zooepidemicus in foals. Of great concern is the fact that some R. equi strains are already resistant to commonly used antibiotics. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro potential of two equine antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), eCATH1 and DEFA1, as new drugs against R. equi and its associated pathogens. The peptides led to growth inhibition and death of R. equi and ...
Analysis of risk factors associated with antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli. Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria represent a major threat to human and animal health. We compared equine fecal samples (n=264) from 138 horses from hospital and nonhospital (livery stable and riding school) premises in North West England to determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter and rates of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli strains. Campylobacter jejuni was detected only in hospitalized horses (1.1%), and no Salmonella was identified. Data analysis of the horses' management and veterinary treatments (Tx) identified risk factors associated with shedding of an...
Osteomyelitis of the patella in eight foals. To describe the characteristics of osteomyelitis lesions of the patella and to report short- and long-term outcome after treatment in 8 foals. Methods: Retrospective case series. Methods: Foals (n = 8). Methods: Medical records (2003-2007) and radiographs of foals that had osteomyelitis of the patella were reviewed. Inclusion criteria included clinical, radiographic, and surgical findings consistent with osteomyelitis of the patella, and a long-term follow-up of >15 months. Information acquired included signalment, hematologic and serum biochemical profile results, clinical and radiographic...
Effect of corticotherapy on proteomics of endometrial fluid from mares susceptible to persistent postbreeding endometritis. The objective was to determine the effects of corticotherapy, in the presence and absence of uterine inflammation, on proteomics of endometrial fluid from mares susceptible to endometritis. In 11 mares, estrus was induced seven times with 5 mg PGF(2α) given at 14-day intervals. The first estrus was a control (no treatment). During the third estrus, mares received glucocorticoid (GC) treatment (20 mg isoflupredone acetate) every 12 h, for three consecutive days. The fifth estrus was the Infected treatment (intrauterine infusion of 1 × 10(9) colony-forming unit/mL Streptococcus equi subspecies...
Genomic characterization of the Taylorella genus. The Taylorella genus comprises two species: Taylorella equigenitalis, which causes contagious equine metritis, and Taylorella asinigenitalis, a closely-related species mainly found in donkeys. We herein report on the first genome sequence of T. asinigenitalis, analyzing and comparing it with the recently-sequenced T. equigenitalis genome. The T. asinigenitalis genome contains a single circular chromosome of 1,638,559 bp with a 38.3% GC content and 1,534 coding sequences (CDS). While 212 CDSs were T. asinigenitalis-specific, 1,322 had orthologs in T. equigenitalis. Two hundred and thirty-four T...
Costochondral junction osteomyelitis in 3 septic foals. The costochondral junction constitutes a potential site of infection in septic foals and it could be favored by thoracic trauma. Standard radiographs and ultrasonography are useful tools for diagnosis of this condition and ultrasound-guided needle aspiration could permit the definitive confirmation of infection. La jonction costochondrale constitue un site potentiel d’infection chez le poulain septicémique et le développement de l’infection pourrait être favorisée par un traumatisme costal. Les radiographies standards et l’échographie sont des aides diagnostiques et l’aspiration ...
Prevalence and intensity of gastro-intestinal helminths in horses in the Sudano-Guinean climatic zone of Cameroon. It is important to understand the biology and health impact of parasites affecting horses in the Western highlands of Cameroon. Objective: to evaluate the prevalence and intensity of infection of gastrointestinal helminths in these animals. Methods: A total of 894 horses (367 males and 527 females), and aged ≤1 to ≥7 years old were examined. A parasitological investigation of faeces was carried out using two techniques: concentration method of Full Born Willis (flotation in saturated solution of sodium chloride) and Mc Master Technique. Conclusions: From the results the overall prevalence ...
Recombinant envelope protein (rgp90) ELISA for equine infectious anemia virus provides comparable results to the agar gel immunodiffusion. Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is an important viral infection affecting horses worldwide. The course of infection is accompanied generally by three characteristic stages: acute, chronic and inapparent. There is no effective EIA vaccine or treatment, and the control of the disease is based currently on identification of EIAV inapparent carriers by laboratory tests. Recombinant envelope protein (rgp90) was expressed in Escherichia coli and evaluated via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). There was an excellent agreement (95.42%) between the ELISA results using rgp90 and agar gel immunod...
Development and laboratory evaluation of two lateral flow devices for the detection of vesicular stomatitis virus in clinical samples. Two lateral flow devices (LFD) for the detection of vesicular stomatitis (VS) virus (VSV), types Indiana (VSV-IND) and New Jersey (VSV-NJ) were developed using monoclonal antibodies C1 and F25VSVNJ-45 to the respective VSV serotypes. The performance of the LFDs was evaluated in the laboratory on suspensions of vesicular epithelia and cell culture passage derived supernatants of VSV. The collection of test samples included 105 positive for VSV-IND (92 vesicular epithelial suspensions and 13 cell culture antigens; encompassing 93 samples of subtype 1 [VSV-IND-1], 9 of subtype 2 [VSV-IND-2] and 3...
