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.
Murakami S, Kobayashi T, Sekigawa Y, Torii Y, Kanesaki Y, Ishige T, Yokoyama E, Ishiwata H, Hamada M, Tamura T.The name "Actinomyces suis" was applied to each actinomycete isolate from swine actinomycosis by Grässer in 1962 and Franke in 1973. Nevertheless, this specific species was not included in the "Approved List of Bacterial Name" due to absence of the type cultures. Therefore, "Actinomyces suis" based on the description of Franke 1973 has been considered as "species incertae sedis". We isolated a number of Actinomyces strains from swine. The representative strains of them was designated as Chiba 101 that was closely similar to the description in "Actinomyces suis" reported by Franke in 1973. Int...
Ozubek S, Aktas M.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a protozoon disease caused by Babesia caballi and Theileria equi transmitted by ticks from the Ixodidae family. This study investigated the genetic heterogeneity and diversity of piroplasm genotypes using the Reverse Line Blotting (RLB) technique for piroplasm species in equids in Turkey. A total of 233 blood samples from 142 horses and 91 donkeys were collected in Şanlıurfa, Tunceli, and Iğdır. The RLB assay was performed for simultaneous detection of piroplasm species. The prevalence of piroplasm infection was 33.5% (95% CI; 27.4-39.9). T. equi was the most c...
Alanazi AD, Puschendorf R, Salim B, Alyousif MS, Alanazi IO, Al-Shehri HR.We conducted a cross-sectional study to detect trypanosome infections of horses and donkeys in the Riyadh Province of Saudi Arabia. DNA was extracted from blood samples collected from 368 horses and 142 donkeys, and subjected to universal first ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1)-PCR followed by Trypanosoma evansi species-specific RoTat1.2-PCR. The universal ITS1-PCR revealed T. evansi infection in horses ( n = 12; 3.3%) and donkeys ( n = 4; 2.8%). There was no significant effect of sex or age on the prevalence of trypanosomiasis in horses or donkeys. Application of the RoTat1....
Awosile BB, Heider LC, Saab ME, McClure JT.This study determined the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and trends for selected bacteria isolated from horses using diagnostic data from the Atlantic Veterinary College Diagnostic Services Bacteriology Laboratory, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island over a 20-year period. subsp. and were the most commonly isolated bacteria over the study period. Clinical samples were most frequently submitted from respiratory and reproductive systems. Most bacterial isolates were susceptible to ceftiofur. Resistance was most common in Gram-negative enteric bacteria, while streptococci were frequentl...
Bourély C, Fortané N, Calavas D, Leblond A, Gay É.For public health reasons, increasing attention has focused on more rational use of antimicrobials in farm animals. Guidance concerning the prescription of antibiotics and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (antibiograms in this case) are beneficial tools to help control the development of antimicrobial resistance. Nevertheless, even though there are already several qualitative studies analysing the determinants of antimicrobial prescription and use in veterinary medicine, little is known about decision-making concerning the use of antibiograms. The aim of this study was to provide a better ...
Satyam R, Janahi EM, Bhardwaj T, Somvanshi P, Haque S, Najm MZ.Usutu Virus (USUV; flavivirus) is a re-emerging pathogen invading the territories of European countries, Asia, and Africa. It is a mosquito-borne zoonotic virus with a bi-directional transmission route from animal to human and vice versa, and causes neurological disorders such as meningoencephalitis in bats, Homo sapiens, birds and horses. Due to limited availability of information about USUV and its deleterious effects on neural cells causing neurologic impairments, it becomes imperative to study this virus in detail to equip ourselves with a solution beforehand. The current study aims to ide...
Dourine is a parasitic venereal disease of equines caused by T. equiperdum. Humoral antibodies are found in infected animals, but diagnosis of dourine must include history, clinical, and pathological findings in addition to serology. Complement Fixation Test (CFT) is the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) recommended test for international trade; however, some uninfected equines may give inconsistent or nonspecific reactions in CFT due to the anticomplementary effects of their sera. In this study an Indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (iELISA) was developed. This test could be us...
