Infectious diseases in horses encompass a range of illnesses caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. These diseases can affect various systems within the equine body, leading to symptoms that range from mild discomfort to severe systemic illness. Common infectious diseases in horses include equine influenza, strangles, equine herpesvirus, and West Nile virus. These diseases can be transmitted through direct contact with infected animals, contaminated surfaces, or vectors such as insects. Understanding the mechanisms of transmission, pathogenesis, and immune response is essential for effective prevention and control. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and management of infectious diseases in horses.
Tanaka T, Kasai H, Yamashita A, Okuyama-Dobashi K, Yasumoto J, Maekawa S, Enomoto N, Okamoto T, Matsuura Y, Morimatsu M, Manabe N, Ochiai K....Equine hepacivirus (EHcV) has been identified as a closely related homologue of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, but not in Asian countries. In this study, we genetically and serologically screened 31 serum samples obtained from Japanese-born domestic horses for EHcV infection and subsequently identified 11 PCR-positive and 7 seropositive serum samples. We determined the full sequence of the EHcV genome, including the 3' untranslated region (UTR), which had previously not been completely revealed. The polyprotein of a Japanese EHcV strain showed ap...
Rash A, Woodward A, Bryant N, McCauley J, Elton D.H3N8 equine influenza virus (EIV) has caused disease outbreaks in horses across the world since its first isolation in 1963. However, unlike human, swine and avian influenza, there is relatively little sequence data available for this virus. The majority of published sequences are for the segment encoding haemagglutinin (HA), one of the two surface glycoproteins, making it difficult to study the evolution of the other gene segments and determine the level of reassortment occurring between sub-lineages. Methods: To facilitate the generation of full genome sequences for EIV, we developed a simpl...
Armstrong SK, Raidal SL, Hughes KJ.Three foals, aged between 5 and 10 days, were presented for assessment of lethargy, abdominal pain and joint effusion. Fibrinous pericarditis and pericardial effusion (PE) were recognised in each foal and considered as sequelae to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and suspected or confirmed septicaemia. Unassigned: Diagnosis of pericarditis was made in two foals by echocardiographic examination and analysis of pericardial fluid, and during postmortem examination of the third foal. In both of the foals that underwent pericardiocentesis, PE was an exudate, no bacteria were identifie...
Williams JH, van Niekerk S, Human S, van Wilpe E, Venter M.Since 2007, West Nile virus (WNV) has been reported in South African horses, causing severe neurological signs. All cases were of lineage 2, except for one case that clustered with lineage 1 viruses. In the present study, gross and microscopic lesions of six South African lineage 2-infected horses and the one lineage 1 case are described. Diagnoses were confirmed by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of central nervous system (CNS) tissue and one by RT-PCR of a brain virus isolate. The CNS of all cases was negative by RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry (IHC) for Afr...
Razmi GR, Abedi V, Yaghfoori S.Toxoplasmosis is an important zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution. The infection is observed in an unusually wide range of warm-blooded animals, including most of the livestock and humans. Many studies have shown high prevalence of toxoplasmosis in man and animals in Iran. The present study was conducted to investigate the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in Turkoman horses in the North Khorasan Province. During 2011-2012, 100 blood samples from horses were collected and tested for antibodies against toxoplasmosis using indirect fluorescent antibody test. The seroprevalence of toxoplas...
Tydén E, Dahlberg J, Karlberg O, Höglund J.The development of anthelmintic resistance (AR) to macrocyclic lactones in the equine roundworm Parascaris equorum has resulted in benzimidazoles now being the most widely used substance to control Parascaris infections. However, over-reliance on one drug class is a risk factor for the development of AR. Consequently, benzimidazole resistance is widespread in several veterinary parasites, where it is associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in drug targets encoded by the β-tubulin genes. The importance of these SNPs varies between different parasitic nematodes, but it has been h...
