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.
Pusterla N, Vin R, Leutenegger C, Mittel LD, Divers TJ.Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is an emerging virus associated clinically and epidemiologically with fever, depression, anorexia and less frequently colic and diarrhoea in adult horses. Sporadic cases and outbreaks have been reported with increased frequency since 2010 from Japan, the USA and more recently from Europe. A faeco-oral transmission route is suspected and clinical or asymptomatic infected horses appear to be responsible for direct and indirect transmission of ECoV. A presumptive clinical diagnosis of ECoV infection may be suggested by clinical presentation, haematological abnormalities ...
Figueiredo AS, Lampe E, do Espírito-Santo MP, Mello FC, de Almeida FQ, de Lemos ER, Godoi TL, Dimache LA, Dos Santos DR, Villar LM.Non-primate hepacivirus (NPHV), as described in horses, is the virus most genetically related to hepatitis C virus (HCV). Although detected worldwide, limited data on genomic variability and distribution of NPHV are available in Latin America. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and prevalence of equine NPHV in Brazil. Thirteen percent of 202 equines from three Brazilian states were positive for NPHV genome by reverse transcriptase PCR. Nucleotide sequences of the partial NS5B genome presented the greatest diversity described to date (25.6%), which is comparable to t...
Boysen C, Davis EG, Beard LA, Lubbers BV, Raghavan RK.Kansas witnessed an unprecedented outbreak in Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection among horses, a disease commonly referred to as pigeon fever during fall 2012. Bayesian geostatistical models were developed to identify key environmental and climatic risk factors associated with C. pseudotuberculosis infection in horses. Positive infection status among horses (cases) was determined by positive test results for characteristic abscess formation, positive bacterial culture on purulent material obtained from a lanced abscess (n = 82), or positive serologic evidence of exposure to organism ...
May CE, Schulman ML, Howell PG, Lourens CW, Gouws J, Joone C, Monyai MS, le Grange M, Bezuidt OK, Harper CK, Guthrie AJ.Taylorella equigenitalis is the causative agent of contagious equine metritis (CEM), a sexually transmitted infection of horses. We report here the genome sequence of T. equigenitalis strain ERC_G2224, isolated in 2015 from a semen sample collected in 1996 from a Lipizzaner stallion in South Africa.
Edson D, Field H, McMichael L, Vidgen M, Goldspink L, Broos A, Melville D, Kristoffersen J, de Jong C, McLaughlin A, Davis R, Kung N, Jordan D....Pteropid bats or flying-foxes (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) are the natural host of Hendra virus (HeV) which sporadically causes fatal disease in horses and humans in eastern Australia. While there is strong evidence that urine is an important infectious medium that likely drives bat to bat transmission and bat to horse transmission, there is uncertainty about the relative importance of alternative routes of excretion such as nasal and oral secretions, and faeces. Identifying the potential routes of HeV excretion in flying-foxes is important to effectively mitigate equine exposure risk at the bat...
Balasuriya UB, Crossley BM, Timoney PJ.Equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) is one of the most economically important equine viral pathogens. Its clinical manifestations in horses vary from acute upper respiratory tract disease, abortion, or neonatal death, to neurological disease termed equine herpesviral myeloencephalopathy, which may lead to paralysis and a fatal outcome. Successful identification of EHV-1 infection in horses depends on a variety of factors such as suitable case selection with emphasis on timing of sample collection, selection of appropriate sample(s) based on the clinical manifestations, application of relevant diagnost...
Paternina LE, Verbel-Vergara D, Romero-Ricardo L, Pérez-Doria A, Paternina-Gómez M, Martínez L, Bejarano EE.Identification of the bloodmeal sources of phlebotomine sand flies is fundamental to determining which species are anthropophilic and understanding the transmission of Leishmania parasites in natural epidemiological settings. The objective of this study was to identify sand fly bloodmeals in the mixed leishmaniasis focus of the department of Sucre, northern Colombia. In all 141 engorged female sand flies were analyzed, after being captured in intradomiciliary, peridomiciliary and extradomiciliary habitats with Shannon and CDC traps and by active searching in diurnal resting sites. Bloodmeals w...