Abhishek , Kumar B, Anjay , Mishra AK, Prakash C, Priyadarshini A, Rawat M.Salmonella Abortusequi causes important clinical diseases in horses possibly leading to abortion. In the present investigation, the protective efficacy of both plain and aluminum hydroxide gel adjuvanted phage lysate was evaluated in guinea pig model. Broad host range bacteriophage P-SAE-2, was characterized and used for generation of lysates. Three different lysate batches, produced through separate cycles and characterized, were pooled together for immunization study. Plain and adjuvanted phage lysate preparations elicited both humoral and cellmediated immunity. The adjuvanted lysate at a do...
Kumar B, Manuja A, Gulati BR, Virmani N, Tripathi BN.Zoonotic diseases are the infectious diseases that can be transmitted to human beings and vice versa from animals either directly or indirectly. These diseases can be caused by a range of organisms including bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. Viral diseases are highly infectious and capable of causing pandemics as evidenced by outbreaks of diseases like Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, West Nile, SARS-Corona, Nipah, Hendra, Avian influenza and Swine influenza. Unassigned: Many viruses affecting equines are also important human pathogens. Diseases like Eastern equine encephalitis (...
Sumbria D, Singla LD, Kumar R, Bal MS, Kaur P.As parasitaemia is low and fluctuating during the chronic stage of infection, accurate detection of Trypanosoma evansi in blood is difficult. The primary aims of this investigation were to assess for the first time the seroprevalence of T. evansi in all agro-climatic zones of Punjab, by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) and card agglutination test (CATT/T. evansi), and to evaluate the risk factors associated with latent trypanosomosis. A total of 319 equine serum samples collected from 12 districts of Punjab (India) belonging to different agro-climatic zones revealed 39 (12.2...
Hemida MG, Alhammadi M, Daleb A, Alnaeem A.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is one of the most devastating viral diseases of the family Equidae. Infection with AHSV threatens not only the Saudi equine industry but also the equine industry worldwide. This is due to the high morbidity and mortality rates among the infected population of up to 100%. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) lists AHSV among its notifiable diseases; this requires Member Countries to monitor the situation with regard to AHSV very carefully in order to avoid the spread of the virus. The OIE also suggests the systematic monitoring of AHSV in the equin...
Favaro PF, Reischak D, Brandao PE, Villalobos EMC, Cunha EMS, Lara MCC, Benvenga GU, Dias RA, Mori E, Richtzenhain LJ.The equine influenza virus (EIV) H3N8 subtype is responsible for all EIV outbreaks worldwide while the H7N7 subtype is less pathogenic and is considered extinct as it has not been confirmed in outbreaks since 1980. Although EIV is enzootic in Brazil, few reports describe the actual EIV antibody status in the country. The aims of this study were: - to evaluate the efficiency of different serum treatments described by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to remove non-specific haemagglutination inhibitors for the haemagglutination inhibition (HI)...
Vera L, Boyen F, de Visscher A, Vandenbroucke V, Vanantwerpen G, Govaere J.The use of commercial chromogenic agar plates for the rapid, easy and correct identification of equine endometritis-causing bacteria has been proposed. Preliminary tests in our lab revealed undescribed limitations. Therefore, we tested the ability of the Brilliance UTI agar, a commercially available chromogenic agar, to accurately identify bacteria causing equine endometritis. Objective: To 1) investigate whether bacteria present in the equine uterus are able to grow on this chromogenic agar plate, 2) determine whether these bacteria belong to the genera for which these agar plates were origin...
Castro ER, Arbiza J.Infection with equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) causes respiratory disease, abortion and neurological disorders in horses. Molecular epidemiology studies have demonstrated that a single nucleotide polymorphism (A2254/G2254) in the genome region of open reading frame 30 which results in an amino acid variation (N752/D752) of the EHV-1 DNA polymerase, is significantly associated with the neuropathogenic potential of naturally occurring strains. In recent years, an increase in the number of cases of equine neurological disease caused by neuropathogenic variants of EHV-1 has been observed in numer...
Mucha V, Hollý J, Varečková E, Kostolanský F.Avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) are able to overcome the interspecies barrier and adapt to the new non-avian host. The process of adaptation requires the adaptive changes of IAV genome resulting in amino acid substitutions. The aim of this work was the description of amino acid substitutions in avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) occurring during their adaptation to equine host. Today, viruses of the equine influenza H3N8 subtype, first isolated in 1963, represent a single genetic lineage of IAV causing a respiratory disease in horses. We compared the amino acid sequences of the conserve...