Annand EJ, Reid PA.The first two confirmed cases of Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) infection in horses are presented. Both cases occurred in the same week in May 2013 in paddock mates in south-east Queensland. Australia has been one of only a few countries considered free from rabies-like viruses in domestic animal species. ABLV infection had previously only been confirmed in bats and humans. All three confirmed human cases were fatal, the latest in February 2013. An additional human case of possible abortive infection in 1996 has also been reported. Both equine cases reported here resulted in euthanasia. The ...
Rebordão MR, Carneiro C, Alexandre-Pires G, Brito P, Pereira C, Nunes T, Galvão A, Leitão A, Vilela C, Ferreira-Dias G.Besides the classical functions, neutrophils (PMNs) are able to release DNA in response to infectious stimuli, forming neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and killing pathogens. The pathogenesis of endometritis in the mare is not completely understood. The aim was to evaluate the in vitro capacity of equine PMNs to secrete NETs by chemical activation, or stimulated with Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (Szoo), Escherichia coli (Ecoli) or Staphylococcus capitis (Scap) strains obtained from mares with endometritis. Ex vivo endometrial mucus from mares with bacterial endometritis wer...
Yin X, Guo M, Gu Q, Wu X, Wei P, Wang X.Tetherin is an interferon-inducible host cell factor that blocks the viral particle release of the enveloped viruses. Most knowledge regarding the interaction between tetherin and viruses has been obtained using the primate lentiviral system. However, much less is known about the functional roles of tetherin on other lentiviruses. Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is an important macrophage-tropic lentivirus that has been widely used as a practical model for investigating the evolution of the host-virus relationship. The host range of EIAV is reported to include all members of the Equidae ...
Palmer DG, Lyon J, Palmer MA, Forshaw D.To determine the specificity and sensitivity of a commercial copro-antigen ELISA for the detection of Fasciola hepatica infection in cattle and sheep and to assess the suitability of the test for use in horses. Methods: Testing was done on more than 100 negative faecal samples from each of sheep, cattle and horses and on at least 40 positive faecal samples from each species. Positive samples were selected based on a positive sedimentation test for liver fluke eggs. Faecal samples of animals from Western Australia, which is free of liver fluke infection, served as negative controls. Specificity...
Bordin AI, Pillai SD, Brake C, Bagley KB, Bourquin JR, Coleman M, Oliveira FN, Mwangi W, McMurray DN, Love CC, Felippe MJ, Cohen ND.Rhodococcus equi is an important pathogen of foals that causes severe pneumonia. To date, there is no licensed vaccine effective against R. equi pneumonia of foals. The objectives of our study were to develop an electron beam (eBeam) inactivated vaccine against R. equi and evaluate its immunogenicity. A dose of eBeam irradiation that inactivated replication of R. equi while maintaining outer cell wall integrity was identified. Enteral administration of eBeam inactivated R. equi increased interferon-γ production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to stimulation with virulent R. ...
Dong J, Cook FR, Haga T, Horii Y, Norimine J, Misawa N, Goto Y, Zhu W.Although equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) poses a major threat to the equine industry worldwide, the molecular epidemiology of this virus is poorly understood. Recently, an EIAV strain (EIAVMiyazaki2011-A) representing a new monophyletic group was discovered in feral horses in southern Japan. In the present study, the EIAVMiyazaki2011-A proviral genome is compared with evolutionarily divergent EIAV isolates to investigate conservation of functional elements or motifs within the long terminal repeats (LTRs) and structural genes. This analysis represents a significant step forward in increa...
Bergström K, Grönlund U.Detection of nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in horses in Sweden has increased attention on infection control (IC) in equine hospitals. This study established baseline data on IC programmes within such settings, evaluated compliance with some IC procedures before and after an education intervention, and examined barriers to compliance.The study was carried out between 2008 and 2011 in four Swedish equine hospitals. Data on current IC of each hospital, purchase data on hand sanitisers and disposable gloves per patient, and direct observations of compliance with...
Sano Y, Matsuda K, Osaki K, Miyasho T, Tsuda T, Taniyama H.A male Thoroughbred fetus was aborted on day 251 of pregnancy. Gross and histological examinations detected systemic granulomatous lesions in many superficial and visceral lymph nodes and organs including the liver, tonsils, lungs, thymus, spleen, right thyroid gland and gastrointestinal tract, and suppurative placentitis, pyogranulomatous amnionitis and intralesional acid-fast bacilli were also detected. An examination of the DNA base sequence of the β subunit of RNA polymerase demonstrated that Mycobacterium avium strain 104 had infected several organs. To the best of our knowledge, this is...