Computed tomographic appearance of equine sinonasal neoplasia. The computed tomography (CT) features of tumors involving the nasal cavity and/or paranasal sinuses of 15 horses were reviewed. The 15 tumors included five neuroendocrine tumors/neuroblastomas, two undifferentiated carcinomas, two myxosarcomas, and one each of nasal adenocarcinoma, hemangiosarcoma, chondroblastic osteosarcoma, anaplastic sarcoma, myxoma, and ossifying fibroma. All tumors except the ossifying fibroma were iso- or hypoattenuating relative to masseter muscle. Thirteen of the fifteen tumors exhibited moderate or marked osteolysis of adjacent cortical bone and 14/15 were characteri...
Immunological correlates of vaccination and infection for equine herpesvirus 1. Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) induces a variety of disease manifestations, including respiratory disease, abortions, and myeloencephalopathy. Several vaccines are commercially available but could not previously be distinguished by serologic testing from infection with EHV-1 (or the closely related EHV-4). Currently available vaccines are not reliably protective against the severe manifestations of the disease, including fatal myeloencephalopathy. We determined immunological parameters that can differentiate vaccinated from previously infected animals by comparing humoral and cellular EHV-1-spec...
A clinical case of dourine in an outbreak in Italy. In May 2011, dourine was reported in Italy following the declaration of a positive result observed in a stallion undergoing routine testing for stud purposes. Clinical signs, anatomo-histopathological findings and laboratory results that resulted in the confirmation of diagnosis of dourine in a clinically affected mare, which was the likely source of infection in the stallion, are described.
Latent equine herpesvirus-1 in trigeminal ganglia and equine idiopathic headshaking. Trigeminal neuralgia or neuropathic pain has been regarded as a putative cause of idiopathic headshaking in horses. Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection and resultant postherpetic pain have been suggested as a possible cause of such neuropathic pain. Objective: To determine the presence of EHV-1 in the trigeminal ganglia of horses with idiopathic headshaking. Methods: Nineteen horses: control (n = 11, 9 geldings, 2 mares, median age 11 years) and headshaking (n = 8, all geldings, median age 11.5 years) horses were sourced from the equine research herd and caseload at the Veterinary Medical T...
The ability of selected pupal parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to locate stable fly hosts in a soiled equine bedding substrate. The ability of Spalangia cameroni Perkins, Spalangia endius Walker, and Muscidifurax raptorellus Kogan and Legner to locate and attack stable fly hosts was evaluated under laboratory conditions. Postfeeding third-instar stable fly larvae were released and allowed to pupate in two arena types: large 4.8 liter chambers containing a field-collected, soiled equine bedding substrate; or 120-ml plastic cups containing wood chips. At the time of fly pupariation, parasitoids were released and permitted 72 h to locate and attack hosts. On average, parasitism rates of freely accessible stable fly pupae ...
Complete molecular genome analyses of equine rotavirus A strains from different continents reveal several novel genotypes and a largely conserved genotype constellation. In this study, the complete genome sequences of seven equine group A rotavirus (RVA) strains (RVA/Horse-tc/GBR/L338/1991/G13P[18], RVA/Horse-wt/IRL/03V04954/2003/G3P[12] and RVA/Horse-wt/IRL/04V2024/2004/G14P[12] from Europe; RVA/Horse-wt/ARG/E30/1993/G3P[12], RVA/Horse-wt/ARG/E403/2006/G14P[12] and RVA/Horse-wt/ARG/E4040/2008/G14P[12] from Argentina; and RVA/Horse-wt/ZAF/EqRV-SA1/2006/G14P[12] from South Africa) were determined. Multiple novel genotypes were identified and genotype numbers were assigned by the Rotavirus Classification Working Group: R9 (VP1), C9 (VP2), N9 (NSP2), T12 (NSP3), ...
Distal aortic aneurysm presumed to be secondary to an infected umbilical artery in a foal. A 3-month-old female Warmblood foal was presented after displaying signs of colic with pyrexia for 5 days. Results: The foal continued to show signs of colic, frequently passed urine, and was pyrexic with an elevated white blood cell count. The umbilical stalk was thickened but there was no evidence of purulent material. Exploratory laparotomy revealed an enlarged left umbilical artery remnant tightly adhered to the bladder wall. The left umbilical artery continued to an aneurysm involving the distal aorta. The foal was subject to euthanasia and post-mortem examination confirmed a spherical ao...
Experimental infection of horses with Hendra virus/Australia/horse/2008/Redlands. Hendra virus (HeV) is a highly pathogenic zoonotic paramyxovirus harbored by Australian flying foxes with sporadic spillovers directly to horses. Although the mode and critical control points of HeV spillover to horses from flying foxes, and the risk for transmission from infected horses to other horses and humans, are poorly understood, we successfully established systemic HeV disease in 3 horses exposed to Hendra virus/Australia/Horse/2008/Redlands by the oronasal route, a plausible route for natural infection. In 2 of the 3 animals, HeV RNA was detected continually in nasal swabs from as ea...
