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.
Goebel WF, Staub AM.1. The immunization of horses with the colicinogenic bacillus E. coli K235 L + O(m) stimulates antibodies which precipitate and neutralize colicine K and neutralize the heterologous colicine I as well. 2. Unlike rabbits, horses evoke predpitating antibodies for the sialic acid-containing polysaccharide colominic acid.
HARDY FM, ARBITER D.Hardy, Frank M. (Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md.), and David Arbiter. Lipid inclusions in L cells associated with Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus infection. J. Bacteriol. 89:1101-1103. 1965.-Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) virus has been shown to induce changes of lipid components within the L cell. Lipid inclusions in the form of dark granular bodies were observed in the L cell after aqueous osmium tetroxide fixation and Sudan black staining. Microscopic examination of cells as early as 8 hr after infection with VEE virus showed an increase in the concentration of these inclu...
McManamny LF.This research argues for the veterinarians leading the planning and enforcement of disease control measures in thoroughbred stud farms, emphasizing their expertise and knowledge in disease diagnosis and management. Collaboration […]
Melnick JL, Hampil B.This paper summarizes the results of co-operative studies undertaken by the WHO International Reference Centre for Enteroviruses and a number of WHO Regional Reference Centres for viruses, WHO Virus Collaborating Laboratories, or other laboratories in a comprehensive testing programme of enterovirus equine antisera. The studies were designed to appraise the specificity of immune serum prepared in horses against five representative prototype enteroviruses (poliovirus 1, coxsackieviruses A9 and B3, and echoviruses 4 and 11). Tests for neutralizing antibody were performed not only against the hom...
The development of a nodule is a fairly common reaction pattern in the skin and subcutaneous tissues of the horse. In many such nodules, the inciting aetiologic agent or antigen is unknown, but in some equine cases there is significant evidence for insect bite origin. The pathogenesis of some equine nodular diseases appears to involve marked collagen degeneration which varies from hyalinization to lysis and can become mineralized. The exact role the lytic collagen has in the pathogenesis of these lesions is still unknown. Vascular changes may be present in some entities. Other nodules may be c...
Lyons ET, Drudge JH, Tolliver SC.The efficacy of 2 injectable formulations of ivermectin, administered intraorally at the dosage of 200 micrograms/kg of body weight, was evaluated against naturally occurring infections by abomasal nematodes in lambs in 2 controlled tests. One test (A) included 17 lambs treated with the equine formulation and 16 nontreated lambs. For the other test (B), 14 lambs were treated with the bovine formulation, and 12 were nontreated. In controlled test A, only mature nematodes were recovered, and removals were 98% to 100% for Haemonchus contortus, Ostertagia circumcincta male, O trifurcata male, Oste...
Lores M, Yarbrough T.A 9-year-old pony gelding was evaluated because it was suspected that a persistent oronasal fistula had developed after a fractured right maxillary second premolar tooth had been extracted via repulsion 6 months earlier. Results: Unilateral mucopurulent nasal discharge and malodorous breath were noted on clinical examination. Examination of the oral cavity revealed a 1 × 0.5-cm defect at the oral aspect of the right maxillary second premolar alveolus, from which feed material was extracted. Endoscopic examination revealed feed material in the rostral aspect of the right nasal cavity, confirmi...
Milenkovic D, Mata X, Chadi S, Guérin G.Laminins are large heterotrimeric basement membrane glycoproteins composed of alpha, beta and gamma chains. The Laminin 5 isoform has an alpha3beta3gamma2 composition and is essential for the adhesion of basal keratinocytes to the underlying epithelial basement membrane where it is mainly located. Mutations in the genes coding for the 3 chains have been associated with a severe skin blistering disease, Herlitz's junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB), observed in different species as man, dog, cat and horse. In this study, we report the sequence of the 5.2 kb horse laminin alpha 3 cDNA (LAMA3)...
Escribano BM, Agüera EI, Vivo R, Santisteban R, Castejón FM, Rubio MD.The aim of this work was to assess whether progressive training caused an improvement in the nonspecific immune response of colts because several unusual infections are due to defects inherent in the neutrophilic function among which respiratory diseases are a major defect in the performance of athletes taking part in professional sports activities. A group of 7 Anglo-Arabian colts belonging to the Army was selected. These animals carry out training programmes for their participation in National Jumping Competitions. During a submaximal exercise test (heart rate 150 beats/min and lactate level...
Moeller BC, Clifford A, Emery RT, Alarcio G, Favro G, Arthur RM.Zilpaterol is a β -adrenergic agonist and a repartitioning agent that has a high potential for abuse in equine performance athletes. Analysis of zilpaterol in hair is an alternative sampling matrix that extends detection time periods beyond those found in urine or blood samples. Our laboratory has been screening for zilpaterol in hair for many years and recently detected and confirmed its presence in official samples. Accordingly, a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method was developed and validated to detect and confirm zilpaterol in equine hair. Briefly, equine hair was decontaminate...