Galvão CM, Rezende-Gondim MM, Chaves AC, Schares G, Ribas JR, Gondim LF.Donkeys (Equus asinus) are closely related to horses and are known to be infected by several equine pathogens. Neospora caninum and Neospora hughesi are protozoan parasites that infect horses, but they were not confirmed in donkeys up to this date. The aim of this study was to evaluate the exposure of donkeys (Equus asinus) to Neospora spp. using tachyzoites of N. caninum as antigen and employing two common serologic methods, IFAT and immunoblot. Sera from 500 donkeys were obtained from 30 municipalities in Bahia state and tested by IFAT. Two of 500 sera were positive for Neospora spp. by IFAT...
Zhang Y, Xu WW, Guo DH, Liu ZX, Duan H, Su X, Fu X, Yue DM, Gao Y, Wang CR.The equine pinworm Oxyuris equi (Nematoda: Oxyuridomorpha) is the most common horse nematode, has a worldwide distribution, and causes major economic losses. In the present study, the complete O. equi mitochondrial (mt) genome was sequenced, and the mt genome structure and organization were compared with those of other closely related pinworm species, Enterobius vermicularis and Wellcomia siamensis. The O. equi mt genome is a 13,641-bp circular DNA molecule that encodes 36 genes (12 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs) and one non-coding region, which is slightly shorter than that ...
Cruz F, Fores P, Mughini-Gras L, Ireland J, Moreno MA, Newton R.Equine viral arteritis (EVA), a disease caused by infection with the equine arteritis virus (EAV), is present in many European countries. In Spain, the last confirmed outbreak was reported in 1992 and there is a paucity of seroprevalence studies. The disease has a major impact on the equine breeding industry, which is mainly represented by Spanish Purebred (SP) horses in Spain. Objective: To estimate the seroprevalence of EAV in the breeding SP horse population in central Spain and identify potential horse and studfarm level factors associated with seropositivity to EAV. Methods: Cross-section...
Shaw SD, Cohen ND, Chaffin MK, Blodgett GP, Syndergaard M, Hurych D.Real-time, quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods for detecting Rhodococcus equi in feces have been developed as a noninvasive, rapid diagnostic test for R. equi pneumonia, but have not been evaluated in a large population of foals. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical utility of fecal PCR as a diagnostic test for R. equi pneumonia in foals using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methods. Methods: 186 foals born in 2011 at an R. equi-endemic ranch in Texas. Methods: Fecal samples were collected at the time of onset of clinical signs for pneumonic foals (n = 3...
Bannai H, Nemoto M, Tsujimura K, Yamanaka T, Maeda K, Kondo T.To increase the sensitivity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for equine herpesvirus type 4 (EHV-4) that uses a 12-mer peptide of glycoprotein G (gG4-12-mer: MKNNPIYSEGSL) [4], we used a longer peptide consisting of a 24-mer repeat sequence (gG4-24-mer: MKNNPIYSEGSLMLNVQHDDSIHT) as an antigen. Sera of horses experimentally infected with EHV-4 reacted much more strongly to the gG4-24-mer peptide than to the gG4-12-mer peptide. We used peptide ELISAs to test paired sera from horses naturally infected with EHV-4 (n=40). gG4-24-mer ELISA detected 37 positive samples (92.5%), whereas ...
Kuroda T, Kinoshita Y, Niwa H, Mizobe F, Ueno T, Kuwano A, Hatazoe T, Hobo S.We report the first case of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) keratitis in a racehorse. A 5-year-old mare developed punctate keratitis after racing. The corneal ulcer continued to expand despite ophthalmic antimicrobial therapy. On day 6, a conjunctival graft surgery was performed. The mare was euthanized, following colitis and laminitis development on day 10. MRSA was isolated from the corneal swab taken at the time of euthanasia. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated gram-positive and anti-S. aureus monoclonal antibody-positive cocci infiltration of the corneal stroma; a...
Grewar JD, Thompson PN, Lourens CW, Guthrie AJ.Thoroughbred foal body temperature data were collected from shortly after birth until shortly after weaning during the 2007/2008 season on a stud farm in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Equine encephalosis (EE) caused by EE virus (EEV) serotype 4 (EEV-4) occurred in the foal group during the first autumn after their birth (March and April 2008). A descriptive study was undertaken to provide data on the EEV maternal antibody status, the association between pyrexia and EEV infection, and the incidence of infection amongst the foals prior to and during the episode. This included the fr...
