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.
Janes JG, Kennedy LA, Garrett KS, Engiles JB.Equine catastrophic skeletal breakdown injury is a serious issue within the racing industry, given the impact on equine and human health. The metacarpo- and metatarso-phalangeal (fetlock) joints are common sites of catastrophic injury. However, lesions involving articular cartilage, subchondral bone, and synovium are commonly identified within the fetlock of the contralateral limb; hence, it is imperative that lesions in both limbs are evaluated and characterized during postmortem examination. Bone and articular cartilage changes typically occur in specific locations, related to cyclic fetlock...
Dohre SK, Kamthan A, Singh S, Alam SI, Kumar S.Glanders is a disease of horses, donkeys and mules. The causative agent Burkholderia mallei, is a biorisk group 3 pathogen and is also a biothreat agent. Simple and rapid diagnostic tool is essential for control of glanders. Using a proteomic approach and immunoblotting with equine sera, we identified 12 protein antigens that may have diagnostic potential. Various immunoreactive proteins e.g. GroEL, translation elongation factor Tu, elongation factor Ts, arginine deiminase, malate dehydrogenase, DNA directed RNA polymerase subunit alpha were identified on 2-dimentional immunoblots. One of thes...
Gondim LSQ, Jesus RF, Ribeiro-Andrade M, Silva JCR, Siqueira DB, Marvulo MFV, Aléssio FM, Mauffrey JF, Julião FS, Savani ESMM, Soares RM, Gondim LFP.Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora spp. are protozoan parasites that induce neurological diseases in horses and other animal species. Opossums (Didelphis albiventris and Didelphis virginiana) are definitive hosts of S. neurona, which is the major cause of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Neospora caninum causes abortion in cattle and infects a wide range of animal species, while N. hughesi is known to induce neurologic disease in equids. The aims of this study were to investigate S. neurona and N. caninum in tissues from opossums in the northeastern Brazil, and to isolate Brazilian stra...
Elia G, Lanave G, Lorusso E, Parisi A, Cavaliere N, Patruno G, Terregino C, Decaro N, Martella V, Buonavoglia C.Viruses similar to human hepatitis C virus, hepaciviruses, have been identified in various animal species. Equine hepacivirus (EqHV) is the closest relative of human hepaciviruses. Although detected worldwide, information on EqHV epidemiology, genetic diversity and pathogenicity is still limited. In this study we investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of EqHV in Italian equids. The RNA of EqHV was detected in 91/1932 sera (4.7%) whilst it was not detectable in 134 donkey sera screened by a TaqMan-based quantitative assay. Upon sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of genomic portions...
Cardinale E, Bernard C, Lecollinet S, Rakotoharinome VM, Ravaomanana J, Roger M, Olive MM, Meenowa D, Jaumally MR, Melanie J, Héraud JM, Zientara S....The circulation of West Nile virus (WNV) in horses was investigated in the Southwest Indian ocean. In 2010, blood samples were collected from a total of 303 horses originating from Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles and tested for WNV-specific antibodies. An overall seroprevalence of 27.39% was detected in the Indian Ocean with the highest WNV antibody prevalence of 46.22% (95% CI: [37.4-55.2%]) in Madagascar. The age and origin of the horses were found to be associated with the WNV infection risk. This paper presents the first seroprevalence study investigating WN fever in hors...
Lulla V, Losada A, Lecollinet S, Kerviel A, Lilin T, Sailleau C, Beck C, Zientara S, Roy P.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an orbivirus, a member of the Reoviridae family. Nine different serotypes have been described so far. AHSV is vectored by Culicoides spp. to equids, causing high mortality, particularly in horses, with considerable economic impacts. For development of a safe attenuated vaccine, we previously established an efficient reverse genetics (RG) system to generate Entry Competent Replication-Abortive (ECRA) virus strains, for all nine serotypes and demonstrated the vaccine potential of these strains in type I interferon receptor (IFNAR)-knockout mice. Here, we ev...
Boyle AG, Rankin SC, D￮ LA, Morris D.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is recognized as a cause of nosocomial infections in both human and veterinary medicine. Studies that examine the nasopharynx and guttural pouches of the horse as carriage sites for MRSA have not been reported. Objective: MRSA colonizes the nasopharynx and guttural pouch of horses. To determine the prevalence of MRSA in equine nasopharyngeal wash (NPW) and guttural pouch lavage (GPL) samples in a field population of horses. Methods: One hundred seventy-eight samples (123 NPW and 55 GPL) from 108 horses. Methods: Prospective study. Samples were...