Schein FB, Maia MO, Witter R, Marcili A, Camargo LM, Dutra V, Nakazato L, Candido SL, Almeida EM, Oliveira ACS, Pacheco RC.We evaluated the distribution of piroplasmids in equids from the Mato Grosso state in Midwestern Brazil using molecular methods and the interspecific genetic diversity. For this, 1,624 blood samples of equids from 973 farms were examined by PCR, using primer pairs that amplify a fragment of the genes rap-1 and ema-1 of Babesia caballi and Theileria equi, respectively. For molecular characterization and phylogenetic studies, 13 and 60 sequences of the rap-1 and ema-1 genes, respectively, were used to build a dendogram using maximum parsimony. B. caballi and T. equi were detected in 4.11% and 28...
Ji S, Na L, Ren H, Wang Y, Wang X.Human myxovirus resistance protein 2 (huMxB) has been shown to be a determinant type I interferon (IFN)-induced host factor involved in the inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) as well as many other primate lentiviruses. This blocking occurs after the reverse transcription of viral RNA and ahead of integration into the host DNA, which is closely connected to the ability of the protein to bind the viral capsid. To date, Mx2s derived from nonprimate animals have shown no capacity for HIV-1 suppression. In this study, we examined the restrictive effect of equine Mx2 (eqMx2) o...
Ata EB, Zaghawa A, Ghazy AA, Elsify A, Abdelrahman K, Kasem S, Nayel M.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is an important pathogen, which infects horses worldwide with high morbidity but low mortality rates. The respiratory disorders and abortions are the most common indicators. Ab4p (an abortigenic and paralytic virus) is one of the most important and virulent strains. The development and functional characterization of the open reading frame-68 (ORF68) negative EHV-1 Ab4p mutants and an assessment of their roles in the infection at the cellular level were the main targets of the current study. Escherichia coli DH10β containing the Ab4p bacterial artificial chromosome...
Hemida MG, Perera RAPM, Chu DKW, Alnaeem AA, Peiris M.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is one of the main causes of viral respiratory affections in horses. Little is known about the prevalence of EIV in Saudi Arabia especially the H3N8 serotype. Objective: To assess prevalence of equine influenza in horse populations in Eastern and Central Saudi Arabia. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We collected 145 sera, 323 nasal and 323 rectal swabs from horses from six major cities in Eastern and Central regions. None of the horses were vaccinated against EIV. Sera were tested in ELISA assays for influenza A type-specific antibodies and by haemagglutin...
van der Kolk JH, Endimiani A, Graubner C, Gerber V, Perreten V.Acinetobacter spp. are aerobic, rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria belonging to the Moraxellaceae family of the class Gammaproteobacteria and are considered ubiquitous organisms. Among them, Acinetobacter baumannii is the most clinically significant species with an extraordinary ability to accumulate antimicrobial resistance and to survive in the hospital environment. Recent reports indicate that A. baumannii has also evolved into a veterinary nosocomial pathogen. Although Acinetobacter spp. can be identified to species level using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mas...
Santos DW, Madeira de Carvalho LM, Molento MB.Cyathostomins comprise around 50 parasite species of equids, offering a great challenge regarding their individual identification. The objective of our work was to improve identification of infective third stage larvae (L3) with a morphological key supplemented with detailed scientific illustrations based on our research and available literature. The highlighted features were; the number, arrangement, and shape of intestinal cells (IC), general features and the total body length of the eight different Cyathostomin sensu latum types (Type A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H), Gyalocephalus capitatus, and Po...
Lean NE, Ahern BJ.Mycotic rhinitis is a rare disease in horses, with few cases reported worldwide and none reported in Australia. Fungal infection of the upper respiratory tract can occur in all species, but its prevalence in horses is considerably lower than in canines or humans. The disease is linked to a variety of pathogens and the clinical signs are associated with subsequent upper respiratory tract damage. Methods: A 6-year-old Quarter Horse gelding in Queensland, Australia, was presented with chronic nasal discharge and dyspnoea following previous unsuccessful medical treatment of 9 months' duration. C...
