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.
Srivastava SK, Barnum DA, Prescott JF.The production of M-protein antigen of Streptococcus equi was studied during in vitro growth in equine blood and in various media. Of 11 S equi strains studied, seven which had initially possessed 0.04 mg or less M-protein per 10 mg of streptococcal cell extract showed an increase in M-protein content after successive culture in heparinised horse blood. Maximum proliferation occurred in Todd-Hewitt (TH) medium with added 0.2 per cent w/v glucose when compared with TH medium alone or TH medium with 2 per cent w/v sucrose, starch, neopeptone or normal horse serum. The M-protein of these strains ...
Daniels RS, Skehel JJ, Wiley DC.The amino acid sequence of the haemagglutinin of A/equine/Miami/63 (H3N8), the prototype influenza virus of the H3 subtype from horses, is deduced from the nucleotide sequence of virus RNA and compared with the sequences of haemagglutinins of viruses of this subtype isolated from humans [X-31 (H3N2)] and from birds [A/duck/Ukraine/63 (H3N8)] and with the sequence of the haemagglutinin of A/equine/Fontainebleau/79 (H3N8) a virus isolated from a recent outbreak of equine influenza. The amino acid sequence differences detected are discussed with reference to the structure of the molecules, their ...
Palmer JE, Whitlock RH, Benson CE, Becht JL, Morris DD, Acland HM.Bacteriologic cultures of 65 rectal mucosal samples and 335 fecal samples from 53 horses and 5 cattle shedding Salmonella were performed. Salmonella spp were isolated from 34 (52%) rectal mucosal samples, 21 (32%) concurrent fecal samples, and 150 (45%) total fecal samples. The use of rectal mucosal samples when compared with concurrently obtained fecal samples significantly (P less than 0.025) improved the ability to isolate Salmonella spp. Concurrent bacteriologic culture of rectal mucosal samples and fecal samples resulted in 39 (60%) isolations. Compared with a series of fecal samples, Sal...
Diesing L, Steuber S, Ahmed JS.Using luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (LCL), the specificity of antibodies to variable antigen type (VAT)-populations of Trypanosoma evansi was studied in four infected ponies. Trypanosomes of each wave of parasitemia were isolated and multiplied in irradiated mice. Their opsonization by serum collected during the infection was investigated with LCL and results for isolated VAT-populations are shown in the paper. Antibodies specific to each VAT-population were first found three days after the maximum of a parasitemic wave. There was no cross reactivity between different VAT-populations. LC...
Mitchell CJ, Darsie RF, Monath TP, Sabattini MS, Daffner J.A large net trap was used to sample mosquito populations attracted to horses at three sites each in Santa Fe and Rio Negro Provinces, Argentina, during the austral summer of 1984. These provinces, as well as others in Argentina, were affected by a severe epizootic of western equine encephalitis (WEE) during 1982-83. Totals of 2,752 and 6,929 mosquitoes were collected in Santa Fe and Rio Negro Provinces during five and three trap nights, respectively. Culex mosquitoes of the subgenus Culex were predominant (45.8% of total) in the Santa Fe collections, although Aedes albifasciatus also was preva...
Tulleners EP, Richardson DW, Reid BV.Three mares were treated for vaginal evisceration of a portion of the small intestine. Evisceration occurred in 2 mares shortly after breeding accidents in which the stallion's penis penetrated the vaginal fornix dorsal to the cervix. The affected bowel was replaced through the laceration, and the vaginal defects were sutured with the mares standing, utilizing epidural anesthesia. One mare recovered without complications, was subsequently bred, and delivered a foal with no difficulty. The other mare developed signs of a strangulating small intestinal obstruction 24 hours after the injury, nece...
Freeman KP, Roszel JF, Slusher SH.Inclusions and cellular changes were seen in cytologic specimens from 1 healthy horse, 6 horses hospitalized because of respiratory problems, and 1 horse hospitalized because of colic and hepatitis. Two bronchial aspirates contained detached ciliated cytoplasmic tufts and cytoplasmic inclusions characteristic of the specific degenerative process called ciliocytophthoria. These changes and inclusions resembled those seen in bronchial aspirates from human beings with parainfluenza virus infection. Four bronchial aspirates and 2 serous fluid specimens had nuclear inclusions resembling those seen ...