Mendez D, Buttner P, Speare R.Following the emergence of Hendra virus (HeV), private veterinarians have had to adopt additional infection control strategies to manage this zoonosis. Between 1994 and 2010, seven people became infected with HeV, four fatally. All infected people were at a higher risk of exposure from contact with horses as they were either veterinary personnel, assisting veterinarians, or working in the horse industry. The management of emerging zoonoses is best approached from a One Health perspective as it benefits biosecurity as well as a public health, including the health of those most at risk, in this ...
Shinwari MW, Annand EJ, Driver L, Warrilow D, Harrower B, Allcock RJ, Pukallus D, Harper J, Bingham J, Kung N, Diallo IS.In May 2013, the first cases of Australian bat lyssavirus infections in domestic animals were identified in Australia. Two horses (filly-H1 and gelding-H2) were infected with the Yellow-bellied sheathtail bat (YBST) variant of Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV). The horses presented with neurological signs, pyrexia and progressing ataxia. Intra-cytoplasmic inclusion bodies (Negri bodies) were detected in some Purkinje neurons in haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained sections from the brain of one of the two infected horses (H2) by histological examination. A morphological diagnosis of sub-acute m...
Reed DS, Glass PJ, Bakken RR, Barth JF, Lind CM, da Silva L, Hart MK, Rayner J, Alterson K, Custer M, Dudek J, Owens G, Kamrud KI, Parker MD, Smith J.Alphavirus replicons were evaluated as potential vaccine candidates for Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV), or eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) when given individually or in combination (V/W/E) to mice or cynomolgus macaques. Individual replicon vaccines or the combination V/W/E replicon vaccine elicited strong neutralizing antibodies in mice to their respective alphavirus. Protection from either subcutaneous or aerosol challenge with VEEV, WEEV, or EEEV was demonstrated out to 12 months after vaccination in mice. Individual replicon v...
Bowen RA, Bosco-Lauth A, Syvrud K, Thomas A, Meinert TR, Ludlow DR, Cook C, Salt J, Ons E.Over the last years West Nile virus (WNV) lineage 2 has spread from the African to the European continent. This study was conducted to demonstrate efficacy of an inactivated, lineage 1-based, WNV vaccine (Equip WNV) against intrathecal challenge of horses with a recent isolate of lineage 2 WNV. Twenty horses, sero-negative for WNV, were enrolled and were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups: an unvaccinated control group (T01, n=10) and a group administered with Equip WNV (T02, n=10). Horses were vaccinated at Day 0 and 21 and were challenged at day 42 with WNV lineage 2, Nea Sant...
Ma J, Wang SS, Lin YZ, Liu HF, Liu Q, Wei HM, Wang XF, Wang YH, Du C, Kong XG, Zhou JH, Wang X.The Chinese attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine has successfully protected millions of equine animals from EIA disease in China. Given that the induction of immune protection results from the interactions between viruses and hosts, a better understanding of the characteristics of vaccine strain infection and host responses would be useful for elucidating the mechanism of the induction of immune protection by the Chinese attenuated EIAV strain. In this study, we demonstrate in equine monocyte-derived macrophages (eMDM) that EIAVFDDV13, a Chinese attenuated EIAV strain, indu...
Di Gennaro A, Lorusso A, Casaccia C, Conte A, Monaco F, Savini G.A serum neutralization assay (SN) was compared with the official plaque reduction neutralization test for the quantitation of West Nile virus antibodies. A total of 1,348 samples from equid sera and 38 from human sera were tested by these two methods. Statistically significant differences were not observed, thus supporting the use of SN for routine purposes.