Seeber PA, Quintard B, Sicks F, Dehnhard M, Greenwood AD, Franz M.Equine Herpesviruses (EHV) are common and often latent pathogens of equids which can cause fatalities when transmitted to non-equids. Stress and elevated glucocorticoids have been associated with EHV reactivation in domestic horses, but little is known about the correlation between stress and viral reactivation in wild equids. We investigated the effect of an environmental stressor (social group restructuring following a translocation event) on EHV reactivation in captive Grévy's zebras (). A mare was translocated by road transport from Zoo Mulhouse, France, to join a resident group of three ...
Zhang B, Huang H, Wang H, Zhang D, Chu H, Ma X, Ge Y, Ente M, Li K.Gasterophilus species are widely distributed around the world. The larvae of these flies parasitize the digestive tract of equids and cause damage, hindering horse breeding and protection of endangered species. However, study of the genetic structure of geographically distinct Gasterophilus populations is lacking. Here, we analyzed the genetic diversity of Gasterophilus pecorum, G. intestinalis, G. nasalis and G. nigricornis from three typical grasslands (meadow, desert and alpine steppes) in China as compared to published sequences from Italy, Poland and China (Daqing and Yili), based on the ...
Soghigian J, Andreadis TG, Molaei G.Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) (Togaviridae, Alphavirus) is a highly pathogenic mosquito-borne arbovirus that circulates in an enzootic cycle involving Culiseta melanura mosquitoes and wild Passeriformes birds in freshwater swamp habitats. Recently, the northeastern United States has experienced an intensification of virus activity with increased human involvement and northward expansion into new regions. In addition to its principal role in enzootic transmission of EEE virus among avian hosts, recent studies on the blood-feeding behavior of Cs. melanura throughout its geographic range sugg...
Mawhinney I, Errington J, Stamper N, Torrens N, Engelsma MY, Roest HIJ.Sets of genital swabs are routinely taken from horses to screen for the presence of Taylorella equigenitalis, the cause of contagious equine metritis. Typically, two to four different sites are swabbed at a time and tested by culture or PCR. Objective: This study explored the feasibility of pooling these swabs for a single PCR test per animal instead of testing each swab individually. Methods: In vitro. Methods: PCR signal strengths (Ct values) from 149 historical PCR positive genital swabs, together with historical data on the number of swabs in a set expected to be positive, were used to ass...
Dilai M, Piro M, Fougerolle S, El Harrak M, Mahir W, El Mourid R, Legrand L, Paillot R, Fassi Fihri O.In order to evaluate the vaccination status against equine influenza (EI) in Moroccan racehorses, a serological investigation was carried out on 509 racehorses using three serological tests: an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), the Hemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test and the Single Radial Haemolysis (SRH) assay. The serological analysis showed 56% of seropositivity by ELISA, 67% by HI and 89.4% by SRH (with 69.9% above the clinical protection threshold). Using the Kappa test, the SRH and HI assays showed a strong agreement, the SRH and ELISA assays had a moderate agreement and the H...
Fielding CL, Rhodes DM, Howard EJ, Mayer JR.OBJECTIVE To identify clinical or clinicopathologic variables that can be used to predict a positive PCR assay result for Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection in equids. ANIMALS 162 equids. PROCEDURES Medical records were reviewed to identify equids that underwent testing for evidence of A phagocytophilum infection by PCR assay between June 1, 2007, and December 31, 2015. For each equid that tested positive (case equid), 2 time-matched equids that tested negative for the organism (control equids) were identified. Data collected included age, sex, breed, geographic location (residence at the tim...
Balasuriya UB.Equine arteritis virus (EAV), the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), is a respiratory and reproductive disease that occurs throughout the world. EAV infection is highly species-specific and exclusively limited to members of the family Equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, mules, and zebras. EVA is an economically important disease and outbreaks could cause significant losses to the equine industry. The primary objective of this article is to summarize current understanding of EVA, specifically the disease, pathogenesis, epidemiology, host immune response, vaccination and treat...
Traversa D, Fichi G, Campigli M, Rondolotti A, Iorio R, Proudman CJ, Pellegrini D, Perrucci S.Anoplocephala perfoliata (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea), the commonest intestinal tapeworm of horses, can cause colic, intussusceptions, ileal impactions and intestinal perforations. Common diagnostic techniques for A. perfoliata infection, i.e. coprology and serology, show inherent limitations in terms of sensitivity and specificity and new approaches are thus required. Hence, the present study compared the reliability of coprological, serological (i.e. ELISA) and molecular (i.e. nested PCR) methods in detecting A. perfoliata infection in naturally infected horses and in horses treated with a comb...