Guarino C, Asbie S, Rohde J, Glaser A, Wagner B.Borrelia burgdorferi can induce Lyme disease. Approved Lyme vaccines for horses are currently not available. In an effort to protect horses, veterinarians are using Lyme vaccines licensed for dogs. However, data to assess the response of horses to, or determine the efficacy of this off-label vaccine use are missing. Here, antibodies against outer surface protein A (OspA), OspC, and OspF were quantified in diagnostic serum submissions from horses with a history of vaccination with canine Lyme vaccines. The results suggested that many horses respond with low and often short-lasting antibody resp...
Bredtmann CM, Krücken J, Murugaiyan J, Kuzmina T, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G.Human and animal health is globally affected by a variety of parasitic helminths. The impact of co-infections and development of anthelmintic resistance requires improved diagnostic tools, especially for parasitic nematodes e.g., to identify resistant species or attribute pathological effects to individual species or particular species combinations. In horses, co-infection with cyathostomins is rather a rule than an exception with typically 5 to 15 species (out of more than 40 described) per individual host. In cyathostomins, reliable morphological species differentiation is currently limited ...
Laabassi F, Hue E, Fortier C, Morilland E, Legrand L, Hans A, Pronost S.An episode of acute equine respiratory infection was reported in western Algeria (Tiaret province) between February and March 2011, affecting a large population of horses. Nasal swabs (n=100) were taken from horses aged between 1 and 27 years, presenting with cough and mucopurulent nasal discharge. The prevalence of equine respiratory virus infections was examined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). One, or more, of four equine respiratory viruses were detected in the nasal swabs of 90 of 100 horses (90%) and the detection rate of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), equine herp...
Tirosh-Levy S, Gürbilek SE, Tel OY, Keskin O, Steinman A.Rhodococcus equi is a common cause of pneumonia in foals and has extensive clinical, economic and possibly zoonotic consequences. This bacterium survives well in the environment and may be considered as normal flora of adult horses. Certain strains of this bacterium are extremely virulent in foals, and early identification and intervention is crucial for prognosis. Rhodococcus equi is endemic in many parts of the world and occasionally isolated in Israel. This study was designed to evaluate R. equi seroprevalence in adult horses in Israel to indirectly indicate the potential level of exposure ...
Abo-Aziza FAM, Hendawy SHM, Namaky AHE, Ashry HM.The aim of this study was to investigate the early diagnosis of strongyle infection based on early changes in Th1 and Th2 cytokines beside the diagnostic accuracy values and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and western blotting profiles using prepared strongyles antigens. Methods: A total of 73 donkeys had a mean age of 4-32 years old were parasitologically examined for strongyle infection. The early changes in Th1 and Th2 cytokines were determined, and the diagnostic accuracy values and SDS-PAGE and western blotting profiles were performed using prepared st...
Bolfa P, Jeon I, Loftis A, Leslie T, Marchi S, Sithole F, Beck C, Lecollinet S, Zientara S, Hans A, Issel CJ.Equines in the West Indies are used for recreational purposes, tourism industry, racing and agriculture or can be found in feral populations. Little is known in the Caribbean basin about the prevalence of some major equine infectious diseases, some with zoonotic potential, listed as reportable by the OIE. Our objective was to study the prevalence of antibodies for West Nile Virus (WNV), Equine Herpes Virus-1 and 4 (EHV-1 and EHV-4), Equine Influenza (EI), Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) and Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV) using a retrospective serological convenience study. We used 180 equi...
Goyen KA, Wright JD, Cunneen A, Henning J.Hendra virus is a zoonotic paramyxovirus, which causes severe respiratory and neurological disease in horses and humans. Since 2012, the Hendra virus sub-unit G vaccine has been available for horse vaccination in Australia. Uptake of the vaccine has been limited and spill-over events of Hendra virus infection in horses continue to occur. We conducted an online, questionnaire-based cross-sectional study of 376 horse owners belonging to a variety of different equestrian clubs in Queensland, Australia, to identify risk factors for non-vaccination against Hendra virus. A total of 43.1% (N = 162) o...
