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.
Lester HE, Matthews JB.Equine gastrointestinal nematodes are ubiquitous; in horses that graze contaminated pasture and that are not treated appropriately, large numbers of worms can accumulate, which can lead to serious clinical disease. Nematode control has traditionally followed interval treatment regimens, which involve regular anthelmintic administration to all horses based on the strongyle egg reappearance periods of each drug, usually defined around the time of licensing. Interval treatment programmes have resulted in substantial reductions in large strongyle disease, but have made major contributions to the d...
Vignjević G, Vrućina I, Sestak I, Turić N, Bogojević MS, Merdić E.The West Nile Virus (WNV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that has recently been causing outbreaks in many countries in southern and Central Europe. In 2012, for the first time, it caused an outbreak in eastern Croatia with total of 7 human clinical cases. With an aim of assisting public health personnel in order to improve survey protocols and vector control, the high risk areas of the WNV transmission were estimated and mapped. The study area included cities of Osijek and Slavonski Brod and 8 municipalities in Vukovarsko-Srijemska County. Risk estimation was based on seroprevalence of WNV infections...
Scofield D, Black J, Wittenburg L, Gustafson D, Ferris R, Hatzel J, Traub-Dargatz J, McCue P.Systemic administration of ceftiofur crystalline free acid (CCFA) may be a potential treatment for infectious endometritis caused by Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) and other susceptible bacterial organisms in the mare. Objective: To determine if i.m. administration of CCFA at the label dose will exceed the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of S. zooepidemicus in the endometrium following single administration and multiple administration protocols. Methods: Experimental pharmacokinetic study. Methods: Three mares (Group 1) were administered a single i.m. dos...
Baghi HB, Laval K, Favoreel H, Nauwynck HJ.The nasal mucosa surface is continuously confronted with a broad variety of environmental antigens, ranging from harmless agents to potentially harmful pathogens. This area is under rigorous control of professional antigen presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages. Mucosal APCs play a crucial role in inducing primary immune responses and the establishment of an immunological memory. In the present study, a detailed characterization of CD172a(+) cells, containing the APCs residing in the equine nasal mucosa was performed for the first time. CD172a(+) cells were isol...
Burnell FJ, Holmes MA, Roiko AH, Lowe JB, Heil GL, White SK, Gray GC.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is considered enzootic in Europe (except Iceland), Asia, North Africa, and North and South America. When EIV outbreaks occur they may severely impact the equine and tourist industries. Australia faced its first EIV outbreak beginning in August of 2007. The outbreak was concentrated in New South Wales and Queensland, with more than 1400 confirmed EIV infections in horses during the first month. Rapid response from the equine industry and the federal government was successful and Australia was declared free from EIV by the end of 2007. Objective: This cross-sectional...
Ruple-Czerniak A, Bolte DS, Burgess BA, Morley PS.Nosocomial salmonellosis is an important problem in veterinary hospitals that treat horses and other large animals. Detection and mitigation of outbreaks and prevention of healthcare-associated infections often require detection of Salmonella enterica in the hospital environment. Objective: To compare 2 previously published methods for detecting environmental contamination with S. enterica in a large animal veterinary teaching hospital. Methods: Hospital-based comparison of environmental sampling techniques. Methods: A total of 100 pairs of environmental samples were collected from stalls us...
Hussey GS, Goehring LS, Lunn DP, Hussey SB, Huang T, Osterrieder N, Powell C, Hand J, Holz C, Slater J.Equine herpesvirus myeloencephalitis (EHM) remains one of the most devastating manifestations of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) infection but our understanding of its pathogenesis remains rudimentary, partly because of a lack of adequate experimental models. EHV-1 infection of the ocular vasculature may offer an alternative model as EHV-1-induced chorioretinopathy appears to occur in a significant number of horses, and the pathogenesis of EHM and ocular EHV-1 may be similar. To investigate the potential of ocular EHV-1 as a model for EHM, and to determine the frequency of ocular EHV-1, our ...