Anderson ME, Lefebvre SL, Rankin SC, Aceto H, Morley PS, Caron JP, Welsh RD, Holbrook TC, Moore B, Taylor DR, Weese JS.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an emerging veterinary and zoonotic pathogen, associated with increasing reports of disease in horses. Objective: To provide an overview of the characteristics of clinical MRSA infections in horses. Methods: A retrospective case study was performed on 115 horses admitted to 6 participating veterinary teaching hospitals in Canada and the United States between 2000 and 2006, and diagnosed with clinical MRSA infection. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariable analyses for community- (CA) vs. hospital-associated (HA) MRSA infections...
Traub-Dargatz JL, Salman MD, Jones RL.A study was designed to identify epidemiologic factors associated with the development and spread of salmonellae in horses in a veterinary teaching hospital, through a case-control study and a longitudinal follow-up prospective study. In the case-control study, 44 horses shedding salmonellae in feces were compared with 99 control horses not shedding salmonellae in feces; regarding breed, sex, age and initial diagnosis, none of the odds ratios for study factors was significant. The factors found to be associated with fecal shedding of salmonellae in the prospective study included diarrhea at th...
Bosler EM, Cohen DP, Schulze TL, Olsen C, Bernard W, Lissman B.By using paired sera the IgM and IgG host responses were analyzed in dogs with ELISA and Western blot techniques. Antibodies in clinical seropositive dogs bound to 4-25 IgM and up to 40 or more IgG antigenic determinants. Early IgM response to the 41-kDa flagellin persisted for at least 9 months and involved as many as seven other peptides. IgG response expanded later in the disease and involved more immunogens than are currently recognized in late human disease. A percentage of asymptomatic dogs that later developed clinical symptoms were seropositive. Immunoblot studies suggested that B. bur...
Larson KR, Heil GL, Chambers TM, Capuano A, White SK, Gray GC.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is considered enzootic in North America and experimental studies have documented human EIV infections. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined 94 horse-exposed and 34 non-exposed controls for serological evidence of EIV infection. Sera were evaluated for antibodies against three EIV and two human H3N2 viruses using microneutralization (MN), neuraminidase inhibition (NI), enzyme-linked lectin (ELLA), and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) serological assays. Risk factor analyses were conducted using logistic regression and proportional odds modeling. Results: The...
Pusterla N, Mapes S, David Wilson W.The objective of this study was to detect and characterize latent equine herpes virus (EHV)-1 and -4 from the submandibular (SMLN) and bronchial lymph (BLN) nodes, as well as from the trigeminal ganglia (TG) of 70 racing Thoroughbred horses submitted for necropsy following sustaining serious musculoskeletal injuries while racing. A combination of nucleic acid precipitation and pre-amplification steps was used to increase analytical sensitivity. Tissues were deemed positive for latent EHV-1 and/or -4 infection when found PCR positive for the corresponding glycoprotein B (gB) gene in the absence...
Hussain MH, Saqib M, Raza F, Muhammad G, Asi MN, Mansoor MK, Saleem M, Jabbar A.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) caused by intraerythrocytic parasites (Theileria equi and Babesia caballi) is an emerging equine disease of world-wide distribution. In Pakistan, the prevalence and incidence of EP are unknown. In order to obtain the first insights into the prevalence of the disease, a total of 430 equids, including 33 mules, 65 horses and 332 donkeys, aging from ≤ 5 to ≥ 10 years of either sex, from five metropolises of Punjab, Pakistan, were serologically tested for the presence of antibodies directed against B. caballi and T. equi, using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorben...
Curto E, Messenger KM, Salmon JH, Gilger BC.To determine whether horses with clinically diagnosed Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU) and those with Leptospirosis infection have a specific cytokine profile in their aqueous humor (AH) and serum that differs from horses with uveitis secondary to other ocular inflammatory processes and from horses with normal eyes. Methods: Twenty-five client-owned horses with uveitis that were presented to the North Carolina State University Ophthalmology Service, and four University-owned horses without history or clinical signs of ocular disease. Methods: Samples of AH and serum were obtained from horses wit...