Lynch JA, Binnington BD, Artsob H.A 4-fold or greater seroconversion to the snowshoe hare serotype of the California serogroup of viruses in a horse with acute encephalitis was demonstrated by hemagglutination-inhibition, complement-fixation, and neutralization tests. The horse had a mild fever, was ataxic, had a head tilt, and was observed to circle. Chloramphenicol, dexamethasone, and B complex vitamins were administered and the horse recovered. The snowshoe hare virus is a recognized human pathogen, but it has not been associated with disease in horses. It is unknown whether horses play a role as amplification hosts for the...
An outbreak of equine viral arteritis in the American state of Kentucky led to a temporary ban being imposed by France, Ireland and the UK on the importation of horses from the USA during 1984. Sporadic cases of influenza caused by the type 2 strain of the virus were confirmed in France throughout the year and cases of strangles in thoroughbred mares and foals were reported from all three countries. No cases of contagious equine metritis were confirmed among the thoroughbred breeding population, although a number of outbreaks of the abortion form of rhinopneumonitis occurred. A small number of...
Adamson PJ, Wilson WD, Hirsh DC, Baggot JD, Martin LD.In vitro antimicrobic susceptibility patterns of commonly isolated aerobic gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial pathogens of equine origin were determined, using the agar-plate dilution method. All organisms were recent clinical isolates and included Corynebacterium (Rhodococcus) equi, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, (coagulase positive) Staphylococcus sp, Streptococcus equi, Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Actinobacillus sp, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella. In vitro susceptibility levels were outlined for 14 antimicro...
Biberstein EL, Jang SS, Hirsh DC.From 1965 to 1983, Nocardia asteroides infection was diagnosed in 16 horses at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, University of California, Davis. In 2 of the cases, the infection was traumatic in origin and local in extent; the horses recovered without relevant antimicrobial therapy. Fourteen horses had pulmonary or disseminated infections that ended fatally. All 14 had various degrees of immunosuppression. Of these, 8 were Arabian foals with combined immunodeficiency disease and 3 were aged horses with hyperadrenocorticism secondary to ACTH-secreting pituitary tumors. Of the other 3, ...
DiPietro JA, Todd KS, Lock TF, Reuter-Dallman V.Fifty horses from a herd known to have benzimidazole-resistant small strongyles were treated with febantel (6 mg/kg), combinations of febantel (6 mg/kg) and piperazine citrate (25 or 55 mg base/kg), thiabendazole (44 mg/kg), or placebo (0.6 ml of water/kg). Pretreatment and 7-day posttreatment fecal examinations were done. Fecal cultures, strongyle egg per gram (epg) counts, sugar flotation fecal examinations, and in vitro testing for benzimidazole resistance were performed. Results of fecal examinations before treatment were similar in all horses, and results of testing were positive for benz...
Everard CO, Fraser-Chanpong GM, James AC, Butcher LV.Sera from 1,206 livestock animals and chickens on Grenada and Trinidad were tested for leptospiral antibodies by the microscopic agglutination test. 376 of the sera were positive (25% of those tested on Grenada and 44% on Trinidad). The positive sera were obtained from 25% of 324 cattle, 35% of 130 pigs, 35% of 146 sheep, 25% of 44 goats and 11% of 175 chickens on Grenada; and 92% of 26 cattle, 53% of 122 pigs, 76% of 87 horses and donkeys and 11% of 144 chickens on Trinidad. Eight sera from ducks and geese on Trinidad were tested and found to be negative. The serogroups most commonly found to...
Boch J.Babesia infections serologically diagnosed in horses, cattle and dogs in Southern Germany during the last few years are described. 321 sera of horses were examined for specific antibodies to Babesia by means of CFT and IIF in 1984; 18 sera reacted to Babesia equi and 4 to Babesia caballi antigen. In a cattle breeding area in the Western Allgäu 13% of 1616 cattle reacted positive to Babesia divergens antigen using IIF and ELISA; during the grazing season 1982 new latent infections were observed in 25 of 266 calves and heifers. Cases of introduced canine babesiosis are more frequent; 10 of 34 s...
Allen GP, Yeargan MR, Turtinen LW, Bryans JT.From restriction endonuclease characterization of the DNA of 317 isolates of equine abortion virus (equine herpesvirus-1; EHV-1) from 176 epizootically unrelated outbreaks of equine virus abortion occurring over 24 years in Kentucky, an epizootic pattern and variation of the virus have emerged. Two electropherotypes of EHV-1 (1P and 1B) accounted for greater than 90% of the nonvaccine-related abortion isolates examined. From 1960 to 1981, EHV-1 1P was the predominant isolate circulating in the central Kentucky area and the cause of greater than 80% of EHV-1-related abortions. In 1981, the occu...