Li J, Kelly P, Zhang J, Xu C, Wang C.Babesia spp. are tick-borne protozoan hemoparasites and the second most common blood-borne parasites of mammals, in particular domestic animals. We used the Clustal Multiple Alignment program and 18S rRNA gene sequences of 22 Babesia species from GenBank to develop a PCR that could detect a wide variety of Babesia spp. in a single reaction. The pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR we developed reliably detected B. gibsoni, B. canis, B. vogeli, B. microti, B. bovis, and B. divergens under controlled conditions but did not react with closely related species, mainly Hepatozoon americanum, Theileria equi, and To...
Fonseca de Araújo Valença SR, Barreto Valença RM, Pinheiro Júnior JW, Feitosa de Albuquerque PP, Souza Neto OL, Mota RA.The aim of the present study was to investigate the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii among horses and its associated risk factors in Alagoas, Brazil. In total, 440 samples from 36 properties in 23 districts of the state of Alagoas were studied, covering the Leste, Agreste and Sertão mesoregions. Risk factors were evaluated through the application of an investigative questionnaire that focused on the productive, reproductive and sanitary management of herds. T. gondii infection were assayed using the immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with a cutoff point of 64; 14.4% (95% CI: 11.0%-17.8%) of - hors...
Kumar J, Chaudhury A, Bera BC, Kumar R, Kumar R, Tatu U, Yadav SC.The present immuno-diagnostic method using soluble antigens from whole cell lysate antigen for trypanosomosis have certain inherent problems like lack of standardized and reproducible antigens, as well as ethical issues due to in vivo production, that could be alleviated by in vitro production. In the present study we have identified heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) from T. evansi proteome. The nucleotide sequence of T. evansi HSP70 was 2116 bp, which encodes 690 amino acid residues. The phylogenetic analysis of T. evansi HSP70 showed that T. evansi occurred within Trypanosoma clade and is most c...
Field HE, Smith CS, de Jong CE, Melville D, Broos A, Kung N, Thompson J, Dechmann DK.Hendra virus causes sporadic fatal disease in horses and humans in eastern Australia. Pteropid bats (flying-foxes) are the natural host of the virus. The mode of flying-fox to horse transmission remains unclear, but oro-nasal contact with flying-fox urine, faeces or saliva is the most plausible. We used GPS data logger technology to explore the landscape utilisation of black flying-foxes and horses to gain new insight into equine exposure risk. Flying-fox foraging was repetitious, with individuals returning night after night to the same location. There was a preference for fragmented arboreal ...
Malik P, Singha H, Goyal SK, Khurana SK, Tripathi BN, Dutt A, Singh D, Sharma N, Jain S.Burkholderia mallei is the causative agent of glanders which is a highly contagious and fatal disease of equines. Considering the nature and severity of the disease in equines, and potential of transmission to human beings, glanders is recognised as a 'notifiable' disease in many countries. An increasing number of glanders outbreaks throughout the Asian continents, including India, have been noticed recently. In view of the recent re-emergence of the disease, the present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of glanders among indigenous equines from different parts of India. Serum sa...
BMC research notesSeptember 24, 2015
Volume 8 471 doi: 10.1186/s13104-015-1441-0
Boukharta M, Azlmat S, Elharrak M, Ennaji MM.Three equine influenza viruses, A/equine/Nador/1/1997(H3N8), A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004(H3N8), and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H3N8), were isolated from different Equidae during local respiratory disease outbreaks in Morocco in 1997 and 2004. Their non-structural (NS) genes were amplified and sequenced. Results: The results show high homology of NS nucleotide sequences of A/equine/Nador/1/1997 with European strains (i.e., A/equine/newmarket/2/93 and A/equine/Grobois/1/1998) and clustered into the European lineage. However, NS gene of A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004(H3N8) and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H...