Lyons ET, Tolliver SC, Drudge JH, Swerczek TW.Oxfendazole paste formulation was administered intraorally at a dosage of 10 mg/kg of body weight, twice (48 hours between treatments) in 5 controlled tests (experiments A, B, C, D, and E) to 18 equids (14 horses and 4 ponies) that were 5 to 24 months old in 1986 and 1987. Activity was evaluated against naturally acquired infections of various internal parasites, with emphasis on migratory stages of Strongylus vulgaris and S edentatus. The number of treated and nontreated equids in each experiment (horses in experiments A to D and ponies in experiment E) was: A, 1 and 1; B, 3 and 3; C, 3 and 1...
Han X, Quan Y, Gao X, Xiang W, Zhou J.To elucidate the role of N-glycosylation in fetal donkey dermal cell (FDD)-attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), we constructed an N-glycosylation reverse-mutation molecular clone, pLGN191N236N246. This viral molecular clone was derived from the infectious clone pLGFD3-8 by site-directed mutagenesis. This clone was used to transfect fetal donkey dermal (FDD) cells. Infectious characteristics of transfectants were monitored by RT-PCR, indirect immune fluorescence and reverse transcriptase activity assay. After three passages in FDD cells, viral replications in the supernatant of cel...
Leipig M, Abenthum K, Wollanke B, Czupalla I, Esposito I, Steiger K, Hermanns W, Herbach N.A 16-year-old Friesian gelding with relapsing colic was humanely destroyed during diagnostic laparotomy due to suspected abdominal neoplasia. On post-mortem examination, the pancreas appeared as a firm mass (20 × 8 × 8 cm). The cut surface had a lobular structure with multiple cavities. Histological examination revealed severe chronic fibrosing pancreatitis with acinar-ductal metaplasia and duct dysplasia, which was considered to be the cause of the recurrent colic. Formation of tubular complexes within a background of acinar-ductal metaplasia is similar to the regressive lesions detect...
McInturff C, Zanotto G, McInturff M, Hendrickson D.Injection of the equine navicular bursa can be technically challenging, and inadvertent penetration of other synovial structures is common using previously described techniques. When injecting the navicular bursa, inadvertent penetration of other synovial structures and hoof configuration can affect success rate, especially when performed by inexperienced operators. The aim of this study is to describe an alternate radiographic guided technique for injection of the equine navicular bursa that consistently avoids penetration of the distal interphalangeal joint using a 40 mm (1.5-inch) 20-gauge ...
Csellner H, Walker C, Love DN, Whalley JM.An equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) mutant was constructed by inserting a lacZ expression cassette into the intergenic region upstream of gene 62 (glycoprotein L; gL) and downstream of gene 63 (a homologue of the herpes simplex virus transcriptional activator ICP0). The recombinant lacZ62/63-EHV-1 had similar growth kinetics in cell culture to those of the parental wild type (wt) virus, with indistinguishable cytopathic effects and plaque morphology. Reverse transcriptase PCR confirmed that the lacZ insertion did not interfere with transcription of gL and immunoblot analysis indicated there was no...
Kolmakova MV, Kuskova ZR, Ratner GM, Laptakova LM.Horse serum albumin has been shown to meet the requirements to protein preparations for microanalysis and thus to be suitable for use in kits of reagents for the radioimmunological determination of insulin and myoglobin, for the determination of tick-borne encephalitis virus antigen by the method of the enzyme immunoassay and for the stabilization of proteins in the hemagglutination test and the hemagglutination inhibition test.
Worthington RW, Mülders MS.Antibodies against epsilon toxin were isolated from hyperimmune horse serum by affinity chromatography. Purified epsilon prototoxin covalently bound to Affigel 202 was used as immunosorbent, and antibodies were eluted with 6.0 M guanidine chloride. In a single run 80 mg of antibody could be recovered from a 20 microliter column of immunosorbent. The antibody was shown to belong to the IgG(T) class of immunoglobulins.
Bürki F, Nowotny N, Hofer A.The commercial vaccine "Resequin F Konz." devised against viral respiratory infections of horses contains the abortigenic Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1). Therefore we had used it in our protection project of the Austrian Lipizzaners+ primarily to prevent abortions. Taking into account the recent perception that for young horses the respiratory-pathogenic EHV-4 type is essential Behringwerke Marburg added this particular virus to their market product to produce a multicomponent experimental vaccine. We examined this vaccine for its antibody induction as well as their persistence against each of i...