Carossino M, Thiry E, de la Grandière A, Barrandeguy ME.The current production of inactivated vaccines for the prevention of equine alphavirus encephalitides caused by Eastern, Western and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis viruses (EEEV, WEEV, VEEV) involves the manipulation of large quantities of infectious viral particles under biosafety level 3 containment laboratories with the potential risk of transmission to the operators. Moreover, these vaccines are not capable of inducing a long-lasting immunity. Modified live vaccines, which were also attempted, maintain residual virulence and neurotropism, causing disease in both horses and humans. Therefor...
Craigo JK, Montelaro RC.Equine infectious anemia (EIA), identified in 1843 [1] as an infectious disease of horses and as a viral infection in 1904, remains a concern in veterinary medicine today. Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has served as an animal model of HIV-1/AIDS research since the original identification of HIV. Similar to other lentiviruses, EIAV has a high propensity for genomic sequence and antigenic variation, principally in its envelope (Env) proteins. However, EIAV possesses a unique and dynamic disease presentation that has facilitated comprehensive analyses of the interactions between the evolv...
Bolfa P, Nolf M, Cadoré JL, Catoi C, Archer F, Dolmazon C, Mornex JF, Leroux C.EIA (Equine Infectious Anemia) is a blood-borne disease primarily transmitted by haematophagous insects or needle punctures. Other routes of transmission have been poorly explored. We evaluated the potential of EIAV (Equine Infectious Anemia Virus) to induce pulmonary lesions in naturally infected equids. Lungs from 77 EIAV seropositive horses have been collected in Romania and France. Three types of lesions have been scored on paraffin-embedded lungs: lymphocyte infiltration, bronchiolar inflammation, and thickness of the alveolar septa. Expression of the p26 EIAV capsid (CA) protein has been...
Martins G, Lilenbaum W.Leptospirosis is an important disease caused by various serovars of Leptospira sp. It can affect humans as well as domestic and wild animals; therefore, it has importance for public health, animal production, and wild species. The aim of this paper is to discuss the epidemiology of animal leptospirosis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a possible model for other tropical regions. In several studies conducted in the last 20 years, a total of 47 rats, 120 dogs, 875 cows, 695 horses, 1,343 goats, 308 sheep and 351 pigs from all regions of the state, in addition to 107 wild mammals and 73 golden-lion...
Wang M, Guo W, Igarashi I, Xuan X, Wang X, Xiang W, Jia H.The objective of this study is to investigate the seroprevalence of equine piroplasmosis in China. A total of 1990 sera were collected from clinically healthy horses in various districts located in ten different provinces of China and examined by using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) with recombinant Theileria equi (T. equi) merozoite antigen 2 (rEMA-2) and Babesia caballi (B. caballi) 48-kDa rhoptry protein (rBc48), respectively. The results showed that 1,018 (51.16%) and 229 (11.51%) samples were positive for B. caballi and T. equi infection, respectively. The number of ...
Ruple-Czerniak AA, Aceto HW, Bender JB, Paradis MR, Shaw SP, Van Metre DC, Weese JS, Wilson DA, Wilson J, Morley PS.Methods that can be used to estimate rates of healthcare-associated infections and other nosocomial events have not been well established for use in equine hospitals. Traditional laboratory-based surveillance is expensive and cannot be applied in all of these settings. Objective: To evaluate the use of a syndromic surveillance system for estimating rates of occurrence of healthcare-associated infections among hospitalised equine cases. Methods: Multicentre, prospective longitudinal study. Methods: This study included weaned equids (n = 297) that were admitted for gastrointestinal disorders at ...
Galvin P, Gildea S, Arkins S, Walsh C, Cullinane A.Antibodies against equine influenza virus (EIV) are traditionally quantified by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) or single radial haemolysis (SRH). Objective: To evaluate an ELISA for the detection of antibodies against influenza nucleoprotein in the diagnosis and surveillance of equine influenza (EI). Methods: The ELISA was compared with the SRH and HI tests. Serial serum samples from 203 naturally and 14 experimentally infected horses, from 60 weanlings following primary vaccination with five different vaccines (two whole inactivated vaccines, two ISCOM-based subunit vaccines and a recombin...