Bergmann T, Moore C, Sidney J, Miller D, Tallmadge R, Harman RM, Oseroff C, Wriston A, Shabanowitz J, Hunt DF, Osterrieder N, Peters B, Antczak DF....Here we describe a detailed quantitative peptide-binding motif for the common equine leukocyte antigen (ELA) class I allele Eqca-1*00101, present in roughly 25 % of Thoroughbred horses. We determined a preliminary binding motif by sequencing endogenously bound ligands. Subsequently, a positional scanning combinatorial library (PSCL) was used to further characterize binding specificity and derive a quantitative motif involving aspartic acid in position 2 and hydrophobic residues at the C-terminus. Using this motif, we selected and tested 9- and 10-mer peptides derived from the equine herpesvir...
Nemoto M, Oue Y, Higuchi T, Kinoshita Y, Bannai H, Tsujimura K, Yamanaka T, Kondo T.Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is considered to be a diarrheic pathogen in foals. In central Kentucky in the United States, it has been shown that approximately 30 % of thoroughbred foals are infected with ECoV and thus it is considered widely prevalent. In contrast, the epidemiology of ECoV and its relationship to diarrhea in foals are poorly understood in Japan. We investigated ECoV in rectal swabs collected from thoroughbred foals in Japan. Results: We collected 337 rectal swabs from 307 diarrheic foals in the Hidaka district of Hokkaido, the largest thoroughbred horse breeding region in Japan, ...
Liu A, Zhang J, Zhao J, Zhao W, Wang R, Zhang L.Horses interact with humans in a wide variety of sport competitions and non-competitive recreational pursuits as well as in working activities. Cryptosporidium spp are one of the most important zoonotic pathogens causing diarrhea of humans and animals. The reports of Cryptosporidium in horses and the findings of zoonotic Cryptosporidium species/genotypes show a necessity to carry out molecular identification of Cryptosporidium in horses, especially in diarrheic ones. The aim of the present study was to understand Cryptosporidium infection and species/genotypes in diarrheic horses, and to trace...
Sumbria D, Das Singla L, Sharma A.A cross-sectional study was conducted in Submountain undulating, Undulating plain, Western and Western plain agro-climatic zones of Punjab province, India, to determine the prevalence, agreement between diagnostic tests and associated related risk factors of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi infection in equids (horses, donkey, mules). An overall prevalence of 14.14 and 0.0% of T. equi and B. caballi was recorded by multiplex polymerase chain reaction targeting 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) for both the parasites and 75 and 1.11% by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a representative...
Deng L, Li W, Zhong Z, Liu X, Chai Y, Luo X, Song Y, Wang W, Gong C, Huang X, Hu Y, Fu H, He M, Wang Y, Zhang Y, Wu K, Cao S, Peng G.Giardia intestinalis, a cosmopolitan zoonotic parasite, is one of the most common causes of protozoal diarrhea in both humans and animals worldwide. Although G. intestinalis has been detected in many animals, information regarding its prevalence and genotype in Chinese racehorses is scarce. In the present study, we investigated the prevalence of G. intestinalis in racehorses and performed molecular characterization of the pathogen to assess its zoonotic potential. Two hundred and sixty-four racehorse fecal samples from six equestrian clubs located in different regions of the Sichuan province o...
Suzuki T, Ueda S, Samejima T.An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was elaborated for the detection of specific antibody to equine infectious anemia (EIA) antigen. Sera from horses experimentally infected with EIA virus were assayed by ELISA, complement fixation (CF) and immunodiffusion (ID) tests for antibody to EIA antigen. The ELISA technique was found to be much more sensitive than CF and ID tests. In addition, EIA specific antibody could be detected by ELISA at an earlier stage of infection than by CF or ID techniques. The applicability of the technique to diagnosis of EIA is discussed.
Rankin SC, Whichard JM, Joyce K, Stephens L, O'shea K, Aceto H, Munro DS, Benson CE.Salmonella enterica serovar Newport MDR-AmpC expressing TEM-1b and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase SHV-12 was isolated from affected animals during an outbreak of salmonellosis that led to a 3-month closure of one of the largest equine hospitals in the United States.
Erdman MM, Creekmore LH, Fox PE, Pelzel AM, Porter-Spalding BA, Aalsburg AM, Cox LK, Morningstar-Shaw BR, Crom RL.Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is a highly contagious venereal disease of horses caused by Taylorella equigenitalis. During testing for semen export purposes, a stallion in Kentucky was found to be T. equigenitalis culture positive in December of 2008. This finding triggered an extensive regulatory investigation to search for additional positive horses, determine the extent of the outbreak, identify the potential source of the outbreak, and ultimately return the United States to CEM-free status. The investigation included over 1000 horses located in 48 states. Diagnostic testing found a tota...