Moorthy AR, Spradbrow PB.
Summary:
During a survey in Queensland in 1974—77 four strains of rickettsia-like organisms were isolated from the respiratory tract of horses, of which two, NS7 and NS68 were isolated from nasal swabs of clinically normal horses and two, KSDH 91 and NSDH 100, from lung samples of slaughtered horses showing gross pathological lesions in the form of acute bronchiolitis and subacute interstitial pneumonia, respectively. The isolates are characterised as rickettsia-like organisms on the basis of their morphology, tinctorial property, growth in chicken embryos, inability to grow on bacteria...
Hietala SK, Ardans AA, Sansome A.An enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay was developed to measure naturally occurring Corynebacterium equi specific antibody in horse serum. Antibody against C equi was demonstrated in normal adults and was passively transferred to foals. Adult levels of specific antibody were reached by 5 to 6 months of age in healthy foals. Decreased early antibody levels were demonstrated in a limited number of foals with confirmed C equi infection.
Khan ZU, Misra VC, Randhawa HS.Prevalence of serum precipitins against Micropolyspora faeni, Thermoactinomyces vulgaris and Aspergillus fumigatus, employing the counterimmunoelectrophoresis (COIE) and Ouchterlony's double diffusion (DD) techniques, is reported in 162 of the equines stationed at two military installations in north-western India. M. faeni specific precipitins were demonstrable in 58 of 112 mules from site I in the mountainous region whereas the results were negative for all of the 50 horses examined from site II located in the plains. Of the 58 M. faeni positive mules, 45 (78%) had signs and symptoms suggesti...
Cheevers WP, McGuire TC.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is a chronic, relapsing infectious disease of horses caused by a nononcogenic retrovirus. Virus persists in infected animals for life and can be reliably detected by serologic tests that measure levels of antibody to the major structural protein of the virus. Periodic virus replication in macrophages leads to an immunologically mediated acute disease characterized primarily by severe anemia. Recrudescence of acute EIA is the result of antigenic variation of the surface glycoprotein of EIA virus. The frequency and severity of clinical episodes of EIA decrease in m...
Della-Porta AJ.There has been concern that the present nomenclature system for the members of the Reoviridae family, and particularly the Orbivirus genus, does not represent the actual relationships exhibited between the members. In order to follow the conventions established by the International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), it is tentatively proposed that the present Reoviridae genera be upgraded in status to the following sub-families: reovirinae, orbivirinae, Fijivirinae, cypovirinae, rotavirinae, coltivirinae and phytoreovirinae. Below the sub-family level, divisions of genus (equivalent...
Jacob RJ, Price R, Allen GP.Equine herpesvirus type 3 (EHV-3) DNA, isolated from purified virions of the large-plaque strain, was digested with the restriction endonucleases XbaI, Bg/II, EcoRI, and HindIII. Several lines of evidence indicated that the DNA extracted from purified virions was composed of long (L) and short (S) components and was present as two isomeric forms, P and IS. The evidence included: (i) after electrophoresis on agarose gels, the summed molecular weights of the digestion products exceeded that expected from intact, unit size DNA; (ii) quantitative measurements of radioactivity (molar ratios) indica...
Mettler NE, Fernández AS, Di Santo MI, Pardo DA.Sera from 282 equines from Tandil country and surroundings were investigated searching for hemagglutination inhibition (HI), Complement fixation (CF), and Neutralizing (NT) antibodies against three flavivirus:Ilheus, St. Louis Encephalitis, and Yellow Fever from the Togaviridae family. Sera were collected between 3-20-79 and 11-25-80 from 10 different places in Tandil and Ayacucho countries. Animals ranged from 45 days to 27 years old. Forty nine of them reacted with one or more flavivirus by HI and/or CF tes representing a prevalence of 17.4% for this antigenic complex. Twenty four of them ne...