Loncaric I, Künzel F, Licka T, Simhofer H, Spergser J, Rosengarten R.The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance, resistance gene patterns and genetic relatedness of a collection of Austrian methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from companion animals and horses. A total of 89 non-repetitive MRSA isolates collected during routine veterinary microbiological examinations from April 2004 to the end of 2012, and one isolate from 2013 were used for this study. The presence of mecA and other resistance genes was confirmed by PCR. Isolates were genotyped by spa typing, two multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat ana...
Morens DM, Taubenberger JK.Influenza A viruses are globally enzootic in swine populations. Swine influenza has been recognised only since 1918, but an anecdotal report suggests that a swine-influenza epizootic might have occurred in England in 1892, at the same time as an explosive epidemic (or pandemic recurrence) of human influenza. This outbreak suggests that the ecobiological association between human and swine influenza could extend to before 1918. By contrast with the recent documentation of swine influenza, influenza in horses has been well documented for hundreds of years, and was often linked temporally and geo...
Wang HH, Kung NY, Grant WE, Scanlan JC, Field HE.Zoonoses from wildlife threaten global public health. Hendra virus is one of several zoonotic viral diseases that have recently emerged from Pteropus species fruit-bats (flying-foxes). Most hypotheses regarding persistence of Hendra virus within flying-fox populations emphasize horizontal transmission within local populations (colonies) via urine and other secretions, and transmission among colonies via migration. As an alternative hypothesis, we explore the role of recrudescence in persistence of Hendra virus in flying-fox populations via computer simulation using a model that integrates publ...
Gildea S, Fitzpatrick DA, Cullinane A.Outbreaks of equine influenza (EI) in endemic populations cause disruption and economic loss. Objective: To identify (i) factors involved in the spread of EI (ii) virus strains responsible for outbreaks (iii) single radial haemolysis (SRH) antibody levels correlating with protection against current virus strains (iv) evidence of vaccination breakdown. Methods: RT-PCR, virus isolation and SRH were carried out on nasopharyngeal swabs and blood samples collected from horses, ponies and donkeys on affected premises. Data relating to 629 samples from 135 equidae were analysed. Conclusions: Outbreak...
Moreau MM, Eades SC, Reinemeyer CR, Fugaro MN, Onishi JC.In the equine carbohydrate overload model of acute laminitis, disease progression is associated with changes in bacteria found in the cecum. To date, research has focused on changes in specific Gram-positive bacteria in this portion of the intestinal tract. Metagenomic methods are now available making it possible to interrogate microbial communities using animal protocols that sufficiently power a study. In this study, the microbiota in cecal fluid collected from control, non-laminitic horses (n=8) and from horses with early-stage acute laminitis induced with either oligofructan (n=6) or corns...
Prow NA.West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne virus responsible for outbreaks of viral encephalitis in humans and horses, with particularly virulent strains causing recent outbreaks of disease in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North America. A strain of WNV, Kunjin (WNVKUN), is endemic in northern Australia and infection with this virus is generally asymptomatic. However in early 2011, an unprecedented outbreak of encephalitis in horses occurred in south-eastern Australia, resulting in mortality in approximately 10%-15% of infected horses. A WNV-like virus (WNVNSW2011) was isolated and found ...
Riesenberg A, Feßler AT, Erol E, Prenger-Berninghoff E, Stamm I, Böse R, Heusinger A, Klarmann D, Werckenthin C, Schwarz S.The aim of this study was to determine the MICs of 32 antimicrobial agents for 200 isolates of Rhodococcus equi of animal origin by applying a recently described broth microdilution protocol, and to investigate isolates with distinctly elevated rifampicin MICs for the genetic basis of rifampicin resistance. Methods: The study included 200 R. equi isolates, including 160 isolates from horses and 40 isolates from other animal sources, from the USA and Europe. MIC testing of 32 antimicrobial agents or combinations thereof followed a recently published protocol. A novel PCR protocol for the joint ...
Donadieu E, Bahuon C, Lowenski S, Zientara S, Coulpier M, Lecollinet S.West Nile virus (WNV) is a neurotropic flavivirus that cycles between mosquitoes and birds but that can also infect humans, horses, and other vertebrate animals. In most humans, WNV infection remains subclinical. However, 20%-40% of those infected may develop WNV disease, with symptoms ranging from fever to meningoencephalitis. A large variety of WNV strains have been described worldwide. Based on their genetic differences, they have been classified into eight lineages; the pathogenic strains belong to lineages 1 and 2. Ten years ago, Beasley et al. (2002) found that dramatic differences exist...