Ambawat HK, Malhotra DV, Kumar S, Dhar S.Equine babesiosis, caused by Babesia equi and transmitted by ticks is of major economic importance in India. The adverse effects which B. equi organism and its metabolites inflict on red blood cells have not been reported. Erythrocytes were analysed for red cell membrane phospholipids, proteins and haemoglobin (Hb) concentration and plasma for malondialdehyde (MDA) in B. equi carrier donkeys before splenectomy (50% parasitaemia. Before splenectomy the mean values of membrane protein, phospholipids, plasma MDA and Hb were found to be 1.63 +/- 0.12 mg/ml PCV, 2.28 +/- 0.9 mg/ml PCV, 3.63 +/- 0.3...
The Journal of hygieneJune 1, 1983
Volume 90, Issue 3 371-384 doi: 10.1017/s0022172400029004
Wood JM, Mumford J, Folkers C, Scott AM, Schild GC.Serological responses to three bivalent aqueous equine influenza vaccines of different potency and an adjuvanted bivalent vaccine containing inactivated A/equine/Prague/56 (H7N7) and A/equine/Miami/63 (H3N8) viruses, were examined in seronegative ponies. Potencies of the vaccines, measured by single-radial-diffusion tests, ranged from 4 to 56 micrograms of haemagglutinin (HA) antigen activity/virus strain per dose. Serological responses to vaccination were examined by haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and single-radial-haemolysis (SRH) tests. Four weeks after a primary dose, HI responses to bo...
Hubálek Z, Ludvíková E, Jahn P, Treml F, Rudolf I, Svobodová P, Šikutová S, Betášová L, Bíreš J, Mojžíš M, Tinák M, Boldižár M....A serological survey for West Nile virus (WNV) infection involved 395 horses from 43 administrative districts of the Czech Republic (163 animals) and 29 districts of Slovakia (232 animals), sampled between 2008 and 2011. Using a plaque-reduction neutralization microtest, antibodies to WNV were not detected in any horse from the Czech Republic, whereas 19 nonvaccinated horses from Slovakia had specific antibodies to WNV (no cross-reactions were observed with tick-borne encephalitis and Usutu flaviviruses in those animals). The seropositivity rate of nonvaccinated horses in Slovakia was 8.3% (95...
Encarnação JA, Herzog S, Eickmann M, Becker NI, Hermes N, Herden C.Borna disease (BD) is a severe endemic and fatal disorder caused by the neurotropic Borna disease virus (BDV) which mainly occurs in horses and sheep. Borna disease virus belongs to the order Mononegavirales, which includes many reservoir-bound viruses with high zoonotic and pathogenic properties including the filoviruses and lyssaviruses. Clinically manifest BD occurs in endemic areas of Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Austria. A seasonal accumulation of cases in spring and summer, incidences that vary from year to year, and the recent detection of BDV in bicolored shrews (Crocidura ...
Pacchiarotti G, Nardini R, Scicluna MT.Viral hepatitis has recently assumed relevance for equine veterinary medicine since a variety of new viruses have been discovered. Equine Hepacivirus (EqHV) is an RNA virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family that can cause subclinical hepatitis in horses, occasionally evolving into a chronic disease. EqHV, to date, is considered the closest known relative of human HCV. EqHV has been reported worldwide therefore assessing its features is relevant, considering both the wide use of blood products and transfusions in veterinary therapies and its similitude to HCV. The present review resumes the ...
Allen PZ, Glode M, Schneerson R, Robbins JB.Hyperimmune horse serum from a single animal (horse 46) immunized with group B (strain B-11) meningococcal vaccine provides a standardized, readily available diagnostic reagent used in primary isolation medium and for serogrouping of meningococci. Identification of the heavy-chain isotypes of specific anticapsular polysaccharide and anti-lipopolysaccharide isolated from horse 46 serum revealed a differential distribution in the occurrence of immunoglobulin classes. Meningococcal anticapsular antibodies of horse 46 serum were restricted predominately to the immunoglobulin M (IgM) class, with on...