Balke E, Weiss R, Seipp A.A total of 110 strains of beta-hemolytic streptococci, belonging to serogroup C (Lancefield), isolated from horses (71 S. zooepidemicus, 27 S. equisimilis and 12 S. equi) as well as 5 reference strains were tested for their ability to produce hyaluronidase. The determinations were carried out in a culture test on agarose gel and in a liquid test system (turbidity test according to DiFerrante). The results of both methods used showed that the three Streptococcus species could be differentiated by the relative quantitative determination of hyaluronidase activity. S. equisimilis strains produce 5...
Uzcanga GL, Bubis J.Two horses were infected with distinct non-tsetse transmitted Venezuelan stocks, namely TeAp-N/D1 and TeAp-El Frio01 . Preceding reports have revealed that a 64-kDa antigenic glycopolypeptide (p64), which is the soluble form of the predominant variant surface glycoprotein from TeAp-N/D1 , can be used as a good antigen for immunodiagnosis of animal trypanosomosis. Here, the course of the experimental acute infection in both horses was monitored by evaluating total anti-p64 IgG and particular anti-p64 γ-specific IgG and μ-specific IgM isotypes in sera using indirect enzyme-linked immunoso...
Ryder E, Ryder S.Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus has been implicated as producing alterations in glucose metabolism in animals. We performed oral glucose tolerance tests and measured serum immunoreactive insulin responses in 13 patients who were infected by VEE virus during an epidemic in 1969, in Zulia State, Venezuela. No significant alterations in the glucose tolerance test were found. Sera of 86 diabetic outpatients and 98 control individuals with normal glycemia at a local hospital were tested for antibodies to VEE virus by hemagglutination inhibition. No statistically significant difference wa...
Traversa D.The recognition that the health and welfare of some humans are improved through contact and relationships with animals is now established. Two commonly recognized assistance animals are dogs and horses. Both provide therapeutic benefits to humans with some physical and mental illnesses and both assist people with disabilities. Moreover, the public and scientific attention to the health and conservation of many animal breeds is also increasing worldwide. In the past few years, two potentially life-threatening nematode infections that can induce tumours or tumour-like masses in canids and equids...
Amory H, Cesarini C, De Maré L, Loublier C, Moula N, Detilleux J, Saulmont M, Garigliany MM, Lecoq L.The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical significance of fecal quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results when taking the cycle threshold values (Ct) into account. The study included 120 qPCR-positive fecal samples obtained from 88 hospitalized horses over a 2-year period. The mean Ct of the qPCR test was evaluated in regard to (1) clinical outcome and (2) systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) status (no SIRS, moderate SIRS, or severe SIRS) of the sampled horses. An ROC analysis was performed to establish the optimal cut-off Ct valu...
Hasegawa M, Amano A, Muraoka H, Kobayashi I, Kimoto M, Kato M, Fujioka T, Nasu M.We conducted a study for the growth of and selectivity for the desired microorganisms using a newly developed selective culture medium for Helicobacter pylori, Columbia horse blood agar HP (CHBHP), at three different Japanese clinical laboratories, Hokkaido, Kanto and Kyusyu. When standard strains and clinical isolates of H. pylori were examined, the recovery of the organism on the CHBHP media was comparable to that of conventional selective and nonselective media. However, colonies were obviously larger on the CHBHP media. These media yielded the highest H. pylori positive rate for clinical s...
Thomas RJ.An antigen for the gel diffusion test for equine infectious anaemia (EIA) was prepared from the spleen of a horse experimentally infected with the CQ strain of the virus. The antigen produced a single, distinct line of precipitation when tested against a range of known positive serums, and did not react with pre-inoculation and known negative serums. Extracts prepared from uninfected spleens displayed no reaction when similarly tested. Serum from 34 of 451 Queensland horses contained detectable levels of antibody to EIA virus. The positive serums were from horses in widely separated areas of t...
Diaz-Méndez A, Viel L, Shewen P, Nagy E.Equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV) is an ubiquitous virus, routinely identified in equine respiratory infections; however, its role in disease and genetic features are not well defined due to a lack of genomic characterization of the recovered isolates. Therefore, we sequenced the full-length genome of a Canadian ERAV (ERAV/ON/05) and compared it with other ERAV sequences currently available in GenBank. The ERAV/ON/05 genome is 7,839 nucleotides (nts) in length with a variable 5'UTR and a more conserved 3'UTR. When ERAV/ON/05 was compared to other reported ERAV isolates, an insertion of 13 nt in t...