Waller AS, Robinson C.The host-restricted bacterium Streptococcus equi is the causative agent of equine strangles, the most frequently diagnosed infectious disease of horses worldwide. The disease is characterized by abscessation of the lymph nodes of the head and neck, leading to significant welfare and economic cost. S. equi is believed to have evolved from an ancestral strain of Streptococcus zooepidemicus, an opportunistic pathogen of horses and other animals. Comparison of the genome of S. equi strain 4047 with those of S. zooepidemicus identified examples of gene loss due to mutation and deletion, and gene ga...
Rosa R, Costa EA, Marques RE, Oliveira TS, Furtini R, Bomfim MR, Teixeira MM, Paixão TA, Santos RL.St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) is a causative agent of encephalitis in humans in the Western hemisphere. SLEV is a positive-sense RNA virus that belongs to the Flavivirus genus, which includes West Nile encephalitis virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Dengue virus and other medically important viruses. Recently, we isolated a SLEV strain from the brain of a horse with neurological signs in the countryside of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The SLEV isolation was confirmed by reverse-transcription RT-PCR and sequencing of the E protein gene. Virus identity was also confirmed by indirect immunofluore...
Rushton JO, Kolodziejek J, Tichy A, Nowotny N, Nell B.To date the influence of herpesviruses on the development of equine ocular diseases has not been clearly determined. Objective: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the course of equine ocular findings over a period of 18 months at 6 month intervals, in correlation with the results of herpesvirus detection. Methods: 266 Lipizzaners in 3 federal states of Austria underwent complete ophthalmologic examination 4 times. Blood samples, nasal- and conjunctival swabs were obtained at the same time and used for the detection of the equid gammaherpesviruses EHV-2 and EHV-5 using consensus herpes...
Velineni S, Breathnach CC, Timoney JF.Streptococcus zooepidemicus (Sz) is a tonsillar commensal of healthy horses but with potential to opportunistically invade the lower respiratory tract. Sz is genetically variable and recombinogenic based on analysis of gene sequences including szp, szm and MLST data. Although a variety of serovars of the protective SzP are commonly harbored in the tonsils of the same horse, lower respiratory infections usually involve a single clone. Nevertheless, isolation of specific clones from epizootics of respiratory disease has been recently reported in horses and dogs in N. America, Europe and Asia. In...
Tarr CJ, Thompson PN, Guthrie AJ, Harper CK.The carrier prevalence of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), lavender foal syndrome (LFS) and cerebellar abiotrophy (CA) in Arabian foals in South Africa was determined in order to quantify the potential impact of these conditions locally. Furthermore, the carrier prevalence of SCID prior to and following the introduction of a genetic test was compared to evaluate the effect of testing in the population. Objective: To estimate the carrier prevalence of SCID, LFS and CA in registered purebred Arabians born in South Africa in the 2004/5 and 2009/10 foaling seasons and compare the changes i...
Barros IN, Silva SO, Nogueira Neto FS, Asano KM, Souza SP, Richtzenhain LJ, Brandao PE.Gastroenteritis is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among young and newborn animals and is often caused by multiple intestinal infections, with rotavirus and bovine coronavirus (BCoV) being the main viral causes in cattle. Given that BCoV is better studied than equine coronaviruses and given the possibility of interspecies transmission of these viruses, this research was designed to compare the partial sequences of the spike glycoprotein (S), hemagglutinin-esterase protein (HE), and nucleoprotein (N) genes from coronaviruses from adult cattle with winter dysentery, calves w...
Ciupe SM, Schwartz EJ.We develop a mathematical model for the interaction between two competing equine infectious anemia virus strains and neutralizing antibodies. We predict that elimination of one or both virus strains depends on the initial antibody levels, the strength of antibody mediated neutralization, and the persistence of antibody over time. We further show that the ability of a subdominant, neutralization resistant virus to dominate the infection transiently or permanently is dependent on the antibody-mediated neutralization effect. Finally, we determine conditions for persistence of both virus strains. ...
