The topic of Public Health and horses encompasses the study of interactions between equine populations and human health systems. It involves examining the transmission of zoonotic diseases, which are diseases that can be transferred between animals and humans, as well as the role of horses in the epidemiology of such diseases. This field also considers the impact of equine-related activities on public health, including injuries and environmental effects. Research in this area often explores preventive measures, management strategies, and policies to mitigate health risks associated with horses. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate the intersection of equine and public health, focusing on disease transmission, risk assessment, and health management strategies.
Bonet MA, Vallès J.The present paper deals with plants used in veterinary medicine in Montseny. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the Montseny massif, which is situated in north-east Catalonia (Iberian Peninsula), covers 826 km(2) and has a population of 80,000. The information was obtained through 120 ethnobotanical interviews to 180 informants. Out of 584 species reported, 351 are claimed to be used in the health field (human and veterinary medicine), 280 in human and animal food and 236 have another kind of popular use. Medicinal species represent around 16.5% of Montseny's vascular flora. In a prev...
Dao S, Abdillahi AM, Bougoudogo F, Toure K, Simbe C.The district of Bamako is the political and economical capital city of Mali with 1,800,000 inhabitants. The goal of the present retrospective study was to determine the frequency of animal bites, human and animal rabies on the one hand and to determine the frequency and the nature of mad animals on the other hand from January 2000 to December 2003 (4 years). To achieve this goal, we have analysed registers and documents related to rabies in the department of prevention and fight against diseases, the central veterinary laboratory, and also at the lazaret clinic involved in caring for human rab...
Ivanetich KM, Hsu PH, Wunderlich KM, Messenger E, Walkup WG, Scott TM, Lukasik J, Davis J.Criteria for sub-typing of microbial organisms by DNA sequencing proposed by Olive and Bean were applied to several genes in Escherichia coli to identify targets for the development of microbial source tracking assays. Based on the aforementioned criteria, the icd (isocitrate dehydrogenase), and putP (proline permease) genes were excluded as potential targets due to their high rates of horizontal gene transfer; the rrs (16S rRNA) gene was excluded as a target due to the presence of multiple gene copies, with different sequences in a single genome. Based on the above criteria, the mdh (malate d...
Airaksinen S, Heiskanen ML, Heinonen-Tanski H.Increased stabling of horses near to cities has led to interest in the environmental effects of paddocks. In this study, the contamination of horse paddocks was examined by determining the nutrient and micro-organism contents in the surface run-off waters and the electrical conductivity, pH and phosphorus, potassium and nitrate contents of top soils. Two open-stable paddocks were studied, one cleaned and the other left uncleaned, with a stocking density of 37.5 animalsha(-1) in both. The feeding and drinking places were the most contaminated areas of both paddocks. In spring, after seven month...
Anderson MA, Whitlock JE, Harwood VJ.Escherichia coli is the most completely characterized prokaryotic model organism and one of the dominant indicator organisms for food and water quality testing, yet comparatively little is known about the structure of E. coli populations in their various hosts. The diversities of E. coli populations isolated from the feces of three host species (human, cow, and horse) were compared by two subtyping methods: ribotyping (using HindIII) and antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA). The sampling effort required to obtain a representative sample differed by host species, as E. coli diversity was consis...
Carrieri ML, Peixoto ZM, Paciencia ML, Kotait I, Germano PM.Laboratory diagnosis is essential to confirm suspected cases of equine rabies and to determine the medical care needed for human postexposure antirabies prophylaxis. Equine rabies transmitted by the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, has increased gradually in the State of São Paulo. The present study has several objectives, the most important being the evaluation of fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and virus-isolation laboratory tests performed with different equine nervous system tissues (cortical, hippocampus, cerebellar, brainstem and cervical medullar) to determine the tissue for which the t...
Eysker M, van Doorn DC, Lems SN, Weteling A, Ploeger HW.Due to excessive and inappropriate use of dewormers anthelmintic resistance has developed as a significant problem in horse parasites in the Netherlands. Since it is unlikely that new classes of anthelmintics against horse nematodes will be introduced in the near future, it is important to use the present drugs wisely. Veterinarians should advice horse owners about worm control programs with a more targeted approach. The number of anthelmintic treatments should be reduced and, through selective anthelmintic treatments, further development of anthelmintic resistance should be delayed. Preferabl...