Ochi A, Sekiguchi M, Tsujimura K, Kinoshita T, Ueno T, Katayama Y.Equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis (EMPF) is a recently described form of interstitial pneumonia associated with equine herpesvirus type 5 (EHV-5). This disease has been reported in North and South America, Europe and Oceania but not, to our knowledge, in horses in Japan. We diagnosed EMPF in two Thoroughbred horses in Japan on the basis of gross and histopathological findings. In both cases, significant gross lesions, restricted to the lungs, consisted of numerous firm and coalescing nodules widely distributed throughout the lung. The nodules were <3 cm in diameter and pale white to t...
Onasanya AE, El-Hage C, Diaz-Méndez A, Vaz PK, Legione AR, Browning GF, Devlin JM, Hartley CA.Equid gammaherpesvirus 2 (EHV2) is a gammaherpesvirus with a widespread distribution in horse populations globally. Although its pathogenic significance can be unclear in most cases of infection, EHV2 infection can cause upper respiratory tract disease in foals. Co-infection of different strains of EHV2 in an individual horse is common. Small regions of the EHV2 genome have shown considerable genetic heterogeneity. This could suggest genomic recombination between different strains of EHV2, similar to the extensive recombination networks that have been demonstrated for some alphaherpesviruses. ...
Fodor L, Szenci O, Peters M, Varga J, Szemerédi G, Wyszoczky F.A total of seven Bacteroides ureolyticus strains were isolated from the cervix and the clitoral fossa of mares with vaginal discharge. No other bacteria capable of causing metritis or vaginitis were isolated from the samples. The isolated strains resembled Taylorella equigenitalis. Both species are catalase, oxidase and alkaline phosphatase positive, but, in addition to these characteristics, B. ureolyticus strains produced urease and they could not tolerate 10% O2. They also failed to be agglutinated in a hyperimmune serum raised against T. equigenitalis; however, B. ureolyticus and T. equige...
Drážovská M, Vojtek B, Mojžišová J, Koleničová S, Koľvek F, Prokeš M, Korytár Ľ, Csanady A, Ondrejková A, Vataščinová T, Bhide MR.Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the causative agent of granulocytic anaplasmosis. It affects humans and several wild and domesticated mammals, including horses. The aim of our study was a preliminary survey of the occurrence of these re-emerging pathogens in horses in Slovakia. The sera from 200 animals of different ages and both sexes were tested for the presence of A. phagocytophilum antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence assay. Subsequently, detection of the 16S rRNA gene fragment of A. phagocytophilum was attempted by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in each blood sample. Our results confir...
Lanka S, Borst LB, Patterson SK, Maddox CW.The objective of the present investigation was to differentiate between strains of Streptococcus equi subspecies equi implicated in abscess formation in vaccinated horses. Streptococcus equi isolates recovered from clinical specimens associated with equine strangles cases submitted to the University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory were compared with S. equi isolates representing at least 12 lots of a commercial modified live vaccine (MLV) to determine whether the isolates obtained from the abscesses were vaccine or wild type. Genotyping techniques evaluated included enterobacteria...
Mar Htun Z, Laikul A, Pathomsakulwong W, Yurayart C, Lohnoo T, Yingyong W, Kumsang Y, Payattikul P, Sae-Chew P, Rujirawat T, Jaturapaktrarak C....Pythium insidiosum causes a life-threatening infection termed pythiosis in humans and other animals. The organism has been identified in tropical and subtropical environments worldwide. Since 1985, human pythiosis has been increasingly reported from Thailand. Seroprevalence studies estimated that 32,000 Thai people had been exposed to the pathogen. In 2018, the first animal pythiosis case in Thailand was diagnosed in a horse. Here, we investigated the seroprevalence of anti-P. insidiosum antibodies in the Thai equine population. Methods: We surveyed serum anti-P. insidiosum antibodies in 15...
Parra N, Jaume M, Boscán K, Hernández A, Mijares A, González M, Alvarado Y, Restrepo J.Trypanosoma equiperdum is the causative agent of dourine, a venereal disease in horses and donkeys. This parasite has a widely distribution, is found in Africa, Asia, Southern and Eastern Europe, Russia, Mexico and Venezuela. The T. equiperdum is morphologically indistinguishable to other Trypanozoon species, however differs from other mammalian trypanosomes due to the fact that it is primarily a tissue parasite, generating cutaneous plaques, swelling of genitalia and neurological signs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trypanocidal effectiveness of a set of derivatives of thiosemicar...