Hill DE, Forbes L, Gajadhar AA, Gamble HR.Many aspects of the biology and epidemiology of Trichinella infection in the horse are poorly understood, including survival of Trichinella spp in horse muscle. In this study, we have assessed the freeze tolerance of T. spiralis in horse meat stored at 5, -5, and -18 degrees C for 1 day to 24 weeks. Results demonstrate a steady reduction in the number of live ML recovered from the cold stored meat samples. On Day 1, recovery of live larvae had been reduced by 18.6%, 50.1%, and 37.2%, and by 4 weeks, recovery of larvae had been reduced by 65.4%, 66.5%, and 96.2% in samples stored at 5, -5, and ...
Gryspeerdt AC, Vandekerckhove AP, Baghi HB, Van de Walle GR, Nauwynck HJ.Equine herpes virus (EHV)-1 replicates in the epithelial cells of the upper respiratory tract and reaches the lamina propria and bloodstream in infected mononuclear cells. This study evaluated expression of the late viral proteins gB, gC, gD and gM in respiratory epithelial and mononuclear cells using: (1) epithelial-like rabbit kidney cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells infected with EHV-1 in vitro; (2) an equine ex vivo nasal explant system; and (3) nasal mucosa tissue of ponies infected in vivo. The viral proteins were expressed in all late-infected epithelial cells, whereas expres...
Lundberg L, Fontenot J, Lin SC, Pinkham C, Carey BD, Campbell CE, Kehn-Hall K.Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a positive sense, single-stranded RNA virus and member of the New World alphaviruses. It causes a biphasic febrile illness that can be accompanied by central nervous system involvement and moderate morbidity in humans and severe mortality in equines. The virus has a history of weaponization, lacks FDA-approved therapeutics and vaccines in humans, and is considered a select agent. Like other RNA viruses, VEEV replicates in the cytoplasm of infected cells and eventually induces apoptosis. The capsid protein, which contains a nuclear localization and...
Wang H, Liu S, Lv Y, Wei W.Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is an emerging zoonotic virus in the alphavirus genus. It can be transmitted to humans due to spillover from equid-mosquito cycles. The symptoms caused by VEEV include fever, headache, myalgia, nausea, and vomiting. It can also cause encephalitis in severe cases. The evolutionary features of VEEV are largely unknown. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the codon usage pattern of VEEV by computing a variety of indicators, such as effective number of codons (ENc), codon adaptation index (CAI), relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU), on 130 VEEV ...
Di Rubbo A, McNabb L, Klein R, White JR, Colling A, Dimitrov DS, Broder CC, Middleton D, Lunt RA.Maintenance of Hendra virus (HeV) in pteropid bat populations has been associated with spillover events in horses, humans and dogs. Experimental studies have demonstrated infections for several other species including guinea pigs, cats and ferrets. The criteria of a sensitive and specific serological test that is effective for a range of species, but which does not require use of live virus, has not been satisfactorily addressed by currently available tests. We have evaluated the use of two HeV neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in a blocking format enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bE...
Guo X, Izume S, Okada A, Ohya K, Kimura T, Fukushi H.A strain of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) was isolated from zebra. This strain, called "zebra-borne EHV-1", was also isolated from an onager and a gazelle in zoological gardens in U.S.A. The full genome sequences of the 3 strains were determined. They shared 99% identities with each other, while they shared 98% and 95% identities with the horse derived EHV-1 and equine herpesvirus type 9, respectively. Sequence data indicated that the EHV-1 isolated from a polar bear in Germany is one of the zebra-borne EHV-1 and not a recombinant virus. These results indicated that zebra-borne EHV-1 is a ...
Braid LR, Hu WG, Davies JE, Nagata LP.: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are being exploited as gene delivery vectors for various disease and injury therapies. We provide proof-of-concept that engineered MSCs can provide a useful, effective platform for protection against infectious disease. Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen affecting humans and equines and can be used in bio-warfare. No licensed vaccine or antiviral agent currently exists to combat VEEV infection in humans. Direct antibody administration (passive immunity) is an effective, but short-lived, method of providing immediate prote...