French jockeys suffer more severe injuries when they fall off their horses than their British counterparts. While it has been shown that jockeys suffer high rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries, little is known about differences in injury rates between countries. To investigate this, researchers from Australia, France and the UK used prospectively collected data on the rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries in flat and jump jockeys in France and compared them with data from the UK.
Traub-Dargatz JL, Weese JS, Rousseau JD, Dunowska M, Morley PS, Dargatz DA.Reduction factors (RFs) for bacterial counts on examiners' hands were compared when performing a standardized equine physical examination, followed by the use of one of 3 hand-hygiene protocols (washing with soap, ethanol gel application, and chlorohexidine-ethanol application). The mean RFs were 1.29 log10 and 1.44 log10 at 2 study sites for the alcohol-gel (62% ethyl alcohol active ingredient) protocols and 1.47 log10 and 1.94 log10 at 2 study sites for the chlorhexidine-alcohol (61% ethyl alcohol plus 1% chlorhexidine active ingredients) protocols, respectively. The RFs were significantly d...
Journal of medical entomologyAugust 9, 2006
Volume 43, Issue 4 762-773 doi: 10.1603/0022-2585(2006)43[762:DACOBB]2.0.CO;2
Morshed MG, Scott JD, Fernando K, Geddes G, McNabb A, Mak S, Durden LA.The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), has a wide geographical distribution in Ontario, Canada, with a detected range extending at least as far north as the 50th parallel. Our data of 591 adult I. scapularis submissions collected from domestic animals (canines, felines, and equines) and humans during a 10-yr period (1993-2002) discloses a monthly questing activity in Ontario that peaks in May and October. The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmidt, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner was detected in 12.9% of I. scapularis adults collected from domesti...
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...
Takai S, Zhuang D, Huo XW, Madarame H, Gao MH, Tan ZT, Gao SC, Yan LJ, Guo CM, Zhou XF, Hatori F, Sasaki Y, Kakuda T, Tsubaki S.Little is known about the distribution of Rhodococcus equi in the soil environment of native horses in China. One hundred and eight soil samples were collected from native-horse farms in the Hulun Beier grasslands of eastern Mongolia, the Xilin Goler grasslands of southern Mongolia, and Tongliao City in Inner Mongolia, China. The isolation rates of R. equi from soil samples from the Hulun Beier and Xilin Goler grasslands ranged from 25.9% to 30.0%. In contrast, isolation rates from soil samples from Tongliao City were as high as 82.3% and the mean number of R. equi in soil samples from Tonglia...
Romaniuk K.The Diptera attacked domestic animals in Poland are: Simuliidae, Culicidae, Tabanidae, Gasterophilidae, Hypoder-matidae and Muscidae. The insect assail the crazing animals, mostly during sunny day dna at close of day. Lack of effective repelents and also difficulties with their usage, makes it impossible to complete extermination of parasitic insects in the environment. It is posible to effectively fight against Hypoderma bovis and Gasterophilus spp.
Southwood LL.Although the use of antimicrobials has had an insurmountable impact on preventing patient morbidity and mortality, problems with antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial-induced diarrhea are becoming more apparent in human and veterinary medicine. The mortality associated with nosocomial infection with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in human patients is alarming. Similarly, in veterinary medicine, the morbidity and high cost of treatment of patients with postoperative infection, for example, are concerns. Specifically in equine medicine, the high morbidity and mortality associated with ant...
Ward MP, Schuermann JA, Highfield LD, Murray KO.Equine West Nile virus (WNV) encephalomyelitis cases - based on clinical signs and ELISA serology test results - reported to Texas disease control authorities during 2002 were analyzed to provide insights into the epidemiology of the disease within a previously disease-free population. The epidemic occurred between June 27 and December 17 (peaking in early October) and 1,698 cases were reported. Three distinct epidemic phases were identified, occurring mostly in southeast, northwest and then central Texas. Significant (P<0.05) disease clusters were identified in northwest and northern Texas. M...
Popot MA, Donval A, Bonnaire Y, Huau J.Feces are a possible medium to be used for horse doping control. Efficient methods for detecting drugs in feces collected from various animals are routinely applied in institutes of food safety in Belgium. We have already tested whether they are applicable to horse feces. In this report, accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), an efficient method for extracting compounds from solid material, has been tested. ASE has been used to replace the diethyl ether liquid-liquid extraction step present in the method initially set up. This technique has been optimized for detecting several non-steroidal ant...
