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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.
Chronic granulocytic leukemia in a horse. A nine year old quarter horse exhibited progressive weight loss and inappetance over a 47 day period. There was clinical evidence of pleuritis and pneumonia substantiated by leukocytosis and elevated protein in pleural fluid. Over the entire period the horse was neutropenic and had circulating abnormal immature granulocytes and low numbers of blast cells. Anemia and thrombocytopenia progressively worsened. Bone marrow examination revealed very few mature granulocytes but large numbers of immature cells of the granulocytic series and marked megaloblastic transformation of erythroid cells. These...
Equine cervical esophagostomy: complications associated with duration and location of feeding tubes. Cervical esophagostomy for tube feeding was evaluated in 11 ponies. Minor complications responded to supportive therapy in 8 ponies. Two died of complications, and 1 pony had a permanent fistula because of persistent infection. There was a positive correlation between the duration of tube feeding and the event of closure of the esophageal stoma after the tube was removed. There was no difference in the frequency of complications related to duration of tube feeding. When the distal end of the feeding tube was located in the thoracic portion of the esophagus, instead of in the stomach, tubes wer...
Equine influenza in the Netherlands during the winter of 1978-1979; antigenic drift of the A-equi 2 virus. Influenza virus A-equi 2(Heq2Neq2) caused an epizootic in the Netherlands in the winter of 1978-1979. Horses vaccinated with A/Equi/Praha/56 (HEq1Neq1) and A/Equi/Miami/63 (Heq2Neq2) were also infected and showed clinical signs. The virus involved showed a marked antigenic drift from the prototype and vaccine strain A/Equi/Miami/63 (Heq2Neq2). Infection of ferrets with the Dutch/79 isolates gave rise to high haemagglutination-inhibition antibody titres to a number of A-Equi 2-1963, 1968 and 1979 viruses. The incorporation of this virus into future influenza vaccines should be considered.
Endotoxaemia in the horse. Endotoxins are non-protein fragments of the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria. They must be absorbed into the circulation to produce disease and systemic effects are similar, regardless of bacterial source. Absorption of endotoxins occurs in obstructive bowel disease and may play a significant part in determining the severity of the disease. Many of the responses to experimentally administered endotoxin are identical to those of bowel diseases or the horse and include circulatory, haematological and metabolic alterations. Therapeutic approaches are indirect and include many drugs currently e...
Intravascular neutrophilic granulocyte kinetics in horses. Intravascular granulocyte kinetics in 4 healthy horses were determined with chromium-51 as the cell label. The disappearance rate of labeled granulocytes was an exponential function. Mean total blood granulocyte pool (+/- 1 SD) was 5.65 +/- 1.514 X 10(8) granulocytes/kg of body weight, of which 2.71 +/- 0.715 X 10(8) granulocytes/kg were circulating and 2.94 +/- 0.876 X 10(8) granulocytes/kg were marginated along blood vessel walls. The mean disappearance half-life (T1/2) was 10.5 +/- 1.33 hours and the mean granulocyte turnover rate was 8.84 +/- 1.495 X 10(8) granulocytes/kg/day. A granulokin...
Congealed amniotic fluid in the alveoli of lungs of aborted foals. The alveoli of the lungs of 2 aborted foals contained elongated, dense bodies when examined histologically and by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. By light microscopy, the bodies (10 to 40 micrometers in size) stained intensely with the Gram stain, and up to 10 were present within an alveolus. Electron microscopy determined that such bodies were not cellular in origin but appeared to be a congealed fluid product composed of layers of fibrillar-like material. From the human literature, it was concluded that these intraalveolar bodies were probably congealed amniotic fluid.
Major histocompatibility locus in the Arabian horse. Combined immunodeficiency disease (CID) is a genetic disorder of T and B lymphocyte production which results in a nonfunctional immune system. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait and has been reported in humans and in horses of the Arabian breed. Arabian horses known to have the CID gene and horses of unknown carrier status were tested using a microlymphocytotoxicity technique. Computer chi 2 analysis distinguished six serologically defined specificities. The study of unrelated horses and a limited number of families showed that the specificities behave as codominant alleles segreg...