Roach JM, Foote AK, Smith KC, Verheyen KL, de Mestre AM.Pregnancy loss after Day 70 of gestation manifests as abortion, stillbirth or perinatal death. While previous studies have reported the diagnoses of laboratory submissions, none have quantified the incidence and causes of abortions, stillbirths and perinatal mortality at a population level. Objective: To report the incidence and causes of pregnancy loss after Day 70 of gestation in a cohort of Thoroughbreds. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Outcomes of Day 70 pregnancies were collected from eight Thoroughbred farms over the 2013-2017 breeding seasons. Stud, veterinary and laborato...
Ehrich M, Perry BD, Troutt HF, Dellers RW, Magnusson RA.Fecal specimens from horses in Montgomery County, Md, and in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, Va, were examined for Clostridium perfringens type A enterotoxin and for C difficile cytotoxin (92 and 108 specimens, respectively). The toxins were found in feces from horses that had experienced an acute diarrhea syndrome and from clinically normal horses. The toxins did not appear to be primary determinants of the diarrhea syndrome, although they may have contributed to the spectrum of clinical entities observed.
Wagner GE, Berner A, Lipp M, Kohler C, Assig K, Lichtenegger S, Saqib M, Müller E, Trinh TT, Gad AM, Söffing HH, Ehricht R, Laroucau K, Steinmetz I.Burkholderia mallei, the causative agent of glanders, is a clonal descendant of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, which has lost its environmental reservoir and has a restricted host range. Despite limitations in terms of sensitivity and specificity, complement fixation is still the official diagnostic test for glanders. Therefore, new tools are needed for diagnostics and to study the B. mallei epidemiology. We recently developed a highly sensitive serodiagnostic microarray test for human melioidosis based on the multiplex detection of B. pseudomallei proteins. In ...
Bell SA, Balasuriya UB, Nordhausen RW, MacLachlan NJ.Horses are commonly infected by herpesviruses, but isolation of equine herpesvirus-5 (EHV-5) has only infrequently been reported. We describe the isolation and characterization of a strain of EHV-5 from the blood mononuclear cells of a healthy adult horse in California. The virus was initially identified by EHV-5 specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and it caused lytic infection of cultured rabbit kidney cells only after repeated serial passage. Virions with characteristic herpesvirus morphology were readily demonstrated in cell culture lysate by transmission electron microscopy. A portio...
Overbeck W, Jäger K, Schoon HA, Witte TS.Endometritis constitutes a major problem in managing broodmares. The histological occurrence of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) in the stratum compactum of the endometrium is accepted as the reference standard to diagnose endometritis in mares. The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of PMNs within different sampling locations of the uterus by cytological examinations and to compare it with PMN numbers in endometrial biopsies of the corresponding location. Cytological and endometrial samples were obtained from 37 uteri within 2 ± 1 hours after slaughter through smal...
Stierstorfer B, Eichhorn W, Schmahl W, Brandmüller C, Kaaden OR, Neubauer A.An outbreak of neurological disease occurred in a well-managed riding school. Ataxia and paresis were observed in several horses, five of which became recumbent and were euthanized. Post-mortem analysis revealed scattered haemorrhages along the spinal cord, that were reflected by multiple haemorrhagic foci on formalin-fixed sections, with the thoracic and lumbar segments being the most affected. Pathohistologically, perivascular mononuclear cuffing and axonal swelling, especially in the white matter, were evident. Parallel to the course of disease, alterations in myelin sheets and activation o...
Schvartz G, Tirosh-Levy S, Erester O, Shenhar R, Levy H, Bazanow B, Gelman B, Steinman A.West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses transmitted by mosquito vectors. Whereas WNV is endemic in Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and in the Americas, data regarding the prevalence of USUV in the Middle East is limited. While both viruses share similar reservoirs and vectors, exposure of horses in the area to USUV have never been assessed. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and co-exposure of WNV and USUV in horses in Israel. A total of 327 serum samples from healthy unvaccinated horses in Israel collected in 2018 were tested for neutralizing antibo...