Songsermsakul P, Sontag G, Cichna-Markl M, Zentek J, Razzazi-Fazeli E.The paper describes a method for the sensitive and selective determination of zearalenone and its metabolites in urine, plasma and faeces of horses by high performance liquid chromatography and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) mass spectrometry (MS). While only one step sample clean-up by an immunoaffinity column (IAC) was sufficient for plasma samples, urine and faeces samples had to be prepared by a combination of a solid-phase extraction (SPE) and an immunoaffinity column. The method allows the simultaneous determination of zearalenone and all of its metabolites; alpha-zearal...
Waller AS, Jolley KA.'Strangles', caused by infection with the bacterium Streptococcus equi, remains one of the most commonly diagnosed and important infectious diseases of horses world-wide. This review discusses the diagnosis and pathogenesis of strangles with particular attention to the significance of persistent infections in disease transmission and the rapid progress now being made towards the development of effective preventative vaccines. It is now possible combine recent sequence data from the N-terminal region of the SeM protein and reassign the SeM alleles using the on-line database http://pubmlst.org/s...
During August-September 2005, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services reported seven cases of human eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) disease, the first laboratory-confirmed, locally acquired cases of human EEEV disease reported from New Hampshire in 41 years of national surveillance. Also during August--September 2005, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported four cases of human EEEV disease, five times the annual average of 0.8 cases reported from Massachusetts during the preceding 10 years. Four of the 11 patients from New Hampshire and Massachusetts d...
Dhollander S, Jallow A, Mbodge K, Kora S, Sanneh M, Gaye M, Bos J, Leak S, Berkvens D, Geerts S.The objective of this study was to provide epidemiological information of equine trypanosomosis in the Central River Division (CRD) of The Gambia. Therefore, 2285 consultations records of equines, admitted in a gate-clinic at Sololo in CRD, were studied retrospectively. The data were recorded in the period between September 1995 and July 2002 and comprised consultations of 2113 horses and 172 donkeys. 'Trypanosome infection' was the most frequently diagnosed condition and accounted for 61% of the cases. Horses were more frequently diagnosed with trypanosome infections than donkeys (p1 year) we...
Rockx B, van Asten L, van den Wijngaard C, Godeke GJ, Goehring L, Vennema H, van der Avoort H, van Pelt W, Koopmans M.West Nile virus (WNV) is an arthropod-borne flavivirus that is endemic in Africa, Europe, and Eastern Asia. The recent introduction and rapid dissemination of the virus in the United States as well as an increase in WNV outbreaks in Europe, has raised concerns for its spread in Europe. A surveillance system was developed to allow timely detection of an introduction of WNV infections in The Netherlands. This program focuses on cases presenting with neurological disease and includes the monitoring of hospital discharge diagnoses, trends in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diagnostic requests, laborator...
Ameni G.A study was conducted between January 2003 and June 2004 on 19,082 carthorses in 28 towns in Ethiopia to investigate the epidemiology of equine histoplasmosis (EH). Clinical and microscopic examinations were used and an overall prevalence of 18.8% (3579/19082) was recorded. Statistically significant (P<0.001) differences was observed in the average prevalence with high, medium, and low prevalence categories. The highest prevalence (39%) was recorded at Mojo while the lowest (0.0%) was recorded at five towns, namely, Agaro, Bokoji, Debre Berhan, Dinsho, and Sagure. The prevalence of EH was n...
Ward MP.Using reports of clinical West Nile virus (WNV) encephalomyelitis in Texas equids during 2002, the distribution of disease was analyzed using cluster statistics and spatial modeling to develop hypotheses of disease spread during the first year of its detection. Significant (P < 0.05) clusters of cases reported early during the outbreak were identified in east, northcentral, and north Texas, and significant (P < 0.05) clusters late during the outbreak were detected in central, south, and west Texas. Two counties on the south Texas coast first reported disease significantly (P < 0.05) e...
Mongoh MN, Khaitsa ML, Dyer NW.West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak in North Dakota in 2002 included over 569 horse cases, clustered mainly in the eastern and northeastern parts of the state. The pattern of occurrence observed suggested existence of specific environmental and ecological factors that increased the risk for infection and illness in those locations. We developed a predictive model with factors that explained the pattern of WNV occurrence observed. Results indicated that surface elevation, temperature, precipitation, reported WNV-positive birds, reported WNV-positive humans, and reported WNV-positive mosquitoes were ...