Pradier S, Sandoz A, Paul MC, Lefebvre G, Tran A, Maingault J, Lecollinet S, Leblond A.To assess environmental and horse-level risk factors associated with West Nile Virus (WNV) circulation in Camargue, Southern France, a serosurvey was conducted on non-vaccinated horses (n = 1159 from 134 stables) in 2007 and 2008. Fifteen Landsat images were examined to quantify areas with open water and flooded vegetation around sampled horses. Mean percentages of areas of open water and flooded vegetation, as well as variations in these percentages between 3 periods (November to February = NOT, March to July = END and August to October = EPI), were calculated for buffers of 2 km radius aroun...
Haas L.This article combines essential facts of equine infectious anemia. Beside etiology and epidemiology, emphasis is put on the clinical course and laboratory diagnosis. Finally, control measures and prophylactic issues are discussed.
Rodriguez-Palacios A, Barman T, LeJeune JT.The cross-sectional (period) prevalence of Clostridium difficile in 875 farm animals from 29 commercial operations during the summer of 2008 in Ohio, USA was quantified. Compared to an external referent population of intensively managed race horses (12.7%), intensively managed commercially mature food animals (poultry, cattle, swine; < 0.6%) were infrequent shedders of C. difficile (P < 0.00001) during the warmest weeks of 2008. La prévalence par période de chez 875 animaux de ferme provenant de 29 exploitations commerciales durant l’été de 2008 en Ohio, aux États-Unis, est quan...
Carmichael RC, Duell JR, Holbrook TC, Herrin BH, Leutenegger CM, O'Connor TP, Little SE.Abstract Tick infestations and infection with tick-borne agents are commonly recognized in horses in North America, but equine infection with true Ehrlichia spp. has not been described. To determine the degree to which horses in the south-central United States are naturally exposed to and infected with tick-borne disease agents, serum samples were collected at random (n=240) or from horses with active tick infestations (n=73) and tested by immunofluorescence antibody assay (IFA) and/or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for evidence of antibodies reactive to Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma sp...
Dutta SK, Myrup AC.A novel, simple method of infectious center assay was developed to detect and quantitate the intracellular existence of equine herpesvirus 1 and equine herpesvirus 2 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells infected in vivo and in vitro with the viruses by cocultivation of these cells with a permissive equine cell culture. The infectious center titers were correlated with the infectious virus titers. In vivo equine herpesvirus 1-infected mononuclear cells obtained from ponies experimentally infected with the virus and equine herpesvirus 2-infected mononuclear cells obtained from selected naturall...
Mealey RH, Stone DM, Hines MT, Alperin DC, Littke MH, Leib SR, Leach SE, Hines SA.Improving the ability of DNA-based vaccines to induce potent Type1/Th1 responses against intracellular pathogens in large outbred species is essential. Rhodoccocus equi and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) are two naturally occurring equine pathogens that also serve as important large animal models of neonatal immunity and lentiviral immune control. Neonates present a unique challenge for immunization due to their diminished immunologic capabilities and apparent Th2 bias. In an effort to augment R. equi- and EIAV-specific Th1 responses induced by DNA vaccination, we hypothesized that a du...
Phoutrides E, Jusino-Mendez T, Perez-Medina T, Seda-Lozada R, Garcia-Negron M, Davila-Toro F, Hunsperger E.After the isolation of West Nile virus (WNV) from humans, mosquitoes, and chickens in 2007, an analysis of animal surveillance involving multiple species (horses, monkeys, sheep, dogs, and birds) used to track WNV transmission from 2006 to 2008 was performed. During this period 13.4% of all the animal samples collected were seropositive by blocking ELISA for WNV. The most complete island-wide sampling was obtained from horses of which 22% were serologically positive and 96% were confirmed as WNV infections by plaque-reduction neutralization test. Our conclusion from this 3-year study is that a...
Benson CE, Sweeney CR.Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3 was isolated from seven tracheobronchial aspirates and one pleural tap of seven adult horses and one foal. There was no direct evidence in these horses that isolation of the pneumococcus was related to a specific disease syndrome. Presenting complaints included two horses with chronic cough, two horses with decreased exercise tolerance, one horse with exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, and three horses with pneumonia. Antibiotic therapy resolved the primary clinical complaint. This is the first report of the isolation of S. pneumoniae type 3 from adult horse...