Comparison of eosin-thiazin and Papanicolaou-Shorr staining for endometrial cytologies of broodmares. Technical Note. Exfoliative endometrial cytology is an easy and valuable diagnostic tool for the detection of inflammatory processes of the uterus that correlates well to culture results. The practical use of this procedure is limited due to the time-consuming Papanicolaou-Shorr staining technique. In this study the suitability of the rapid eosin-thiazin staining for endometrial smears was investigated. Methods: Sample collection was carried out with a guarded culture swab (Knudsen-catheter) in 27 broodmares during routine gynaecological examination. Two smears were prepared from each collection. One was stai...
Effect of progesterone on the in vitro response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated by Escherichia coli in mares. Escherichia coli(E. coli) isolated from the uterus of a Thoroughbred mare with bacterial endometritis was used to evaluate the effect of progesterone (P(4)) on the immune response of mares. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 10 nonpregnant clinically healthy adult mares (range, 4-12 years) during diestrus, four Thoroughbreds and six Hokkaido native horses. Cell proliferation and expression of cytokine mRNA, including interferon (IFN)-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-10, of PBMCs stimulated with E. coli and P(4) were examined in vitro. P(4) was...
Post operative infection, pyrexia and perioperative antimicrobial drug use in surgical colic patients. Infections are common complications in post operative colic patients. It is the impression of some surgeons that pyrexia in the early post operative period is a sign of infection and appropriate timing of perioperative antimicrobials will decrease the incidence of post operative infection. Objective: To determine the association between 1) post operative pyrexia and development of infection and 2) perioperative antimicrobial drug use and infection rate in post operative colic patients. Methods: Medical records of patients undergoing surgical treatment for colic were reviewed. Horses recovering...
Hendra virus infection dynamics in Australian fruit bats. Hendra virus is a recently emerged zoonotic agent in Australia. Since first described in 1994, the virus has spilled from its wildlife reservoir (pteropid fruit bats, or 'flying foxes') on multiple occasions causing equine and human fatalities. We undertook a three-year longitudinal study to detect virus in the urine of free-living flying foxes (a putative route of excretion) to investigate Hendra virus infection dynamics. Pooled urine samples collected off plastic sheets placed beneath roosting flying foxes were screened for Hendra virus genome by quantitative RT-PCR, using a set of primers a...
Adaptation and validation of a bacteria-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of farm-specific Lawsonia intracellularis seroprevalence in central Kentucky Thoroughbreds. Lawsonia intracellularis is the causative agent of equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE), a disease for which no large-scale seroprevalence studies have been conducted. Objective: To validate and use an equine-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for L. intracellularis to determine the seroprevalence of L. intracellularis on numerous farms. Methods: An ELISA, in which purified antigen was used, was adapted from previous work in swine. A total of 337 Thoroughbreds from 25 central Kentucky farms were enrolled and monthly serum samples collected from August 2010 to January/February...
Assessment of correlation between in vitro CD3+ T cell susceptibility to EAV infection and clinical outcome following experimental infection. In a recent study, we demonstrated that the virulent Bucyrus strain (VBS) of EAV could infect in vitro a small population of CD3(+) T lymphocytes from some but not all horses. Furthermore, we have shown that a common haplotype is associated with this in vitro CD3(+) T cell susceptibility/resistance phenotype to EAV infection. In this study, we investigated whether the differences in the susceptibility or resistance of CD3(+) T cells in vitro correlate with the outcome and severity of clinical signs in vivo. Thus, horses were divided into two groups based on their CD3(+) T cell susceptible or r...
Treatment of subchondral cystic lesions of the medial femoral condyle of mature horses with growth factor enhanced chondrocyte grafts: a retrospective study of 49 cases. To evaluate the long-term clinical outcome after allogeneic chondrocyte and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) grafting of subchondral cystic lesions (SCLs) of the femoral condyle in horses. Objective: To test the hypothesis that chondrocyte and IGF-I grafts will improve the long-term clinical outcome in arthroscopically debrided SCLs. Methods: Medical records of 49 horses with SCLs of the femoral condyle treated by debridement and implantation of chondrocytes and IGF-I were reviewed. Preoperative radiographs were obtained, and caudocranial radiographic projections were used to establish a r...
Clostridium perfringens type C and Clostridium difficile co-infection in foals. Clostridium perfringens type C is one of the most important agents of enteric disease in newborn foals. Clostridium difficile is now recognized as an important cause of enterocolitis in horses of all ages. While infections by C. perfringens type C or C. difficile are frequently seen, we are not aware of any report describing combined infection by these two microorganisms in foals. We present here five cases of foal enterocolitis associated with C. difficile and C. perfringens type C infection. Five foals between one and seven days of age were submitted for necropsy examination to the Californi...