Temesgen T, Getachew Y, Negussie H.Equine herpesvirus (EHV) infections have major economic, health, and welfare impacts on equids. This study was performed in three selected zones of central Ethiopia with the objectives of detecting EHV-1, -2, and -5 in horses and donkeys with suggestive signs of respiratory tract disease and to assess epidemiological risk factors associated with infections. Methods: A total of 58 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from donkeys and horses showing clinical signs of respiratory disease. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect EHV-1, -2, and -5. Evaluation of the associated risk...
Kamada M, Wada R, Kumanomido T, Imagawa H, Sugiura T, Fukunaga Y.A study was performed to examine the effect of viral inoculum size on the appearance of clinical signs in equine Getah virus (GV) infection by intramuscular inoculation with 10(1.3) to 10(6.3) TCID50 of the MI-110 strain in 6 experimental horses. When inoculated with more than 10(3.3) TCID50 of the virus, every horse developed pyrexia, edema in the hind legs, serous nasal discharge, lymphopenia and viremia in the relatively early stage of disease. On the other hand, enlargement of the submandibular lymph node was observed only in horses inoculated with 10(5.3) and 10(6.3) TCID50 of the virus, ...
Kudirkiene E, Welker M, Knudsen NR, Bojesen AM.Streptococcus equi includes very important animal and human pathogens. S. equi subsp. equi (SEE) is a highly pathogenic equine specific subspecies, while S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus (SEZ) and S. equi subsp. ruminatorum are opportunistic pathogens of various animal species and humans. Due to great phenotypic and sequence similarity between three subspecies their discrimination remains difficult. In this study, we aimed to design and validate a novel, Superspectra based, MALDI-TOF MS approach for reliable, rapid and cost-effective identification of SEE and SEZ, the most frequent S. equi subspec...
Schlater LK, Brenner DJ, Steigerwalt AG, Moss CW, Lambert MA, Packer RA.The name Pasteurella caballi is proposed for a group of organisms represented by 29 strains isolated from respiratory and other infections in horses. P. caballi strains are gram-negative, oxidase-positive, nonmotile, fermentative rods with the key characteristics of the genus Pasteurella. These strains differed from other Pasteurella species in that all were aerogenic and catalase negative, and some strains produced acid from myo-inositol and L-rhamnose. The levels of DNA relatedness of 28 P. caballi strains with labeled DNA from the proposed type strain averaged 91 and 85% (hydroxyapatite met...
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...
Laroucau K, Lucia de Assis Santana V, Girault G, Martin B, Miranda da Silveira PP, Brasil Machado M, Joseph M, Wernery R, Wernery U, Zientara S....We present the first molecular characterisation based on MLVA and SNP analysis of a strain of Burkholderia mallei isolated from a mule found dead in Brazil in 2016.
Morel AP, Webster A, Zitelli LC, Umeno K, Souza UA, Prusch F, Anicet M, Marsicano G, Bandarra P, Trainini G, Stocker J, Giani D, Fortes FB, Goenaga S....West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne Flavivirus that can affect birds, horses, and humans, and is the only zoonotic Flavivirus that has been identified in six continents. In Brazil, until 2010, there was no evidence of WNV circulation. Recently, the virus was isolated from a horse with encephalitis, and the first human cases were registered in Brazil. Despite that, there is still no information on the enzootic cycle of this virus in birds or wildlife. This study aimed to investigate whether there is evidence of WNV circulation among wild birds from Southern Brazil. For this, we used free-...
Battsetseg B, Lucero S, Xuan X, Claveria F, Byambaa B, Battur B, Boldbaatar D, Batsukh Z, Khaliunaa T, Battsetseg G, Igarashi I, Nagasawa H....Babesia equi (EMA-1) and Babesia caballi (BC48) gene fragments were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in blood samples, and partially fed-females and egg and larval progenies of Dermacentor nuttalli, collected from horses in Altanbulag, Tuv Province, Mongolia. While Babesia parasite DNA was detected in some horse blood samples during the first PCR, all positive cases in partially fed-female ticks, eggs and larvae were confirmed by nested PCR. Present study reinforces earlier similar findings in unfed D. nuttalli ticks collected from an open space vegetation in Bayanonjuul, Tuv Prov...