Spence KL, O'Sullivan TL, Poljak Z, Greer AL.Identifying the contact structure within a population of horses attending a competition is an important element towards understanding the potential for the spread of equine pathogens as the horses subsequently travel from location to location. However, there is limited information in Ontario, Canada to quantify contact patterns of horses. The objective of this study was to describe the network of potential contacts associated with an equestrian show to determine how this network structure may influence potential disease transmission. Results: This was a descriptive study of horses attending an...
Harnacker J, Hainisch EK, Shafti-Keramat S, Kirnbauer R, Brandt S.Equine sarcoids are common therapy-resistant skin tumours induced by bovine papillomavirus type 1 or 2 (BPV1, BPV2) infection. We have previously shown that prophylactic vaccination with BPV1 L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) efficiently protects horses from experimental BPV1-induced pseudo-sarcoid development. Here, we assessed BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine-mediated long-term protection from experimental tumour formation in seven horses 5 years after immunization with three different doses of BPV1 L1 VLPs, and three unvaccinated control animals. Horses were challenged by intradermal inoculation with infec...
Weissenböck H, Bagó Z, Kolodziejek J, Hager B, Palmetzhofer G, Dürrwald R, Nowotny N.Borna disease, a lethal infection with Borna disease virus-1 (BoDV-1), was diagnosed in four horses from Upper Austria in 2015 and 2016. All cases occurred in winter (two cases in February 2015 and two cases in December 2016), and the maximal distance of the affected stables was 17 km. To demonstrate whether the causative agent was also harbored by its reservoir host, the bicolored white-toothed shrew (Crocidura leucodon), 28 shrews from this geographic area were collected in 2015 and investigated for the presence of BoDV-1. The shrew species were identified according to taxonomic clues and ...
Salas-Romero J, Gómez-Cabrera KA, Aguilera-Valle LA, Bertot JA, Salas JE, Arenal A, Nielsen MK.Increasing levels of anthelmintic resistance observed in equine cyathostomin parasites have led to recommendations of selective anthelmintic treatment strategies to lower the selection pressure favoring resistant populations. This principle is based on determining strongyle fecal egg counts from all herd members, and treating those exceeding a predetermined treatment cutoff. However, epidemiological information is lacking from horses kept under tropical conditions, where parasite burdens may be of a different composition and magnitude compared to those of horses kept under temperate climate co...
Prokhorov NS, Riccio C, Zdorovenko EL, Shneider MM, Browning C, Knirel YA, Leiman PG, Letarov AV.Bacteriophages recognize and bind to their hosts with the help of receptor-binding proteins (RBPs) that emanate from the phage particle in the form of fibers or tailspikes. RBPs show a great variability in their shapes, sizes, and location on the particle. Some RBPs are known to depolymerize surface polysaccharides of the host while others show no enzymatic activity. Here we report that both RBPs of podovirus G7C - tailspikes gp63.1 and gp66 - are essential for infection of its natural host bacterium E. coli 4s that populates the equine intestinal tract. We characterize the structure and funct...
Bannai H, Nemoto M, Niwa H, Murakami S, Tsujimura K, Yamanaka T, Kondo T.We studied a recent epizootic of Getah virus infection among pigs in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture and the northern part of Chiba Prefecture, Japan, focusing on its possible association with outbreaks in racehorses in 2014 and 2015. The genomic sequence of a Getah virus strain from an infected pig was analyzed to evaluate the degree of identity with the strains from horses. Results: Sera were collected from pigs from September to December 2012 to 2015 in south Ibaraki (380 pigs in 29 batches), and from September to December 2010 to 2015 in north Chiba (538 pigs in 104 batches). They ...
Torgeman A, Mador N, Dorozko M, Lifshitz A, Eschar N, White MD, Wolf DG, Epstein E.Assuring viral safety of horse plasma-derived products is fundamental for ethical and regulatory reasons. We previously demonstrated the ability of pepsin digestion at low pH to inactivate West Nile and Sindbis viruses in horse plasma. The present study further examined the efficiency of pepsin digestion to inactivate four additional viruses: HSV-1 and BVDV (lipid-enveloped), BPV and Reo-3 (nonenveloped). These viruses were spiked into hyperimmunized horse plasma against botulinum toxin and subjected to low pH (3.2) alone or combined with pepsin digestion (1200 units/ml). Peptic digestion inac...