Miller RI, Campbell RS.One in vivo and 2 in vitro tests were developed to study immunological aspects of phycomycosis in clinically infected, recovered and normal in-contact horses. Serum from all infected horses gave positive readings in an agar-gel double diffusion test; serum from normal and recovered horses did not react. A complement fixation test detected antibody against Hyphomyces destruens in 82% clinical cases at an average titre of 20. Serum from recovered and in-contact horses reacted sporadically at positive titre. An intradermal hypersensitivity test (Heaf test) was used to detect evidence of cellular ...
Takai S, Anzai T, Fujita Y, Akita O, Shoda M, Tsubaki S, Wada R.Rhodococcus equi strains of intermediate virulence (IMV) for mice possess a 20kDa protein designated Virulence Associated Protein B (VapB) and a virulence plasmid of 79-100kb, and can be recovered from the submaxillary lymph nodes of pigs. The pathogenicity of such R. equi strains for foals is unknown. In this study, two foals, 42 and 43 days of age, were infected intratracheally with 10(6) and 10(9) cells of R. equi IMV strain A5, respectively. The foal infected with 10(9) cells of strain A5 became clinically ill, with the onset of illness (pyrexia and depression) occurring 21 days after inoc...
Bártová E, Sedlák K, Kobédová K, Budíková M, Joel Atuman Y, Kamani J.Neospora spp. and Toxoplasma gondii are considered to be a globally distributed parasites affecting wide range of warm-blooded animals. Neosporosis has caused clinical illness in horses and consumption of horse meat has been epidemiologically linked to clinical toxoplasmosis in humans. This study was conducted to determine Neospora spp. and T. gondii antibodies and risk factors of infection in horses and donkeys from three states of Nigeria. A total of 144 samples were collected from clinically healthy animals (120 horses and 24 donkeys). The sera were tested for antibodies to Neospora spp. an...
Hampson ECGM, Gibson JS, Barot M, Shapter FM, Greer RM.To identify bacteria and fungi found on the conjunctival surface of normal horse eyes; to investigate potential risk factors for these microflora; and to determine their susceptibility to common topical ophthalmic antimicrobials. Methods: A total of 95 client-owned horses were studied. Methods: Horses within sub-tropical Australia (South-East Queensland) were sampled once between April 2012 and March 2013. A conjunctival swab was taken from each eye and cultured for aerobic bacteria and fungi. Organisms were identified by colony morphology and phenotype. Antimicrobial disk diffusion susceptibi...
Quinlivan M, Cullinane A, Nelly M, Van Maanen K, Heldens J, Arkins S.Four seronegative foals aged 6 to 7 months were exposed to an aerosol of influenza strain A/Equi/2/Kildare/89 at 10(6) 50% egg infective doses (EID(50))/ml. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected for 10 consecutive days after challenge. Virus isolation was performed in embryonated eggs, and the EID(50) was determined for all positive samples. The 50% tissue culture infective dose was determined using Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. Samples were also tested by an in vitro enzyme immunoassay test, Directigen Flu A, and by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) using nested primers from the nucl...
Studdert MJ.DNA was prepared from 43 equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV 1) isolates, 11 of which were from horses with respiratory disease, 22 from aborted equine foetuses, and 10 from foals that died perinatally. The restriction endonuclease DNA fingerprints of 10 of the 11 respiratory isolates, known with certainty to have been recovered from horses with respiratory disease, were entirely different from all but 3 of the 32 foetal or perinatal foal isolates. The exceptional respiratory isolate, EHV 1 Army 183, had a foetal (F) strain fingerprint but this virus cannot be said with certainty to have been isola...
Weber R, Hospes R, Wehrend A.The aim of this study was to summarize the current status of the possible causes, clinical symptoms and pathogenesis of abortion in the mare and to evaluate the frequency of varying causes of abortion in German thoroughbred breeding. An analysis of the literature using electronic libraries, journals and textbooks was performed. In addition, the results of examinations of 123 abortions of thoroughbred breeding in central Germany were evaluated. In the literature, bacterial infections are the most frequently described cause of abortion. Other important causes are infections with equine herpesvir...