Hu Z, Chang H, Chu X, Li S, Wang M, Wang X.The equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) capsid protein (p26) is one of the major immunogenic proteins during EIAV infection and is widely used for the detection of EIAV antibodies in horses. However, few reports have described the use of EIAV-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in etiological and immunological detection. Previously, we developed an antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (AC-ELISA) for the quantification of the EIAV p26 protein level. However, the epitopes recognized by the MAbs were not identified, and the utilization of the MAbs needs to be evaluated. In this ...
Qi T, Ai J, Sun Y, Ma H, Kang M, You X, Li J.Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the obligate intracellular protozoan parasite which is widely prevalent in humans and animals worldwide. The diagnosis of toxoplasmosis and distinguishing acute or chronic infections have utmost importance for humans and animals. The SAG1, GRA7, and BAG1 proteins were used in the present study to develop the serological rSAG1-ELISA, rGRA7-ELISA and rBAG1-ELISA methods for the testing of specific IgG and IgM antibodies and differentiating acute or chronic toxoplasmosis in 3733 animals, including Tibetan sheep, yaks, pigs, cows, cattle, horses, ch...
Escherichia coli F17 isolated from horse feces was studied in respect to the O antigen (O polysaccharide) structure and genetics. The lipopolysaccharide was isolated by phenol-water extraction of bacterial cells and cleaved by mild acid hydrolysis to yield the O polysaccharide, which was studied by sugar analysis and selective solvolysis with CFCOH along with one- and two-dimensional H and C NMR spectroscopy. The O polysaccharide was found to have a branched pentasaccharide repeat (O-unit) containing one residue each of d-galactose, d-mannose, l-rhamnose, d-glucuronic acid, and N-acetyl-d-gluc...
Rhodes JB, Schweitzer D, Ogg JE.Non-O1 Vibrio cholerae was isolated from a horse (Equus caballus), a lamb (genus Ovis), and two American buffalo (Bison bison) suffering from enteric disease in the western part of Colorado. In 1981, a foal died of apparent respiratory failure. Necropsy findings included heart failure and gastroenteritis. V. cholerae serovar 347 (Smith) was isolated from the colon of this animal. V. cholerae serovar 27 (Smith) was isolated in 1983 from the intestine of a feedlot lamb suffering from pneumonia and severe watery diarrhea. In 1984, an enteric disease occurred in a herd of American bison. The sick ...
Schlottau K, Fereidouni S, Beer M, Hoffmann B.Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-sense RNA virus belonging to the genus Hepacivirus, family Flaviviridae. Its genome has a length of 9.6 kb and encodes a single polyprotein flanked by two untranslated regions. HCV can cause liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and approximately 2% of the world's population is chronically infected. The investigation of pathogenesis is complicated due to the lack of an animal model. The origin of this virus remains unclear, but in the last few years, relatives of HCV were initially identified in dogs and later in horses, rodents, bats and Old World...
Kuhnert P, Korczak B, Falsen E, Straub R, Hoops A, Boerlin P, Frey J, Mutters R.Gram-negative, nonmotile bacteria that are catalase, oxidase, and urease positive are regularly isolated from the airways of horses with clinical signs of respiratory disease. On the basis of the findings by a polyphasic approach, we propose that these strains be classified as Nicoletella semolina gen. nov, sp. nov., a new member of the family Pasteurellaceae. N. semolina reduces nitrate to nitrite but is otherwise biochemically inert; this includes the lack of an ability to ferment glucose and other sugars. Growth is fastidious, and the isolates have a distinctive colony morphology, with the ...
Waap H, Volkart de Oliveira U, Nunes T, Gomes J, Gomes T, Bärwald A, Dias Munhoz A, Schares G.Equine neosporosis is regarded to be caused either by Neospora hughesi or Neospora caninum and equine besnoitiosis is caused by Besnoitia bennetti, both of which are apicomplexan parasites. N. caninum is the only known Neospora species in Europe, where equine N. caninum infections have been reported as being associated to abortion and reproductive failure. N. hughesi is prevalent in North America and was predominantly linked to neurological disorders. B. bennetti is considered an emergent disease in donkeys in North America and evidence for B. bennetti infection was recently reported in Europe...