Tijjani AO, Junaidu AU, Salihu MD, Farouq AA, Faleke OO, Adamu SG, Musa HI, Hambali IU.A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted to determine seroprevalence and risk factors influencing the presence of Brucella antibodies in donkeys of Borno State, north-eastern Nigeria. The study aimed at providing baseline information that may be used in planning a control policy against equine brucellosis. Blood samples were collected from 601 donkeys, comprised of 374 males and 227 females from the six agricultural zones of the state between March 2013 and September 2014. The sera obtained were tested for Brucella antibodies using Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT) and competitive enz...
Carossino M, Loynachan AT, Canisso IF, Cook RF, Campos JR, Nam B, Go YY, Squires EL, Troedsson MHT, Swerczek T, Del Piero F, Bailey E, Timoney PJ....Equine arteritis virus (EAV) has a global impact on the equine industry as the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), a respiratory, systemic, and reproductive disease of equids. A distinctive feature of EAV infection is that it establishes long-term persistent infection in 10 to 70% of infected stallions (carriers). In these stallions, EAV is detectable only in the reproductive tract, and viral persistence occurs despite the presence of high serum neutralizing antibody titers. Carrier stallions constitute the natural reservoir of the virus as they continuously shed EAV in their seme...
Worthing KA, Abraham S, Pang S, Coombs GW, Saputra S, Jordan D, Wong HS, Abraham RJ, Trott DJ, Norris JM.This study aimed to determine the frequency and molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from Australian animals and whether animal-derived MRSA was similar to that from Australian veterinarians. A total of 1,080 clinical coagulase positive Staphylococcus isolates from Australian animals were collected during 2013. Sixteen (4%) of 360 S. aureus isolates were MRSA. Most MRSA came from companion animals, while none came from livestock. MRSA isolates were characterized using whole genome sequencing. ST22-IV (EMRSA-15) was the most common clone in dogs and cats....
Kinne J, Joseph M, Wernery U, Nogradi N, Hagen F.During the past decades there has been an increase in cryptococcal infections caused by the basidiomycetous yeast species Cryptococcus gattii sensu lato, among humans and animals that live in endemic regions in Australia, Europe and the Americas. Unlike human cryptococcosis, little epidemiological data are available about C. gattii sensu lato infections in horses. Methods: A fatal case of a disseminated C. gattii sensu lato infection in an 11-year-old Arabian gelding imported from South Africa into the United Arab Emitares is reported. Tissue samples were studied by conventional mycology proce...
Plumlee Q, Meason-Smith C, Dieterly A, Gomez G, Porter BF, Rodrigues Hoffmann A.Many previously unrecognized fungi are emerging as potential pathogens. One such group is dematiaceous fungi of the Chaetomiaceae family (phylum Ascomycota, class Sordariomycetes). These fungi are rare causes of opportunistic, neurotropic phaeohyphomycosis in humans but are not known to cause similar infections in animals. The aims of this study were to investigate equine hyphal mycotic encephalitis, characterize key histopathologic features, and classify causative organisms with molecular diagnostic techniques. Seven cases were evaluated by histopathology. Panfungal PCR targeting the ribosoma...
Adamska M, Skotarczak B.The purpose of this study was to detect piroplasms, which are pathogens of veterinary and zoonotic importance in ticks, that were collected from ponies and field vegetation and to determine the role of Shetland ponies as potential reservoir hosts for piroplasms. A total of 1737 feeding and 371 questing Ixodes ricinus collected from horses or vegetation were tested for the presence of Babesia and Theileria DNA. Piroplasm 18S rRNA gene amplification was conducted, and the obtained amplicons were sequenced. Babesia DNA was detected in only three ticks (one tick collected from a pony and two colle...
Boyle AG, Smith MA, Boston RC, Stefanovski D.OBJECTIVE To develop a risk prediction model for factors associated with an SeM-specific antibody titer ≥ 3,200 in horses after naturally occurring outbreaks of Streptococcus equi subsp equi infection and to validate this model. DESIGN Case-control study. ANIMALS 245 horses: 57 horses involved in strangles outbreaks (case horses) and 188 healthy horses (control horses). PROCEDURES Serum samples were obtained from the 57 cases over a 27.5-month period after the start of outbreaks; serum samples were obtained once from the 188 controls. A Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression model was us...