Rodríguez-Lázaro D, Lewis DA, Ocampo-Sosa AA, Fogarty U, Makrai L, Navas J, Scortti M, Hernández M, Vázquez-Boland JA.We developed a novel quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) method for the soil actinomycete Rhodococcus equi, an important horse pathogen and emerging human pathogen. Species-specific quantification was achieved by targeting the chromosomal monocopy gene choE, universally conserved in R. equi. The choE Q-PCR included an internal amplification control (IAC) for identification of false negatives. A second Q-PCR targeted the virulence plasmid gene vapA, carried by most horse isolates but infrequently found in isolates from other sources. The choE-IAC and vapA assays were 100% sensitive and specific ...
Tomlinson JE, Van de Walle GR.Equine parvovirus hepatitis (EqPV-H) is highly prevalent and causes subclinical to fatal hepatitis, which can occur in outbreaks. Whereas iatrogenic transmission is well documented, the mode of horizontal transmission is not known. The virus is shed in nasal, oral and fecal secretions, and PO transmission has been reported in a single horse. Objective: Investigate the efficiency of PO and nasal transmission of EqPV-H in a larger cohort. Methods: Prospective experimental transmission study. Eleven EqPV-H-negative horses were inoculated with 5 × 10 genome equivalents EqPV-H. Serum PCR and s...
Ryden A, Fernström LL, Svonni E, Riihimäki M.Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi) is transmitted via contact with infected horses or fomites such as equipment or surfaces of the stable environment. Effective cleaning and sanitation is essential to minimize risk of fomite-associated infections. This study assessed the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation of experimentally S. equi contaminated materials and equipment found in stables. Wood, concrete, plastic, leather halters, leather gloves and polyester webbing halters were inoculated with a 24-hour culture S. equi laboratory strain. In addition, selected materials were inoculated...
Ki HC, Shin EK, Woo EJ, Lee E, Hong JH, Shin DH.Only a few osteological reports describe bone injuries thought to have been caused by falls from horses. Nevertheless, anthropological study alone is insufficient for establishing the correlates of such equestrian accidents. We therefore reviewed the records in Seungjeongwon ilgi (Diaries of the Royal Secretariat) and Joseon wangjo silrok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty) of the Korea's Joseon period (1392-1910 CE). Although the mechanisms of trauma were diverse, the Joseon documents recorded many injuries caused by horse-riding accidents. During 1625-1872 CE, equestrian-related accidents occurre...
Golynski AA, Fernandes KR, Baldani CD, Golynski AL, Madeiro AS, Machado RZ, Botteon Pde T, Massard CL.This research was performed to study the prevalence of antibodies against Babesia equi in horses of the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul state, using ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFA). The total sera sample was 380, this number was considered as statistically representative of the population, as determined by mathematical model. The prevalence of B. equi was 31.6% and 35.8% by ELISA and IFA, respectively. The concordance between the assays was 0.87 (indices kappa), which is considered an optimal result. The results did not show any significant statistical difference...
Hartnack AK, Van Metre DC, Morley PS.To evaluate the potential association between Salmonella enterica shedding in hospitalized horses and the risk of diarrhea among stablemates, and to characterize gastrointestinal-related illness and death following discharge among horses that shed S. enterica while hospitalized. Methods: Retrospective cohort study [corrected]. Methods: 221 horses (59 that shed S. enterica during hospitalization and 162 that tested negative for S. enterica shedding ≥ 3 times during hospitalization). Methods: Information from medical records (signalment, results of microbial culture of fecal samples, clinical ...
Kim SH, Lee JS, Lee JH, Kim YJ, Choi JG, Lee SK, Kim HJ, Yang SJ, Park T, Lee SK, Kang HE, Jeoung HY, Park JY.Venereal diseases caused by bacteria are important to the equine industry due to economic losses caused by decline of conception rate in breeding horses. Therefore, identification of infected animals as well as the implementation of appropriate managerial procedures based on accurate diagnosis is critical. In this study, two types of multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction with high sensitivity and specificity were developed for the simultaneous detection and differentiation of five commonly associated bacterial pathogens of venereal diseases in horses, consisting of Taylorella equigenit...