Zapf F, Schein E.The development of the piroplasm Babesia equi was studied by light microscopy in the salivary glands of three different Hyalomma species during and after the engorgement of nymphs on experimentally infected horses and after adults had fed on a vertebrate host following ecdysis. The stock of B. equi used was isolated from a horse imported from Turkmenistan (CIS) in 1991. The findings, being identical in all three Hyalomma species, differ with regard to the chronological order of the development stages in several respects from the results of previous studies based upon light or electron microsco...
White GS, Pickett BE, Lefkowitz EJ, Johnson AG, Ottendorfer C, Stark LM, Unnasch TR.Florida has the highest degree of endemicity for eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) of any state in the United States and is the only state with year-round transmission of EEEV. To further understand the viral population dynamics in Florida, the genome sequence of six EEEV isolates from central Florida were determined. These data were used to identify the most polymorphic regions of the EEEV genome from viruses isolated in Florida. The sequence of these polymorphic regions was then determined for 18 additional Florida isolates collected in four geographically distinct regions over a 20-y...
Carlson KL, Kuskie KR, Chaffin KM, Libal MC, Giguère S, Lawhon SD, Cohen ND.This study determined the antimicrobial activity of tulathromycin against Rhodococcus equi in vitro. Ninety-eight virulent isolates of R. equi from equine clinical cases were examined, of which 20 isolates were macrolide resistant. A custom 96-well antimicrobial susceptibility testing plate was used, allowing 14 additional antimicrobials to be tested against R. equi. Isolates were cultured with various concentrations of antimicrobials, and minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined. Tulathromycin was found to have poor activity in vitro against R. equi isolates susceptible o...
Veronesi F, Laus F, Passamonti F, Tesei B, Piergili Fioretti D, Genchi C.The aim of the study was to investigate Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) infection in horses exposed to heavy tick infestations. Blood samples of 98 healthy horses from 5 stud farms were examined by SNAP(®) 4D× and PCR to detect antibodies against B. burgdorferi s.l. and Borrelia DNA, respectively. Ten samples (15.3%) were antibody positive and 5 samples (5.1%) were both antibody and PCR positive. Sequence analysis showed the highest homology with the B. lusitaniae genospecies. No differences were found between sexes and stud farms, while age was significantly related to seropositivity...
Carossino M, Vissani MA, Barrandeguy ME, Balasuriya UBR, Parreño V.Group A rotaviruses are a well-known cause of viral gastroenteritis in infants and children, as well as in many mammalian species and birds, affecting them at a young age. This group of viruses has a double-stranded, segmented RNA genome with high genetic diversity linked to point mutations, recombination, and, importantly, reassortment. While initial molecular investigations undertaken in the 1900s suggested host range restriction among group A rotaviruses based on the fact that different gene segments were distributed among different animal species, recent molecular surveillance and genome c...
Rott R, Becht H, Orlich .Influenza virus Equine 1 (A/equine/Prague/56) has a hemagglutinin which is antigenically related to the hemagglutinin of fowl plague virus strain Rostock (FPV) and a neuraminidase which cross-reacts with the enzyme of virus N (A/chick/Germany/49). After a single injection of chickens with Equine 1 virus no hemagglutination inhibiting (HI) and neutralizing antibodies against FPV can be demonstrated, although the birds are fully protected against a lethal dose of FPV. HI and neutralizing antibodies against FPV appear after a second injection of Equine 1 virus several weeks after the first one. L...
Limeira CH, Alves CJ, Azevedo SS, Santos CSAB, Melo MA, Soares RR, Barnabé NNDC, Rodrigues GQ.Leishmaniases are a group of diseases of zoonotic importance caused by over 20 species of protozoa of the genus Leishmania, in which domestic dogs are considered to be the main reservoir for the disease. However, the involvement of other vertebrates as reservoirs for these parasites has also been investigated. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to carry out a systematic review with meta-analysis on occurrences of leishmaniasis in equids. The case reports described animals with cutaneous symptoms of leishmaniasis (papules, nodules, ulcers or crusts) that regressed spontaneously, ...