Asif M, Parveen A, Ashraf S, Hussain M, Aktas M, Ozubek S, Shaikh RS, Iqbal F.The present study was designed to check the molecular detection of Anaplasma marginale and Theileria annulata in blood samples of horses and donkeys collected from Dera Ghazi Khan District in Punjab and to document their phylogenetic origin and their association with studied epidemiological factors (sex and age) and complete blood count parameters, if any. Results: A total of 195 blood samples were collected from apparently healthy horses (N = 141) and donkeys (N = 54). A. marginale DNA was detected by PCR in 4.9% (7/141) horse and in 9.2% (5/54) of donkey blood samples. Prevalence of ...
Elschner MC, Melzer F, Singha H, Muhammad S, Gardner I, Neubauer H.Glanders, caused by Burkholderia (B.) mallei is a notifiable zoonotic disease in equidae. For international trade and movement of equids, certificates of negative serological test results for antibodies against B. mallei are required. To date, the complement fixation test (CFT) is the mandatory test to issue these health certificates. The CFT is difficult to standardize and, due to its poor specificity, often leads to false-positive reactions resulting in trade restrictions with considerable financial consequences. In the present study, the new ID Screen Glanders Double Antigen Multispecies EL...
Schurer J, Davenport L, Wagner B, Jenkins E.Fecal samples from wild and domestic carnivores are routinely frozen for three days at -80°C to kill eggs of Echinococcus spp., following recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This is done to decrease the risk of zoonotic infection with these pathogenic cestodes. In addition, it is often necessary to freeze fecal samples collected for research prior to batch processing by a limited number of personnel, especially large numbers of samples or those collected in remote locations. The effect of freezing on the recovery of endopara...
Van den Eede A, Hermans K, Van den Abeele A, Floré K, Dewulf J, Vanderhaeghen W, Crombé F, Butaye P, Gasthuys F, Haesebrouck F, Martens A.Given the significance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections for both horses and staff in equine veterinary hospitals, protocols are required to minimise the risk of nosocomial transmission, including the screening of the skin and nasal chambers of equine patients for evidence of infection. The objective of this study was to clarify the potential existence and extent of MRSA on the skin of horses requiring long-term hospitalisation (≥ 6 months). Thirty such horses were sampled at eight different locations on their skin and from their nasal chambers. MRSA was isolat...
Li CX, Chang WS, Mitsakos K, Rodger J, Holmes EC, Hudson BJ.Papillomaviruses (PVs) have been identified in a wide range of animal species and are associated with a variety of disease syndromes including classical papillomatosis, aural plaques, and genital papillomas. In horses, 13 PVs have been described to date, falling into six genera. Using total RNA sequencing (meta-transcriptomics) we identified a novel equine papillomavirus in semen taken from a thoroughbred stallion suffering a genital lesion, which was confirmed by nested RT-PCR. We designate this novel virus (EcPV9). The complete 7656 bp genome of EcPV9 exhibited similar characteristics to th...
Jiménez-Cabello L, Utrilla-Trigo S, Barreiro-Piñeiro N, Pose-Boirazian T, Martínez-Costas J, Marín-López A, Ortego J.Bluetongue virus (BTV) and African horse sickness virus (AHSV) are widespread arboviruses that cause important economic losses in the livestock and equine industries, respectively. In addition to these, another arthropod-transmitted orbivirus known as epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) entails a major threat as there is a conducive landscape that nurtures its emergence in non-endemic countries. To date, only vaccinations with live attenuated or inactivated vaccines permit the control of these three viral diseases, although important drawbacks, e.g., low safety profile and effectiveness...
Zoonoses and public healthJune 10, 2010
Volume 58, Issue 3 192-199 doi: 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2010.01338.x
McNamara SE, Abdujamilova N, Somsel P, Gordoncillo MJ, DeDecker JM, Bartlett PC.Clostridium difficile (CD), Salmonella, Campylobacter and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are major causes of morbidity in a variety of enteric diseases in humans and animals, but subclinical carriage in both is probably more common than are clinical cases. Little is known regarding the prevalence of these pathogens in animals raised for exhibit at Michigan county fairs or the frequency with which Michigan citizens raising these animals may have been subclinically colonized. To address these issues, 361 fecal specimens from 158 humans and 203 of their farm animals were cultured for C...