Ivanetich KM, Hsu PH, Wunderlich KM, Messenger E, Walkup WG, Scott TM, Lukasik J, Davis J.Criteria for sub-typing of microbial organisms by DNA sequencing proposed by Olive and Bean were applied to several genes in Escherichia coli to identify targets for the development of microbial source tracking assays. Based on the aforementioned criteria, the icd (isocitrate dehydrogenase), and putP (proline permease) genes were excluded as potential targets due to their high rates of horizontal gene transfer; the rrs (16S rRNA) gene was excluded as a target due to the presence of multiple gene copies, with different sequences in a single genome. Based on the above criteria, the mdh (malate d...
Butler D, Upton L, Mullan S.In March 2020, the World Health Organisation called for countries to take urgent and aggressive action against a global pandemic caused by COVID-19. Restrictions were introduced in many countries to reduce transmission of COVID-19 and ultimately deaths. Such restrictions have been colloquially referred to as "lockdown". Anecdotal evidence of the beneficial practices that facilitated safe veterinary treatment and equine care had been reported together with an increase in the use of electronic communication and information technologies during the first "lockdown". Thus, the aim of this qualitati...
Schröter C, Schulte-Sutum A, Busch M, Winkelmann M, Macke C, Zeckey C, Krettek C, Mommsen P.The cervical spine is considered fragile and vulnerable to injuries in equestrian sport. This retrospective study investigates the injury pattern and severity. Patients of the medical university in Hannover from the years 2006-2011, who had an equestrian accident, were identified. Patients who had been injured in the course of their work were excluded. Results counted with a p-value < 0.05 were considered significant. In 13.1% of patients, there were 71 cervical spine injuries (92.4% female; 7.6% male). The mean age was 27.1 ± 13.2 years. Of these, 86.4% associated the injury to the r...
Greiner EC, Fadok VA, Rabin EB.Twenty-three species of Culicoides were trapped near pruritic horses during a 2-year survey in Florida. Nearly 99% of the biting midges collected were represented by Culicoides insignis Lutz, C. edeni Wirth and Blandon, C. stellifer (Coquillett), C. niger Root and Hoffman, C. haematopotus Malloch and C. venustus Hoffman. The relative contribution to the total catch by each of these species varied among collection sites. Seasonally, different species attain their largest population sizes at different times. Association of species collected in light traps with the seasonality of lesion developme...
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...
Zahoor J, Kashif M, Nasir A, Bakhsh M, Qamar MF, Sikandar A, Rehman A.Trypanosomiasis is one of the severe pathogenic infections, caused by several Trypanosoma species, affecting both animals and humans, causing substantial economic losses and severe illness. The objective of this study was to determine the molecular diagnosis and the risk factors associated with trypanosomiasis in District Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, blood samples were randomly collected from 200 horses. A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect data on risk factors before the sample collection. The microscopy examination through Giemsa staining, formol gel test and PCR tec...
Tam TL, Hogsette J, TenBroeck S.The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), is a bloodsucking ectoparasite that causes irritation and distress to livestock, wildlife, and humans. Both sexes are vicious blood-feeders that feed on a variety of animals. Optically attractive sticky traps have been used to capture stable flies, and some companies claim that sticky traps can protect animals from the bites of stable flies. To further investigate the protective ability of sticky traps, Home and Garden Mosquito (HGM) traps were selected for evaluations at the University of Florida Horse Teaching Unit (HTU). Broodmares coated with fluor...
Shnaiderman-Torban A, Navon-Venezia S, Paitan Y, Archer H, Abu Ahmad W, Bonder D, Hanael E, Nissan I, Zizelski Valenci G, Weese SJ, Steinman A.We aimed to investigate the prevalence, molecular epidemiology and prevalence factors for Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) shedding by race horses. A cross-sectional study was performed involving fecal samples collected from 169 Thoroughbred horses that were housed at a large racing facility in Ontario, Canada. Samples were enriched, plated on selective plates, sub-cultured to obtain pure cultures and ESBL production was confirmed. Bacterial species were identified and antibiotic susceptibility profiles were assessed. E. coli sequence types (ST) and ESBL gen...