Redwan el-RM, Fahmy A, El Hanafy A, Abd El-Baky N, Sallam SM.In view of the disadvantages of human and equine rabies immunoglobulin still there is urgent needs for safe and cost-control anti-rabies immunoglobulins especially for person who have been severely exposed (categories III) to the virus. Our attempt to produce a less immunogenic and cheaper anti-rabies immunoglobulin affordable for those people living in developing countries, has been harnessed the ovine as a bioreactor instead the horse. The animals have been intramuscular immunized, and the plasma processed with 5% caprylic acid to yield IgG with purity of 95%. Moreover, antibody apparently i...
Back H, Berndtsson LT, Gröndahl G, Ståhl K, Pringle J, Zohari S.Equine Influenza Virus (EIV) is a major cause of respiratory disease in horses and the virus constantly undergoes antigenic drift. Here we characterize and describe the HA1 and the NA genes of H3N8 within samples obtained from outbreaks in Sweden during November-December 2011. Both clade 1 and clade 2 viruses of the Florida sublineage were identified. The index case of clade 2 was transported to Sweden from Spain through the Netherlands, whereas the clade 1 had its origin from a Swedish stud farm. The clade 1 virus was efficiently spread between training yards by unvaccinated young horses, but...
Sijmons S, Vissani A, Tordoya MS, Muylkens B, Thiry E, Maes P, Matthijnssens J, Barrandeguy M, Van Ranst M.Equid herpesvirus 3 (EHV-3) is a member of the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae that causes equine coital exanthema. Here, we report the first complete genome sequence of EHV-3. The 151,601-nt genome encodes 76 distinct genes like other equine alphaherpesviruses, but genetically, EHV-3 is significantly more divergent.
Vesonder R, Haliburton J, Stubblefield R, Gilmore W, Peterson S.Corn from an Arkansas farm, where three horses died and others became sick, was investigated for causative principles. Necropsy of the three horses revealed what appeared to be severe hepatic necrosis. Histopathological examination indicated a pattern of hepatic lesions that was suggestive of aflatoxin contamination of the feed. Mycological examination of the corn by dilution plating revealed 95% of the colonies as Aspergillus flavus. Chemical analysis of the corn for mycotoxins was positive for aflatoxin B1, B2, and M1 at concentrations of 114, 10, and 6 micrograms/Kg, respectively. Cyclopiaz...
Parma AE, Sanz ME, Lucchesi PM, Mazzonelli J, Petruccelli MA.A protein epitope which is involved in an antigenic relationship between equine ocular tissues and Leptospira interrogans was detected in homogenates of the bacterium. The antigenic determinant was harboured on a peptide structure which was shown to be sensitive to the action of denaturing and reducing agents by means of Western blotting. The outer surface of the leptospires appeared to be free of this epitope as was proved by dot-blot and electron microscopic studies.
Klouth E, Zablotski Y, Petersen JL, de Bruijn M, Gröndahl G, Müller S, Goehring LS.Equid Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a multifactorial disease following an EHV-1 infection in Equidae. We investigated a total of 589 horses on 13 premises in Europe in search of risk factors for the development of EHM. We found that fever ( < 0.001), increasing age ( = 0.032), and female sex ( = 0.042) were risk factors for EHM in a logistic mixed model. Some breeds had a decreased risk to develop EHM compared to others (Shetland and Welsh ponies; = 0.017; = 0.031), and fewer EHV-1-vaccinated horses were affected by EHM compared to unvaccinated horses ( = 0.02). Data evaluation...
Barrera R, Torres N, Freier JE, Navarro JC, García CZ, Salas R, Vasquez C, Weaver SC.The distribution of the sylvatic subtype ID Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses in the lowland tropical forests of western Venezuela was investigated using remote sensing and geographic information system technologies. Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper satellite imagery was used to study the reflectance patterns of VEE endemic foci and to identify other locations with similar reflectance patterns. Enzootic VEE virus variants isolated during this study are the closest genetic relatives of the epizootic viruses that emerged in western Venezuela during 1992-1993. VEE virus surveillance was condu...