Gibson JS, Slater JD, Field HJ.The sequencing of the genome of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is reported in Elizabeth A. R. Telford, Moira S. Watson, Kathryn McBride, and Andrew J. Davison, 1992, Virology, 189, 304-316. The sequence was derived using a plaque-purified clone of EHV-1 strain Ab4 (designated Ab4p). To ensure that Ab4p shares the pathogenic characteristics of parental Ab4 (hereafter Ab4), both were inoculated intranasally into foals, specifically free from EHV-1 and EHV-4. Clinical signs, including rectal temperature, were similar for both viruses. In addition, nasal shedding of virus was observed over a 1- to 2...
Sanz MG, Kwon S, Pusterla N, Gold JR, Bain F, Evermann J.Currently, diagnosis of equine coronavirus (ECoV) relies on the exclusion of other infectious causes of enteric disease along with molecular detection of ECoV in feces or tissue. Although this approach is complete, it is costly and may not always be achievable. Objective: We hypothesized that the overall fecal shedding of ECoV in hospitalized horses is low. Our objective was to determine whether systemically healthy horses and horses with gastrointestinal disorders shed ECoV in their feces at the time of admission to a referral hospital and after 48 hours of stress associated with hospitaliz...
Newton JR, Verheyen K, Wood JL, Yates PJ, Mumford JA.In 1998, equine influenza was diagnosed by serology and nucleoprotein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as the cause of acute respiratory disease in vaccinated and unvaccinated horses in the UK. The signs were generally milder in vaccinated horses and completely susceptible animals showed the most severe signs, including pyrexia, inappetence, coughing, mucopurulent nasal discharge and secondary bacterial pneumonia. In a detailed investigation of an outbreak among 52 vaccinated thoroughbreds in a flat racing yard, more than 60 per cent of the horses seroconverted on the evidence of paired serum...
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 ...
Vail KJ, da Silveira BP, Bell SL, Cohen ND, Bordin AI, Patrick KL, Watson RO.Rhodococcus equi is a major cause of foal pneumonia and an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised humans. While alveolar macrophages constitute the primary replicative niche for R. equi, little is known about how intracellular R. equi is sensed by macrophages. Here, we discovered that in addition to previously characterized pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., Tnfa, Il6, Il1b), macrophages infected with R. equi induce a robust type I IFN response, including Ifnb and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), similar to the evolutionarily related pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Follow up studi...
Mfitilodze MW, Hutchinson GW.A quantitative post-mortem study of 57 horses from northern Queensland was done to determine the prevalence and intensity of non-strongyle intestinal parasites. The following species (% prevalence) were found: Draschia megastoma (39%); Habronema muscae (43%); Gasterophilus intestinalis (34%), G. nasalis (30%); Parascaris equorum (15%); Strongyloides westeri (6%); Probstmayria vivipara (2%); Oxyuris equi (26%); Anoplocephala magna (2%); A. perfoliata (32%). Mean parasite numbers of individual species ranged from 10 to 1310. Prevalence and intensity data were compared to recent studies in Wester...
Borchers K, Ebert M, Fetsch A, Hammond T, Sterner-Kock A.Equine herpes virus 2 (EHV-2), a gamma(2)-herpesvirus, is common in horses of all ages. Its role as a primary pathogen is unclear but there is an association between EHV-2, respiratory disease and keratoconjunctivitis. The purpose of this study was to gain more information on the prevalence of EHV-2 DNA in conjunctival swabs from horses with and without ocular disease and to define the anatomical site and cell type harbouring viral genome or antigen. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 22 out of 77 (28.6%) ocular swabs of clinically healthy and only 4 out of 48 (8.3%) samples from diseased hors...
Wilson A, Mair T, Williams N, McGowan C, Pinchbeck G.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasingly serious threat to human and animal health, therefore responsible use of antimicrobials in equine practice is vital. There is a need to have accurate, up to date data on antimicrobial prescribing in equine practice in the UK. Objective: To characterise current antimicrobial prescribing practices by equine veterinarians and to describe surveillance, audit processes and identification of AMR. Methods: Online cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey. Methods: An online questionnaire targeting veterinarians who treat horses in the UK and Europe w...