Prevention of endotoxin-induced arterial hypoxaemia and lactic acidosis with flunixin meglumine in the conscious pony. Bacterial endotoxin injected intravenously into conscious ponies produced alterations in cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal function. Specifically, tachypnoea, dyspnoea, hypoxaemia, colic, lactic acidosis and diarrhoea resulted from administration of 10 micrograms/kg Escherichia coli endotoxin. Pretreatment of the ponies with a potent prostaglandin synthetase inhibitor, flunixin meglumine, prevented these ill effects of endotoxin.
An evaluation of contribution derived from investigations of equine immunodeficiencies. Following the descriptions of immunodeficiencies in horses beginning in 1973, there has been considerable effort to develop methods for differential diagnosis and to determine the cause and prevalence of the disorders. In addition, the equine immunodeficiencies, especially combined immunodeficiency, have been studied from a comparative viewpoint with the goal of finding information applicable to similar diseases of children. Coincident with the development of knowledge about the immunodeficiencies per se, considerable information about several aspects of immunology has been obtained. It is the...
Resistance to benzimidazole anthelmintics in equine strongyles. 2. Evidence of side-resistance, and susceptibility of benzimidazole-resistant strongyles to non-benzimidazole compounds. The susceptibility of a known thiabendazole-resistant population of small strongyles to anthelmintics of both benzimidazole and non-benzimidazole groups, was determined. In the first study, 42 horses infected with thiabendazole-resistant small strongyles were allocated to 6 groups. Treatment groups received one of the following anthelmintics: mebendazole, febantel, febantel plus trichlorphon, morantel tartrate, or a combination of thiabendazole, piperazine and trichlorphon. Morantel tartrate and the thiabendazole/piperazine/trichlorphon combination produced highly significant (p less than 0.00...
Resistance to benzimidazole anthelmintics in equine strongyles. 1. Frequency, geographical distribution and relationship between occurrence, animal husbandry procedures and anthelmintic usage. A survey was conducted to determine whether benzimidazole resistant populations of equine strongyles are present in New South Wales and north central Victoria; what is their frequency and geographical distribution; which species are involved; and whether different methods of parasite control could be related to the occurrence and frequency of anthelmintic resistant populations. Resistant populations of strongyles were found over wide areas of New South Wales and in north central Victoria. There was no relationship between geographical location and the occurrence of benzimidazole resistance. Th...
[An unusual case of equine lymphoid leukosis (author’s transl)]. The case of a three-year-old mare is reported, in which clinical examination revealed the presence of haemorrhagic diathesis as a result of disseminated intravascular coagulation. The animal also showed severe lameness which was due to involvement of the long bones. The diagnosis was only established after death.
The effect of equine coital exanthema on the fertility of mares covered by stallions exhibiting the clinical disease. The effect on the fertility of mares during two outbreaks of equine coital exanthema have been described. Conception was not prevented, nor was pregnancy terminated in mares showing active lesions of coital exanthema. Normal pregnancy rates occurred in mares served during active infection of the stallions. Origin of the disease was not determined.
Field outbreaks of leukoencephalomalacia in horses consuming maize infected by Fusarium verticillioides (= F. moniliforme) in South Africa. Four outbreaks of leukoencephalomalacia in horses in widely separated areas in South Africa are reported. The clinical signs and pathological lesions observed in each outbreak are briefly described. Mouldy home-grown maize from which Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg (= F. moniliforme Sheldon) was isolated in every instance, was involved in the outbreaks. Clinical signs and pathological lesions were identical to those seen in experimentally produced cases of F. verticillioides poisoning in horses.
Central nervous system demyelination in Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis infection. Arboviruses are important pathogens for both animals and humans. Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus (VEEV) is an arbovirus whose pathogenicity for grey matter structures has been previously studied. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to describe extensive inflammation and demyelination in spinal cord white matter of mice infected with VEEV. To probe a possible immunepathogenesis of white matter alterations in this infection, nude mice and heterozygous controls were similarly infected. Whereas controls still showed inflammatory demyelination, nude mice showed no white matte...
The susceptibility of isolates of Corynebacterium equi to antimicrobial drugs. Fifty-one isolates of Corynebacterium equi recovered from pigs and horses belonging to two capsular serotypes were tested for susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. No clear differences were detected in sensitivity between isolates of different sources or serotypes. All isolates were sensitive to less than 0.25 micrograms/ml of erythromycin and gentamicin. The following minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of antimicrobial agents were determined for greater than or equal to 90% of isolates: methicillin greater than 16 micrograms/ml, clindamycin 1-2 micrograms/ml, tobramycin less than or e...