Balantidium coli is a ciliated protozoan that inhabits the large intestine of swine, man, rodents, and nonhuman primates. Frequently this organism is associated with enteric diseases in man and nonhuman primates, with rare manifestations of disease in swine and other mammalian species. This report describes a case of B. coli-induced enteric disease in a 15-yr-old, mare, Finnish Horse after an acute onset of colic. Severe hemorrhagic and eosinophilic colitis with intense infiltration of intralesional B. coli-like ciliated protozoan were found histologically.
Jones RL, Adney WS, Alexander AF, Shideler RK, Traub-Dargatz JL.Severe hemorrhagic necrotizing enterocolitis was determined to be the cause of death for 4 foals. Toxigenic Clostridium difficile was isolated form the intestine of each foal, and large, gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria lined the surface of necrotic villi. This finding of toxigenic C difficile associated with enteritis in foals adds another possible cause to the list of infectious agents that should be considered when evaluating foals with enteritis. Definitive diagnosis requires a thorough diagnostic evaluation, including procedures that will identify the organism and demonstrate its toxige...
Yuan ZQ, Bennett L, Campo MS, Nasir L.BPV-1 and less commonly BPV-2 are associated with the pathogenesis of equine skin tumours termed sarcoids. We recently documented the transcriptional changes that are induced by BPV-1 in equine fibroblasts using microarray analyses. TLR4 expression was found to be significantly down-regulated by BPV-1. In the present study, we show that TLR4 expression is significantly decreased following the exogenous expression of BPV-1 E2 and E7 in primary equine fibroblasts. The results were confirmed by the demonstration of increased TLR4 expression following siRNA suppression of BPV-1 E2 and E7 viral gen...
El-Hage CM, Bamford NJ, Gilkerson JR, Lynch SE.Ross River virus (RRV) is a mosquito-borne arbovirus of the genus Alphavirus that causes disease in humans and horses in Australia. A temporal association of RRV infection in horses with clinical signs including pyrexia, malaise, and polyarthralgia has been reported, along with reduced athletic performance, often for extended periods. Despite these reports, disease due to RRV remains somewhat controversial as experimental infection of horses has resulted in obvious viraemia yet minimal signs of clinical disease. The relatively high viraemia demonstrated by horses infected with RRV has led to s...
Dubey JP.Thirteen 6-month- to 13-year-old equids were each inoculated orally with 10,000 infective Toxoplasma gondii oocysts. The equids remained clinically normal. Equids were euthanatized on postinoculation days 33, 45, 90, 104, 120, 140, 162, 183, 197, 204, 211, 294, and 476. Their tissues were bioassayed for viable oocysts by feeding muscles to Toxoplasma-free cats and by inoculation of pepsin digests of 13 organs into mice. Using mouse inoculation, T gondii was recovered from tissues of the 9 equids euthanatized on each of postinoculation days 33, 45, 120, 140, 183, 197, 211, 294, and 476. Toxopla...
Scala A, Tamponi C, Sanna G, Predieri G, Meloni L, Knoll S, Sedda G, Dessì G, Cappai MG, Varcasia A.Equine ascariosis, caused by Parascaris spp., is a worldwide endoparasitic disease affecting young horses in particular. Despite the great number of horses reared in Italy, large-scale epidemiological surveys dealing with ascariosis prevalence in the country are not reported in the current literature. For this reason, the present survey aims to describe, for the first time, the spread and infestation of Parascaris spp. in a large population of Italian horses (6896 animals) using faecal egg counts, and further to identify risk factors associated with ascarid egg shedding. Methods: Individual re...
Preziuso S, Pinho MD, Attili AR, Melo-Cristino J, Acke E, Midwinter AC, Cuteri V, Ramirez M.Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (SDSE) can be severely pathogenic in humans and is increasingly isolated from horses with respiratory, reproductive or other diseases, although it is often considered a commensal bacterium. Here a PCR protocol is described for identifying SDSE recovered from humans. A multiplex PCR targeting the 16S rRNA and the streptokinase precursor gene has been optimized for differentiating between SDSE strains isolated from humans and those isolated from horses. Previously, the sequence of the streptokinase precursor gene of SDSE recovered from horses has bee...