Bochkova NG, Koreshkova GV, Pogodina VV.A total of 5227 serum specimens from humans, horses and swine collected in the seasons of 1968--1976 in 15 administrative areas of the Primorskiy Kray were examined with antigens of a number of mosquito-borne arboviruses: Japanese encephalitis (JE), West Nile (WN), Getah, and Sindbis. Both independent and combined circulation of these viruses in the region was established. Sindbis virus was found to be circulating separately most frequently, West Nile virus the least frequently. According to the results of the serological analysis, the conditions for combined circulation are most closely relat...
Tamekuni K, Toledo Rdos S, Silva Filho Mde F, Haydu VB, Pacheco RC, Cavicchioli JH, Labruna MB, Dumler JS, Vidotto O.Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) is an emerging disease most likely caused by Rickettsia rickettsii. The objective of the present study was to estimate the seroprevalence of BSF rickettsia infections in equines from six horse farms located in Londrina County, Paraná, Southern Brazil. Six owners of horse farms situated in Cambé, Santa Fé, Guaraci and Londrina municipalities participated in the study. All farms were located in areas where BSF has not been reported. A total of 273 horses were sampled and their sera were tested by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using R. rickettsii and R. ...
Hertzsch R, Richter A.Based on their performance-enhancing potential, caffeine and theophylline are prohibited substances in equine sports. Residues in horses can be caused by wilful application or by unintended uptake of contaminated feed. The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities recently introduced international residue limits (IRLs) to facilitate the discrimination between pharmacological relevant and irrelevant concentrations in doping samples. The objective of this study was to investigate the scientific validity of these IRLs. A systematic analysis was performed to assess the IRLs by different ...
Lofgren EA, Rice BMG, Brady CM.Horse welfare is a sensitive topic that often results in a variety of strong feelings when discussed in the horse-owning public. This study used a scenario-based questionnaire in a positive psychology approach to assess the public's feelings and discussions about horse welfare. Results indicated themes in important welfare qualities such as turnout, shelter, and ability to express natural behaviors, as well as a positive discussion about welfare. This study provides future implications for further research techniques in this area as well as communicative strategies surrounding equine welfare p...
Saklou N, Pleasant S, Lahmers K, Funk R.Equine Herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) typically causes mild respiratory disease, but it can also cause late-term abortion, neonatal foal death and neurologic disease. Once a horse is infected, the virus concentrates to local lymphoid tissue, where it becomes latent. The virus can be reactivated during times of stress, which can lead to the initiation of devastating outbreaks. Understanding the carriage rate of latent EHV-1 in different geographic regions is essential for managing the disease. The objective of the current study was to estimate the prevalence of latent EHV-1 and compare the frequenc...
Mitchell SW, Moran RA, Elbourne LDH, Chapman B, Bull M, Muscatello G, Coleman NV.Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria is a threat to both human and animal health. We aimed to understand the impact of domestication and antimicrobial treatment on the types and numbers of resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and class 1 integrons (C1I) in the equine gut microbiome. Antibiotic-resistant fecal bacteria were isolated from wild horses, healthy farm horses, and horses undergoing veterinary treatment, and isolates (9,083 colonies) were screened by PCR for C1I; these were found at frequencies of 9.8% (vet horses), 0.31% (farm horses), and 0.05% (wild horses). A co...
McLean RG.The epidemic strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE) 1B invaded south Texas in 1971. The success of the eventual containment and control of the virus invasion was the early recognition and immediate detection, cooperation, coordination, and participation among multiple federal agencies. There were 4739 wild vertebrate animals trapped on a ranch in the area with only 1 VEE virus isolation from a Virgina opossum (Didelphis virginiana). A large number of mosquitoes were also collected on the ranch and tested, resulting in 240 VEE virus isolations. Virus isolations were obtained from ...
Adams RJ, Mollenkopf DF, Mathys DA, Whittle A, Ballash GA, Mudge M, Daniels JB, Barr B, Wittum TE.To estimate the prevalence of extended-spectrum cephalosporin-, carbapenem-, and fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae in the feces of hospitalized horses and on hospital surfaces. Methods: Fecal and environmental samples were collected from The Ohio State University Galbreath Equine Center (OSUGEC) and a private referral equine hospital in Kentucky (KYEH). Feces were sampled within 24 hours after hospital admission and after 48 hours and 3 to 7 days of hospitalization. Methods: Fecal and environmental samples were enriched, and then selective media were inoculate...