El-Hage CM, Savage CJ, Minke JM, Ficorilli NP, Watson J, Gilkerson JR.During the 2007 Australian equine influenza (EI) outbreak, an accelerated primary course 14 day intervaccination schedule was proposed, but not widely implemented. Expert opinion was divided as to the efficacy of such a schedule given the lack of published data. This study determined the level and duration of humoral immunity following administration of a recombinant canarypox-vectored vaccine (ALVAC-EIV) with a primary intervaccination interval of 14 days and booster at 105 days. Objective: To examine whether protective levels of immunity of adequate duration were achieved following a primary...
Pronost S, Hue E, Fortier C, Foursin M, Fortier G, Desbrosse F, Rey FA, Pitel PH, Richard E, Saunier B.Like hepatitis C virus (HCV) in humans, the newly identified equine hepacivirus (NPHV) displays a predominating liver tropism that may evolve into chronic infections. The genomes of the two viruses share several organizational and functional features and are phylogenetically closest amongst the Hepacivirus genus. A limited amount of data is available regarding the spread of hepacivirus infections in horses. In this study, we asked whether in a more representative sample the prevalence and distribution of NPHV infections in France would resemble that reported so far in other countries. A total ...
Chahan B, Zhang S, Seo JY, Nakamura C, Zhang G, Bannai H, Jian Z, Inokuma H, Tuchiya K, Sato Y, Kabeya H, Maruyama S, Mikami T, Xuan X.The prevalence of Babesia (Theileria) equi and B. caballi infections in donkeys in western Xinjiang China was investigated. In total, 93 serum samples were randomly taken from donkeys in the Kashi and Ili areas, and examined for B. equi and B. caballi infections by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using recombinant antigens. Of the 93 samples, 9 (9.6%) and 36 (38.7%) samples were positive for B. equi infection and B. caballi infection, respectively. In addition, 2 (2.2%) samples were positive for both B. equi and B. caballi infections. These results indicate that equine babesiosis might be e...
Ciota AT.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV; Togaviridae, Alphavirus) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) primarily maintained in an enzootic cycle between Culiseta melanura (Coquillett) and passerine birds. EEEV, which has the highest reported case- fatality rate among arbovirus in the Americas, is responsible for sporadic outbreaks in the Eastern and Midwest United States. Infection is associated with severe neurologic disease and mortality in horses, humans, and other vertebrate hosts. Here, we review what is known about EEEV taxonomy, functional genomics, and evolution, and identify gaps i...
Miyazawa T, Matsuda M, Isayama Y, Samata T, Ishida Y, Ogawa S, Takei K, Honda M, Kamada M.Profiles of the genomic DNA of 104 strains of T. equigenitalis isolated from brood mares with contagious equine metritis in Hokkaido during the breeding seasons from 1980 to 1993, as well as those of five strains (SS28, EQ56, EQ59, EQ70 and HH139) previously isolated in Japan were examined after restriction digestion and crossed-field gel electrophoresis. These profiles were essentially identical to each other and the various isolates and strains appeared to have a common genotype, designated 'genotype J', with respect to two restriction enzymes, ApaI and NotI. These results suggest a common s...
Burrage TG, Laegreid WW.African horsesickness (AHS) is a serious, non-contagious disease of horses and other solipeds caused by an arthropod-borne orbivirus of the family Reoviridae. In horses, AHS causes three distinct clinicopathologic syndromes, the pulmonary, cardiac and fever forms of the disease. Recent work has shown that the primary determinant of the form of disease expressed by naive horses is the virulence of the virus inoculum. Horses which recover from AHS exhibit solid humoral immunity against homologous challenge. Protective antibodies appear to be directed towards neutralizing epitopes on AHS virus VP...
Rashid HB, Chaudhry M, Rashid H, Pervez K, Khan MA, Mahmood AK.The present work was conducted to study the comparative efficacy of two anti-protozoan (babesicidal) drugs on the recovery and health of horses. A total of 80 horses, showing typical clinical symptoms of the disease, were selected for this study; the presence of babesiosis was confirmed through blood smear examination. These animals were divided into two groups i.e. A and B. Horses of Group A, were treated with diminazene diaceturate, while horses of Group B were treated with diminazene aceturate. Efficacy of the drugs was determined by the reversal of clinical signs and a negative blood smear...