Slater JD, Gibson JS, Field HJ.Both intranasal (i.n.) and intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation of mice with wild-type equine herpesvirus type 1 (wt EHV-1) caused clinical signs and mortality. Virus could be recovered from target organs (turbinates, lungs and blood) for several days. By contrast, the thymidine kinase (TK)-deficient deletion mutant PR1 produced markedly less clinical disease following both i.n. and i.c. inoculation, and, in particular, no mortality occurred. PR1 did, however, establish productive infections following either route of inoculation. High titres of virus were recovered from target organs although viru...
Dunowska M, Wilks CR, Studdert MJ, Meers J.To identify viruses associated with respiratory disease in young horses in New Zealand. Methods: Nasal swabs and blood samples were collected from 45 foals or horses from five separate outbreaks of respiratory disease that occurred in New Zealand in 1996, and from 37 yearlings at the time of the annual yearling sales in January that same year. Virus isolation from nasal swabs and peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) was undertaken and serum samples were tested for antibodies against equine herpesviruses (EHV-1, EHV-2, EHV-4 and EHV-5), equine rhinitis-A virus (ERAV), equine rhinitis-B virus (ERBV...
Smith DJ, Hamblin AS, Edington N.Evidence is presented to show that activation of endothelial and leucoyte adhesion molecules is a key step in transferring virus from infected leucocytes; and determines the restricted tissue tropism. A range of tissues from 2 experimentally infected mares in late pregnancy at 4 and 8 days after infection with EHV-1 were compared with those from normal pregnant and nonpregnant mares. Rabbit antisera to equine activated endothelial cell molecules were used to identify which tissues expressed these molecules in normal nongravid and gravid mares, and to investigate whether the range of tissues wa...
Schulman ML, May CE, Keys B, Guthrie AJ.Recent CEM outbreak reports reflect a novel epidemiologic manifestation with a markedly different risk association for transmission via artificial reproduction and subsequent to inadvertent importation of unapparent carrier stallions. Artificial breeding has an increased association with horizontal or fomite-associated transmission. Reported risk factors include inadequate biosecurity protocols at centralised breeding facilities associated with stallion management and methods of semen collection, processing and transport. Detection of carriers is based on traditional bacteriology from genital ...
Smith KC, Whitwell KE, Mumford JA, Gower SM, Hannant D, Tearle JP.Twelve Welsh Mountain pony mares in late gestation were infected intranasally with EHV-1 (AB4 isolate) at dose rates from 10(3) to 10(7.3) TCID50. This resulted in 3 cases of paresis, at Days 9, 10 and 12 after inoculation, and 5 abortions, at Days 6, 9, 18, 19 and 20. Euthanasia was performed between Days 6 and 21, with collection of uterine specimens for histopathology, virus isolation and immunoperoxidase staining from the pregnant horn, non-pregnant horn and body. EHV-1 replication in endometrial vessels was detected as early as Day 6 and was maximal at Days 9-11, when widespread thrombois...
Dubey JP, Bauer C.There is considerable confusion concerning validity of Eimeria species in equids, and endogenous developmental stages and pathogenicity of equid Eimeria. This paper summarizes worldwide information on history, structure, life cycle, pathogenicity, prevalence, epidemiology, and diagnosis of Eimeria infections in equids. The following conclusions were drawn. Although three species of Eimeria; E. solipedum, E. uninugulata, and E. leuckarti were named from horses, only E. leuckarti is a valid species infecting equids, including horses, donkeys and zebra. We consider E. solipedum, E. uninugulata an...
Forni D, Cagliani R, Pontremoli C, Pozzoli U, Vertemara J, De Gioia L, Clerici M, Sironi M.Hepatitis C virus (HCV) belongs to the genus and is genetically heterogeneous, with seven major genotypes further divided into several recognized subtypes. HCV origin was previously dated in a range between ∼200 and 1000 years ago. Hepaciviruses have been identified in several domestic and wild mammals, the largest viral diversity being observed in bats and rodents. The closest relatives of HCV were found in horses/donkeys (equine hepaciviruses, EHV). However, the origin of HCV as a human pathogen is still an unsolved puzzle. Using a selection-informed evolutionary model, we show that the c...