Rajapakse S, Fernando N, Dreyfus A, Smith C, Rodrigo C.Leptospirosis is a zoonotic bacterial infection that is prevalent across all continents and is caused by pathogenic spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira. Although infection can be asymptomatic, symptomatic disease can vary in severity from mild to severe illness, the latter characterized by icterus and/or multi-organ dysfunction and potentially death. An estimated one million cases of leptospirosis occur globally each year, resulting in ~60,000 deaths. The pathogenesis of severe leptospirosis is poorly understood but is believed to involve an interplay between genetic predisposition, pathogen ...
Studzińska MB, Tomczuk K, Demkowska-Kutrzepa M, Szczepaniak K.Postmortem parasitic examinations of the large intestines of 725 slaughtered horses from individual farmers in southeastern Poland were carried out. The examinations were carried out monthly since February 2006 until January 2007 (except for August 2007 because of a technological stoppage in the slaughterhouse). The examinations included the intensiveness and extensiveness of the infestation of the Strongylidae belonging to the Strongylus genus. The Strongylidae were found in 26.5% of the examined horses. Strongylus vulgaris was the most dominant nematode and had a 22.8% prevalence, Strongylus...
Li J, Zhao Y, Gao Y, Zhu Y, Holyoak GR, Zeng S.Bacterial infections are the main causes of endometritis in mares. It is well known that the most common bacterial pathogen is Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (SEZ). This structured review was completed according to the PRISMA procedure to search endometritis treatment protocols published between 1990 and 2020 it was our intent to evaluate the actual effects of different treatment protocols for endometritis caused by SEZ. The trials included were collected from Pubmed, CAB and Agricola. Ten articles with 116 horses and 17 different interventions were identified. The results of this...
Mendoza L, Nicholson V, Prescott JF.Reactions to Pythium insidiosum by sera from horses with active pythiosis were investigated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblotting. Five strains of P. insidiosum were grown in nutrient broth and then sonicated. After centrifugation, supernatant antigens were separated by SDS-PAGE. An exoantigen of Conidiobolus coronatus was also tested. Bands with molecular weights between 97,000 and 14,000 were identified by Coomassie blue and silver staining. After being transferred to nitrocellulose, the antigens were reacted against sera from six horses w...
Angelos JA, Marti E, Lazary S, Carmichael LE.The DNA from equine sarcoid samples from New York State and Switzerland was isolated and probed with bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) to determine if BPV genomes were present. Twelve of 13 sarcoids from New York State and 17/20 sarcoids from Switzerland contained DNA that hybridized to the BPV-1 probe. Restriction enzyme analysis of the positive samples demonstrated restriction fragment profiles characteristic of BPV-1 in 22 sarcoids and restriction fragment profiles characteristic of bovine papillomavirus type 2 (BPV-2) in 7 sarcoids. In addition, three tissues histologically diagnosed as...
Pei Y, Nicholson V, Woods K, Prescott JF.Rhodococcus equi causes fatal granulomatous pneumonia in foals and immunocompromised animals and humans. However, there is no effective vaccine against this infection. In this study, the chromosomal genes isocitrate lyase (icl) and cholesterol oxidase (choE) were chosen as targets for mutation and assessment of the double mutant as an intrabronchial vaccine in 1-week-old foals. Using a modification of a suicide plasmid previously developed in this laboratory, we developed a choE-icl unmarked deletion mutant of R. equi strain 103+. Five 1-week-old foals were infected intrabronchially with the m...
Murphy RJT, Ramsay JP, Lee YT, Pang S, O'Dea MA, Pearson JC, Axon JE, Raby E, Abdulgader SM, Whitelaw A, Coombs GW.Staphylococcus aureus is a serious human and animal pathogen. Multilocus sequence type 612 (ST612) is the dominant methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) clone in certain South African hospitals and is sporadically isolated from horses and horse-associated veterinarians in Australia. Colonisation and infection by ST612-MRSA is increasing in Western Australia. Whole-genome sequencing was performed for 51 isolates of ST612-MRSA from Western Australian patients and healthcare workers, South African hospital patients, Australian veterinarians and New South Wales horses. Core genome phylogenies sug...
Nardoni S, Mancianti F, Sgorbini M, Taccini F, Corazza M.Fungal agents are responsible for a variety of respiratory diseases both in humans and animals. The nature and seasonal variations of fungi have been investigated in many environments with wide ranging results. The aims of the present report were (i) to evaluate the quality and magnitude of exposure to airborne fungi in three differently structured equine stalls (open air, partially and completely enclosed buildings) during a one-year period, using an air sampling technique and (ii) to compare the distribution and frequency of fungal species, with regards to these different environments. Air s...