Asin J, Nyaoke AC, Samol MA, Arthur RM, Uzal FA.Epiploic foramen entrapment (EFE) is a common cause of small intestinal colic in horses and may lead to intestinal strangulation. Strangulating intestinal obstruction impairs the gastrointestinal outflow and can lead to secondary gastric rupture and endotoxemia. Clostridioides difficile can cause enterotyphlocolitis with colic in horses of all ages, and the process is commonly referred to as C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD). Here we report the results of the postmortem examination of a 7-y-old Thoroughbred racehorse with concurrent CDAD, EFE, and gastric rupture that was euthanized follo...
McDonnell AM, Watson ED.Four pony mares were used in a cross-over study to investigate the effect of different treatments on experimentally-induced endometritis. The mares were treated with progesterone to facilitate establishment of uterine infections. They received an intrauterine infusion of Streptococcus zooepidemicus 5 days after the start of progesterone therapy. Five days later, they were treated by intrauterine infusions of 2 g ampicillin in 50 ml sterile water or by sterile water without antibiotic for 3 consecutive days. Prior to infusion of Strep. zooepidemicus, no bacteria were cultured from the uteri of ...
Gardner AK, Santschi EM, Mudge MC, Belknap JK, Metzler AG.To describe the repair of unstable facial fractures by using Foley catheter balloons as intrasinus bolsters. Methods: Case report ANIMALS: Two weanling foals with unilateral fractures of the sinus and orbit secondary to kick injuries. Preoperative imaging that included positive contrast dacrocystorhinography and computed tomography confirmed severe comminution of facial fractures and nasolacrimal duct disruption in both foals. Methods: Small bone fragments were surgically removed, and large fragments were retained even when denuded of periosteum. Repair procedures included nasolacrimal canalic...
Ramos ICDN, Ramos RADN, Lima VFS, Giannelli A, López IYT, Alves LC.The FLOTAC technique represents a highly sensitive method for the isolation of oocysts, eggs, and larvae of parasites in faeces. This assay could be used for detecting free-living stages of nematodes in the pasture but no attempt has been assessed so far. Therefore, the performance of FLOTAC technique for isolating infective larvae of nematodes in the environment was investigated and compared with the spontaneous sedimentation (SST) and centrifugal sedimentation (CST) techniques. The study was conducted in a horse farm located in northeastern Brazil, where the occurrence of strongyle larvae ha...
Barbey C, Cauchard S, Cauchard J, Laugier C, Hartke A, Petry S.Rhodococcus equi remains a significant pathogen, causing severe pneumonia in foals. The development of vaccines and serologic diagnosis could be greatly facilitated by studying the humoral immune response to this equine pathogen. In this study, a crude extract of R. equi ATCC 33701-secreted proteins combined with the Montanide® ISA70 adjuvant was found to be highly immunogenic in mice with the highest titer of 99,000 on day 42 after the first subcutaneous immunization. This immune response was dependent on the quantity of proteins injected and the presence of adjuvant. By dot-blotting, eight ...
Ueno Y, Uemura R, Niwa H, Higuchi T, Sekiguchi S, Sasaki Y, Sueyoshi M.Equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) caused by Lawsonia intracellularis is characterized by hypoproteinemia. There are currently no reliable reports that provide a reference value for the total serum protein (TP) concentration to clinically diagnose EPE. The objective of this study was to statistically determine the reference value. Feces and sera of 99 foals with EPE-like clinical signs and of 35 healthy foals were obtained. The samples were used for specific-gene detection of L. intracellularis, TP measurement, and specific-antibody detection against L. intracellularis. Based on these resu...
Ryu SH, Koo HC, Lee YW, Park YH, Lee CW.Infectious upper respiratory disease (IURD) of Thoroughbred racehorses has been a frequent problem (29.6% of incidence) at the Seoul Race Park (Korea). Risk factors for IURD include the season with a high transfer rate (summer and fall), the stabling period (≤ 3 months), and age (2 to 3 years old), suggesting that the movement and new environment may have depressed the immune system of the horses and decreased their ability to respond properly to pathogens. The bacterial strains (n = 98) isolated from IURD horses included Pseudomonas spp., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus...
George LW, Tanner ML, Roberson EL, Burke TM.A 6-year-old Thoroughbred gelding was examined because of respiratory disease that developed after it was placed on pasture occupied by a donkey. Clinical signs in the gelding included a harsh, dry paroxysmal cough and increased expiratory effort. Eosinophils were seen in smears of mucus aspirated from the trachea and the bronchi. Immature, 5th-stage Dictyocaulus arnfieldi was identified in the tracheal mucus. The cough and other clinical signs were not diminished by corticosteroid therapy or by the administration of bronchodilators. Treatment with 10-fold therapeutic dosages of thiabendazole ...