Browning GF, Studdert MJ.The BamHI, EcoRI, and HindIII physical maps of the genomes of 14 isolates of equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV 2) were determined by Southern blot analysis using DNA fragments of a previously mapped EHV 2 strain 86/67. No two isolates had identical maps for all 3 enzymes, the number of differing cleavage sites between pairs of isolates varying from 3 to 21. Overall 75 cleavage sites were mapped, of which 40 were variable. Cleavage sites occurred throughout the genome, including within the terminal repeat regions. Additionally, fragment length polymorphisms, independent of cleavage site loss or gain, w...
Gutiérrez S, Thébaud G, Smith DR, Kenney JL, Weaver SC.The within-host diversity of virus populations can be drastically limited during between-host transmission, with primary infection of hosts representing a major constraint to diversity maintenance. However, there is an extreme paucity of quantitative data on the demographic changes experienced by virus populations during primary infection. Here, the multiplicity of cellular infection (MOI) and population bottlenecks were quantified during primary mosquito infection by Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, an arbovirus causing neurological disease in humans and equids.
Epp TY, Waldner C, Berke O.The objective of this study was to develop a model using equine data from geographically limited surveillance locations to predict risk categories for West Nile virus (WNV) infection in horses in all geographic locations across the province of Saskatchewan. The province was divided geographically into low-, medium-, or high-risk categories for WNV, based on available serology information from 923 horses obtained through 4 studies of WNV infection in horse populations in Saskatchewan. Discriminant analysis was used to build models using the observed risk of WNV in horses and geographic division...
Wilkins PA, Glaser AL, McDonnell SM.Horses naturally exposed to West Nile Virus (WNV) or vaccinated against WNV develop humoral immunity thought to be protective against development of clinical disease in exposed or infected animals. No reports evaluate the efficacy of passive transfer of naturally acquired specific WNV humoral immunity from dam to foal. The purpose of this study was to investigate passive transfer of naturally acquired immunity to WNV to foals born in a herd of semi-feral ponies, not vaccinated against WNV, in an endemic area, with many dams having seroconverted because of natural exposure. Microwell serum neut...
Scacchia M, Cammà C, Di Francesco G, Di Provvido A, Giunta R, Luciani M, Marino AM, Pascucci I, Caporale V.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.
Barr B, Nieman NM.Sepsis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal foals, especially during the first 7 days of life. Diagnosing sepsis in neonatal foals can be challenging because initial clinical signs are often ambiguous and non-specific. Objective: To determine if the major acute phase protein serum amyloid A (SAA) as measured by a point-of-care SAA testing device can be used as an evidence-based biomarker of sepsis. Methods: Retrospective cohort. Methods: Clinical diagnosis of sepsis based on positive bacterial blood culture or a positive sepsis score was obtained and compared to SAA v...
Leigh JA.A protein capable of activating bovine, equine and ovine plasminogen, but not that from human or porcine plasma, was purified from culture filtrates of Streptococcus uberis (strain 0140J). Purification was achieved by ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by molecular exclusion chromatography. The elution position of the native molecule was equivalent to a molecular mass of approximately 57 kDa. However, the molecular mass, as determined by SDS-PAGE, was 29 kDa, suggesting the existence of a dimeric structure. Purified immunoglobulin from three out of five monoclonal antibodies raised to th...
Wada S, Hobo S, Ode H, Niwa H, Moriyama H.To describe the incidence, clinical progress, visual outcome, and laboratory findings of equine keratomycosis in Japan. Methods: Retrospective study of the medical records of horses clinically and mycologically diagnosed with keratomycosis at the Equine Hospitals of the Japan Racing Association from 2005 to 2011. Results: The diagnosis of keratomycosis was confirmed in eight horses (40.0% of the 20 horses with infectious keratitis from which fungi and/or bacteria were isolated). Fungi recovered from corneal swabs were identified as Aspergillus flavus (4), Aspergillus niger (1), Fusarium sol...