Navarro JC, Medina G, Vasquez C, Coffey LL, Wang E, Suárez A, Biord H, Salas M, Weaver SC.Five years after the apparent end of the major 1995 Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) epizootic/epidemic, focal outbreaks of equine encephalitis occurred in Carabobo and Barinas States of western Venezuela. Virus isolates from horses in each location were nearly identical in sequence to 1995 isolates, which suggests natural persistence of subtype IC VEE virus (VEEV) strains in a genetically stable mode. Serologic evidence indicated that additional outbreaks occurred in Barinas State in 2003. Field studies identified known Culex (Melanoconion) spp. vectors and reservoir hosts of enzootic VEE...
Luethy D, Feldman R, Stefanovski D, Aitken MR.Acute colitis is a serious cause of morbidity and death in horses. Recent studies have compared clinical features of coronavirus and salmonellosis, but no study has compared clinical features of enteric salmonellosis, coronavirus, and neorickettsiosis. Objective: To identify risk factors for laminitis and nonsurvival to discharge in horses with enteric salmonellosis, coronavirus, or neorickettsiosis. Methods: Eighty-five horses hospitalized for acute colitis from 2011 to 2019. Methods: Retrospective case series. Medical record review (2011-2019) of adult (≥2 years) horses with colitis. Pri...
De Waal DT.Babesia caballi, isolated from a horse that originated from South West Africa/Namibia, was transmitted transovarially by adult Hyalomma truncatum. B. caballi proved to be highly infective for adult H. truncatum. Forty-five per cent of ticks feeding on a reacting animal with an extremely low parasitaemia became infected. In spite of a low parasitaemia, the ticks were severely affected by the parasite. Seventy per cent of the infected ticks either died during oviposition or after laying only a few eggs. The features of the infection in horses were: a prepatent period of 10 days, very low parasit...
Rocheleau JP, Michel P, Lindsay LR, Drebot M, Dibernardo A, Ogden NH, Fortin A, Arsenault J.Periodic outbreaks of West Nile virus (WNV), Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) and to a lesser extent, California serogroup viruses (CSGV), have been reported in parts of Canada in the last decade. This study was designed to provide a broad assessment of arboviral activity in Quebec, Canada, by conducting serological surveys for these arboviruses in 196 horses, 1442 dogs and 485 humans. Sera were screened by a competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and positive samples confirmed by plaque reduction neutralisation tests. The percentage of seropositive samples was 83·7%, 16·5%, 7...
Khademi P, Ownagh A, Ataei B, Kazemnia A, Eydi J, Khalili M, M M, Mardani K.Coxiella burnetii is a zoonotic bacterium that can infect a wide range of animals including horses. However, its circulation dynamics in and through horses are still unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence of C. burnetii and its genomic characteristics in horse sera samples in the North of Iran (Golestan Province). The samples were collected in 2018 and the age, sex, and breed of each animal were recorded. Nested-PCR was used to detect C. burnetii based on the presence of the transposable gene IS1111. The results showed that 7.50 % (P < 0.05; 95 % CI: 0.5 %-0.12 %) of the ...
Nemoto M, Yamanaka T, Bannai H, Tsujimura K, Kondo T, Matsumura T.Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) was applied to the detection of equine influenza virus (EIV). Because equine influenza is caused currently by EIV of the H3H8 subtype, the RT-LAMP primer set was designed to target the hemagglutinin gene of this subtype. The detection limit of the RT-LAMP assay was a virus dilution of 10(-5); which was 10(3) times more sensitive than the Espline Influenza A&B-N test and 10 times more sensitive than a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. The specificity of the RT-LAMP assay was examined by usin...
Raabe ML, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.We have previously demonstrated a high propensity for enhancement of virus replication and disease resulting from experimental immunization of ponies with a baculovirus recombinant envelope (rgp90) vaccine from equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). The current studies were undertaken to examine the correlation between the observed in vivo vaccine enhancement and in vitro assays for antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of EIAV replication. Toward this goal an optimized EIAV in vitro enhancement assay was developed using primary equine macrophage cells and used to evaluate the enhancement prope...