Christley RM, Rose RJ, Hodgson DR, Reid SW, Evans S, Bailey C, Hodgson JL.A questionnaire was administered to members of the Australian Equine Veterinary Association to investigate their attitudes and behaviours regarding the cause, diagnosis and treatment of lower-respiratory-tract disease in racehorses. The most-important perceived risk factors related to the level of exposure and resistance to infectious agents, whereas factors associated with racing and climatic factors were lower ranked. By far the most-commonly implicated primary cause of disease was respiratory viruses. However, specific diagnostic tests (such as viral serology or virus isolation) were rarely...
Hu WG, Chau D, Wong C, Masri SA, Fulton RE, Nagata LP.The genes encoding envelope proteins E1 and E2 of western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) were respectively cloned into a prokaryotic T7 RNA polymerase-regulated expression vector. The recombinant C-terminal 6xHis-tagged WEEV E1 and E2 were expressed in bacteria as inclusion bodies that were subsequently solubilized with 8M urea, purified by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography and finally refolded using an arginine system. The purified 6xHis-tagged proteins showed 50kDa bands as revealed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, consistent with the expected size...
Hornyák A, Dénes B, Szeredi L, Dencsö L, Rusvai M.Two monoclonal antibodies against the Bucyrus strain of equine arteritis virus (EAV) were produced, and according to immunoperoxidase reaction following Western blot of electrophoresed EAV structural proteins, they recognized the nucleocapsid (N) protein antigen (14-kDa protein). Besides reacting with the blotted polypeptide, the antibodies of the two clones (designated 1H1 and 4G6) selected from 576 have shown high affinity and specificity to intracellular virus antigen as well. Both antibodies reacted with the representatives of the different subtypes of equine arteritis virus providing a su...
Hill AC, Polak-Vogelzang AA, Angulo AF.Acholeplasma strains were isolated from the nasopharynx of a horse (strain PN525T [T = type strain]) and the feces of a rabbit (strain B1). One clone of strain PN525T and one clone of strain B1 were examined in detail. These clones were indistinguishable from each other and were serologically distinct from the previously described Acholeplasma and Mycoplasma spp. The strains had the following properties: guanine-plus-cytosine content of 31 mol%; sterol was not required for growth, which occurred under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions; glucose was metabolized; and arginine was hydrolyzed. ...
van Maanen C, Vreeswijk J, Moonen P, Brinkhof J, de Boer-Luijtze E, Terpstra C.Ten monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced against equine herpes virus type 1 (EHV1). Two appeared type-specific, while the other eight were directed against epitopes common to both EHV1 and EHV4. Two MAbs directed against the glycoprotein gp2 recognized linear epitopes, as demonstrated by Western blotting. With pools of type-specific MAbs, 282 field isolates were typed in an immunoperoxidase monolayer assay (IPMA). From a total of 254 fetal or neonatal isolates, 244 (96%) were typed as EHV1, whereas 14 out of 15 (93%) respiratory tract isolates were typed as EHV4. Surprisingly, 3 out of 1...
Sentsui H, Kono Y.A seroepidemiological survey was performed on antibody against Getah virus in horses in Japan by the complement fixation test. The positive rate was 35 and 53% in two areas where an outbreak of the infectious disease was reported, whereas it was in a range of 3.3 to 24.2% in other areas, except in certain prefectures of the Kyushu district where a high positive rate was observed. In the Hokkaido district, the northernmost part of Japan, no reactors were found in horses under 6 years old, unlike in any other district. It was also suggested that Getah virus infection might have already been prev...
Amerault TE, Frerichs WM, Stiller D.An agglutinating antigen and a rapid card test (CT) for equine piroplasmosis was developed. The antigen for the CT was prepared from lyophilized Babesia caballi complement-fixation (CF) antigen. Serum and plasma samples for testing were obtained from known B caballi-infected horses and clinically normal horses maintained at the laboratory. Serum samples also were obtained from horses outside the continental United States, in areas where piroplasmosis is endemic. Comparative CT and CF tests were done on all samples. The CT correctly identified 85% of 192 plasma samples from known infected and n...