Fukushi N, Fukushi H.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is a devastating pathogen of horses, their natural hosts, and causes fatal encephalitis in non-natural hosts. We previously demonstrated that acylation of the tegument protein UL11 is required for viral replication in cultured cells. We created a mutant virus (EHV-1 UL12 trunc UL11 G2AC7AC9A), in which glycyl and cysteinyl residues at positions 2, 7 and 9 of UL11 that are normally acylated were replaced with alanyl residues. This virus, designated the 2/7/9 mutant, has a limited-replication cycle (LRC), in which replication stops after just a few cycles. Here,...
Caffrey CR, Ryan MF.An excretory-secretory (ES) preparation derived from adult Strongylus vulgaris in vitro was assessed for proteolytic activity using azocasein and synthetic, fluorogenic, peptide substrates. Fractionation was by molecular sieve fast protein liquid chromatography (molecular sieve FPLC) and resolution by gelatin-substrate sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (gelatin-substrate SDS-PAGE). The cysteine proteinase activator, dithiothreitol (DTT), enhanced azocaseinolysis and hydrolysis of carbobenzoxy-phenylalanyl-arginine-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin (Z-Phe-Arg-NMec) by the ES pre...
Crosa AT, Katzman SA, Kelleher ME, Nieto JE, Kilcoyne I, Dechant JE.This study reports the prevalence of and risk factors for incisional complications in equids after ventral midline celiotomy for enterolithiasis. This study covered the years 2008 to 2015 and included 72 equids. Enteroliths were removed from the ascending or descending colon through 1 or more enterotomies. Complications were defined as surgical site infection and/or incisional hernia formation. Follow-up by telephone questionnaire or medical records determined that 10/72 (13.9%) equids experienced complications, with 6/72 (8.3%) developing a surgical site infection and 5/72 (6.9%) a hernia. Se...
Larsen M, Nansen P, Grønvold J, Wolstrup J, Henriksen SA.The potential of using fungi to prevent nematodosis caused by parasites with free-living larval stages is well documented today. In this respect Duddingtonia flagrans, a net-trapping, nematode-destroying fungus, appears to be the most promising candidate. Laboratory experiments and in-vivo studies, where fungal spores have survived passage through the gastro-intestinal tract of cattle and horses, plus field studies with cattle, horses and pigs, demonstrate significant reduction in the number of infective larvae that develop in the faecal environment. In field trials this reduction subsequently...
Atkinson JP.1. The globulins of both normal and diphtheria antitoxic serum exhibit chemically toward reagents the same reactions, being precipitated by magnesium sulphate and split up into fractions in precisely the same way. 2. All of the diphtheric antitoxic power of both normal and immunized serum is always carried by the globulin and its fractional precipitates. 3. During the fractional precipitation of the serum globulin of horses immunized from diphtheria toxin and horses not immunized from diphtheria toxin, some of the globulin is lost, likewise at the same time some of the antitoxic power of the g...
Sweeney RW, Sweeney CR, Saik J, Lichtensteiger CA.Chronic granulomatous bowel disease was diagnosed in 3 sibling Standardbred horses. Clinical signs included weight loss, loose feces, and decreased appetite in the terminal stage of the disease. Abnormal laboratory findings included hypoproteinemia and low xylose absorption. Necropsy revealed granulomatous inflammation of the intestines, mesenteric lymph nodes, and liver. Eosinophilic infiltration of the granulomatous lesions was a prominent finding in one horse. A causative agent was not detected by special histochemical staining or bacteriologic culturing.
Mayers J, Westcott D, Steinbach F.Using the commercially available PEPperCHIP® microarray platform, a peptide microarray was developed to identify immunodominant epitopes for the detection of antibodies against Equine arteritis virus (EAV). For this purpose, the whole EAV Bucyrus sequence was used to design a total of 1250 peptides that were synthesized and spotted onto a microarray slide. A panel of 28 serum samples representing a selection of EAV strains was tested using the microarray. Of the 1250 peptides, 97 peptides (7.76%) showed reactivity with the EAV-positive samples. No single peptide was detected by all the positi...
Malmquist WA, Becvar CS.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) cell antigens prepared from infected equine spleen, equine leukocyte cultures or a persistently infected equine dermis cell line contained at least two serologically reacting components. For convenience one component was designated as soluble antigen (SA) and the other as cell-associated antigen (CAA). The SA appeared as a single component when it was prepared from EIA virus precipitated from infectious tissue culture fluid with polyethylene glycol and ether treated but it was mixed with CAA when the source was infected cells. Cytolytic or mechanical disruption o...