Haghi MM, Etemadifar F, Fakhar M, Teshnizi SH, Soosaraei M, Shokri A, Hajihasani A, Mashhadi H.Babesiosis is a protozoal disease caused by Babesia spp. in mammals and humans worldwide. It is one of the most important tick-borne diseases, which affects livestock productions, reproductions, and accordingly failing economy. In this, systematic review and meta-analysis, study, the prevalence of babesiosis among domestic herbivores in Iran, between 1998 and 2015, was methodically reviewed. Nine databases including five English and four Persian databases were explored. A total of 49 articles, as regards the examination of 13,547 sheep, 1920 goats, 7167 cattle, and 940 horses, corresponding to...
Jackson TA, Osburn BI, Cordy DR, Kendrick JW.Experimental infection with equine herpesvirus 1 (rhinopneumonitis) resulted in neurologic disease in 8 of 15 inoculated horses. Nonpregnant animals did not develop clinical disease, and microscopic examination of tissues revealed no changes. In all mares between 3 and 9 months of gestation, a neurologic syndrome appeared 6 to 8 days after inoculation. Mares inoculated when 10 months pregnant did not develop neurologic disorders, but several aborted. The histopathologic change common to both sequelae was vasculitis, involving smaller arteries and veins. Although blood vessel changes were detec...
Yan W, Faisal SM, Divers T, McDonough SP, Akey B, Chang YF.Little information is available about experimental induction of leptospirosis in horses. Objective: Determine serologic, hematologic responses of horses to Leptospira interrogans serovar Kennewicki infection. Methods: Four adult horses seronegative for leptospirosis. Methods: Experimental and observational study. Horses were challenged with an equine isolate of L. interrogans serovar Kennewicki at 2 different doses and different inoculation sites. After challenge, the horses were monitored for 60 days. Blood, urine, and aqueous humor samples were collected at intervals until euthanasia 60 days...
Magnarelli LA, Anderson JF.Class-specific and polyvalent ELISA were developed to detect IgM antibody or total immunoglobulins to Borrelia burgdorferi in equine sera. Analyses of 122 serum specimens, collected during 1985 from horses and ponies in tick-infested areas of Connecticut, revealed IgM antibody in 41 (34%) samples; titration end points ranged from 1:160 to 1:2,560. In polyvalent ELISA, 73 (16%) of 454 serum specimens contained IgM and/or IgG antibody. Seropositivity was highest (32%) for blood samples collected during May. Both ELISA procedures had comparable sensitivities.
Rampacci E, Passamonti F, Bottinelli M, Stefanetti V, Cercone M, Nannarone S, Gialletti R, Beccati F, Coletti M, Pepe M.This study aims to investigate the bacteria involved in equine omphalitis and their susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs, and consequently to provide guidelines concerning the most suitable treatment protocol in accordance with the clinical, ultrasound and laboratory findings. Forty foals aged between one and 30 days were evaluated in the course of this investigation. An ultrasound examination of all umbilical remnants was carried out carefully in all foals; umbilical swabs were collected for bacteriological examination, and blood samples were collected for blood culture from 19 foals with ...
Kim HY, Mott J, Zhi N, Tajima T, Rikihisa Y.Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), a tick-borne zoonosis, is caused by an obligatory intragranulocytic bacterium, the HGE agent, a strain of Anaplasma phagocytophila. The equine model of HGE is considered valuable in understanding pathogenic and immune mechanisms of HGE. In the present study, cytokine mRNA expression by peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) in horses was examined during the course of infection by intravenous inoculation of A. phagocytophila or by allowing feeding by infected ticks. The p44 genes encoding the major outer membrane protein P44s of A. phagocytophila were detected...
Aksular M, Calvo-Pinilla E, Marín-López A, Ortego J, Chambers AC, King LA, Castillo-Olivares J.African horse sickness is a severe, often fatal, arboviral disease of equids. The control of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) in endemic countries is based currently on the use of live attenuated vaccines despite some biosafety concerns derived from its biological properties. Thus, experimental vaccination platforms have been developed over the years in order to avoid the biosafety concerns associated with the use of attenuated vaccines. Various studies showed that baculovirus-expressed AHSV-VP2 or modified Vaccinia Ankara virus expressing AHSV-VP2 (MVA-VP2) induced virus neutralising antib...