Conrad PA, Hird D, Arzt J, Hayes RH, Magliano D, Kasper J, Morfin S, Pinney S.This article describes a computerized case-based CD-ROM (CD) on international animal health that was developed to give veterinary students an opportunity to "virtually" work alongside veterinarians and other veterinary students as they try to solve challenging disease problems relating to tuberculosis in South African wildlife, bovine abortion in Mexico, and neurologic disease in horses in Rapa Nui, Chile. Each of the three case modules presents, in a highly interactive format, a problem or mystery that must be solved by the learner. As well as acquiring information via video clips and text ab...
Scott P, Witonsky S, Robertson J, Daft B.Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), caused by Sarcocystis neurona infection in the central nervous system (CNS), affects up to 1% of all horses during their lifetimes. Neither the protective immune response nor the immunopathology associated with the disease is well understood. To begin to clarify the pathogenesis of the disease, immunohistochemical staining for B and T lymphocytes was performed on spinal cord sections obtained from 17 horses, all of which were all positive for S. neurona based on immunohistochemical staining. Fifteen of the 17 horses included in the study were killed du...
Lucken R, Daas A, Behr-Gross ME.The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) has organised an international collaborative study, divided in two phases, aimed at producing and establishing a suitable reference serum for serological potency testing of clostridial vaccines for batch consistency demonstration. In phase 1 a series of pools produced from sera provided by each manufacturer and raised against the broadest range of antigens possible were blended to obtain TN titres which were representative of the range normally elicited by the vaccines under test. Detailed statistical analysis of the data was not pos...
Morris BA, Sadana A.A fractal analysis is presented for the detection of pathogens such as Franscisela tularensis, Yersinia pestis (the bacterium that causes plague), Bacillus anthracis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus, Vavcinia virus, and Escherichia coli using a cellular analysis and notification of antigens risks and yields (CANARY) biosensor [T.H. Rider, M.S. Petrovic, F.E. Nargi, J.D Harper, E.D. Schwoebel, R.H. Mathews, D.J. Blanchard, L.T Bortolin, A.M. Young, J. Chen, M.A. Hollis, A cell-based sensor for rapid identification of pathogens, Science 301 (2003, 11 July) 213-215, T.H. Rider, M.S. Pe...
Bauerfeind R, Barth S, Weiss R, Baljer G.Strains of Salmonella isolated from animals in Germany (n = 878) were analysed for the presence of the spvD gene ("Salmonella plasmid virulence gene D") by DNA-DNA hybridization. The spvD gene was only detected in strains of serovars Typhimurium (93.3%), Enteritidis (97.1%), and Dublin (100%) as well as in two rough strains of Salmonella enterica. Salmonella isolates from mammals carried the gene more frequently (cattle 94.0%, horses 92.6%, pigs 73.7%) than those from birds (33.3%) or reptiles (4.5%). Due to its high prevalence in epidemiologically relevant salmonellae, the virulence factor sp...
Awasthi G, Srivastava G, Das A.Comparative genomics and evolutionary analyses of conserved genes have enabled us to understand the complexity of genomes of closely related species. For example: β-globin gene present in human hemoglobin is one such gene that has experienced many genetic changes in many related taxa and produced more than 600 variants. One of the variant, HBS causes sickle-cell anemia in humans but offers protection against severe malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum. In the present study, we characterized and performed evolutionary comparative analyses of the ?-globin gene in different related and unrelated...
Heerkens TM.Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) causes rhinopneumonitis, abortion, and rarely, myeloencephalopathy. The neurovirulence of this virus is due to a point mutation in the DNA polymerase gene. Diagnosis by virus isolation has been replaced by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays that can detect strains, viral loads, and states; this may aid in control and management of the disease. L’herpèsvirus équin de type-1 (EHV-1) cause la rhinopneumonie, l’avortement et rarement la myéloencéphalopathie. La neurovirulence de ce virus est attribuable à une mutation ponctuelle à l’intér...
Yoon J, Park T, Kim A, Park J, Park BJ, Ahn HS, Go HJ, Kim DH, Lee JB, Park SY, Song CS, Lee SW, Choi IS.Equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) is one of the etiological agents of Theiler's disease, causing fulminant hepatitis; however, its transmission route and pathogenesis remain unclear. In the present study, we aimed to determine EqPV-H shedding in oral/nasal/vaginal swabs or semen samples from horses living in Korea using nested polymerase chain reaction. We then used the data obtained to investigate various risk factors associated with EqPV-H including viral shedding, hepatopathological changes, and genetic diversity. Our data revealed occurrence of EqPV-H shedding in these animals (oral: 3/...