Fritsch H, Pereira FM, Costa EA, Fonseca V, Tosta S, Xavier J, Levy F, Oliveira C, Menezes G, Lima J, Santos L, Silva L, Nardy V, Astete MKG....During these past years, several studies have provided serological evidence regarding the circulation of West Nile virus (WNV) in Brazil. Despite some reports, much is still unknown regarding the genomic diversity and transmission dynamics of this virus in the country. Recently, genomic monitoring activities in horses revealed the circulation of WNV in several Brazilian regions. These findings on the paucity of genomic data reinforce the need for prompt investigation of WNV infection in horses, which may precede human cases of encephalitis in Brazil. Thus, in this study, we retrospectively scr...
Franson JC, Hofmeister EK, Collins GH, Dusek RJ.We screened 1,397 feral horses (Equus caballus) on Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, United States, for IgM and IgG against flavivirus during 2004-2006, 2008, and 2009. Positive serum samples were tested for neutralizing antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV) and St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV). One animal was positive for antibody against WNV in 2004, but all others tested in 2004-2006 were negative. In 2008 and 2009, we found evidence of increasing seropositive horses with age, whereas seroprevalence of WNV decreased from 19% in 2008 to 7.2% in 2009. No horses were positive for anti...
Bleetman D.The Great Western Ambulance Service Air Support Unit (ASU) was established in July 2007. The helicopter carries a doctor, providing a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) model of care. Equestrian sport-related injuries account for 6.8% of the unit's total attended case load. Horse riding has a higher rate of severe injury than motorcycle racing and 45% of patients admitted with equestrian injuries require surgical intervention. Orthopaedic injuries to the extremities are commonest, superseding head injuries since the introduction of protective headwear. The majority of equestrian sport...
Ceci L, Carelli G.This paper reviews basic information on the knowledge of tick-borne diseases, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and theileriosis, in horses, cattle, sheep and goats in Italy with particular reference to the southern part of the country. It is stressed that there is limited knowledge about the parasite species present, their vectors, distribution, prevalence and impact on livestock production and there is the need to assess their epidemiology. A study carried out in the Apulia region to assess the prevalence of Anaplasma marginale infection in 1,648 cattle showed a seroprevalence of 17% using the Card A...
Schneider ST, Meemken D, Gehlen H, Merle R, Langkabel N.In Europe, equines destined for human consumption (hereafter called slaughter equines) are subject to the same restrictions of usage of veterinary drugs as other food-producing animals, with amendments regulated in the so-called 'positive list', Regulation (EC) No. 1950/2006. Due to the complex legal requirements for drug administration in slaughter equines, it might be that specific knowledge regarding the legislation of slaughter equines may be insufficient among veterinarians, equine owners, and equine keepers. To study this assumption, three target group-specific surveys were conducted in ...
Liccardi G, Dente B, Senna G, De Martino M, D'Amato L, D'Amato G.It has been well established that occupational exposure to horses increases the risk of allergic sensitization to horse hair, on the contrary very few data have been published in individuals without direct contact with horses. We describe two cases of severe respiratory symptoms triggered by a single direct exposure in two patients with only 4-5 previous short contacts with horses during the entire their life, since they live in urban area of Naples. Cutaneous and serological diagnostic tests showed significant sensitization to horse dander other than some common inhalant allergens. Our report...
Traversa D, Milillo P, Maggi R, Simonato G, Di Cesare A, Pezzuto C, Grillini M, Morelli S, Colombo M, Passarelli A, Grassano A, Serio P, Losurdo M....Equine and canine anaplasmosis and borreliosis are major tick-borne zoonotic diseases caused by and various species of (the most important being s.l.), respectively. This study evaluated the seroexposure to and in dogs and horses used in Animal-Assisted Interventions or living in contact with children, elderly people or immunocompromised persons. A total of 150 horses and 150 dogs living in Italy were equally divided into clinically healthy animals and animals with at least one clinical sign compatible with borreliosis and/or anaplasmosis (present at clinical examination or reported in th...
Choubisa SL.India is one of the fluoride-endemic countries where the maximum numbers of ground or drinking water sources are naturally fluoridated. In India, a total of 23, out of 36 states and union territories have drinking water contaminated with fluoride in varying concentration. In the present scenario, especially in rural India, besides the surface waters (perennial ponds, dams, rivers, etc.), bore wells and hand pumps are the principal drinking water sources for domestic animals such as cattle (Bos taurus), water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), sheep (Ovis aries), goats (Capra hircus), horses (Equus c...
