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.
Bates A.1. Horses, just by their large, gentle presence, put people therapeutically in touch with the vitality of being alive. 2. People who ordinarily shun physical and emotional closeness often can accept closeness from a horse and through therapy can transfer these skills to their daily lives. 3. The behavior of a sensitive horse display the rider's emotions to the therapist and provides a vehicle the therapist can use to teach the patient coping skills. 4. Therapists with an interest in horses can learn more about how to become involved in an equine-facilitated psychotherapy practice through the N...
Lord CC, Venter GJ, Mellor PS, Paweska JT, Woolhouse ME.African horse sickness (AHS) and equine encephalosis (EE) viruses are endemic to southern Africa. AHS virus causes severe epidemics when introduced to naive equine populations, resulting in severe restrictions on the movement of equines between AHS-positive and negative countries. Recent zoning of South Africa has created an AHS-free zone to facilitate equine movement, but the transmission dynamics of these viruses are not fully understood. Here, we present further analyses of serosurveys of donkeys in South Africa conducted in 1983-5 and in 1993-5. Age-prevalence data are used to derive estim...
Jones PJ, Field WE.The Amish and other Old Order Anabaptists have been inseparably linked with agriculture since coming to America. However few efforts have been identified which analyze the issues involved with Old Order Anabaptist farm injuries or present best practices for addressing these problems. As part of an effort to develop culturally appropriate and effective injury prevention strategies for use within the Old Order Anabaptist community, this article identifies important cultural issues that should be considered in understanding and attempting to reduce farm injures in this population, summarizes stat...
Nagase N, Sasaki A, Yamashita K, Shimizu A, Wakita Y, Kitai S, Kawano J.From April 1999 to December 2000, a survey was made on the distribution of Staphylococcus species on the skin of 7 kinds of animals and humans. Staphylococci were isolated from 12 (100%) of 12 pigs, 17 (89.5%) of 19 horses, 30 (100%) of 30 cows, 73 (90.1%) of 81 chickens, 10 (40%) of 25 dogs, 23 (76.7%) of 30 laboratory mice, 20 (52.6%) of 38 pigeons, and 80 (88.9%) of 90 human beings. The predominant staphylococci isolated from a variety of animal species were novobiocin-resistant species, S. xylosus and S. sciuri regardless of the animal host species. The novobiocin-resistant species includi...
Irby LR, Norland JE, Westfall JA, Sullivan MA.We developed a forage allocation model using a deterministic, linear optimization module in a commercially available spreadsheet package to help resource managers in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP), North Dakota determine optimum numbers of four ungulate species, bison (Bison bison), elk (Cervus elaphus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and feral horses, in the Park. TRNP staff actively managed bison, elk, and feral horse numbers within bounds suggested by our model from 1983 to 1996. During this period, we measured vegetation at 8 grassland and 12 wooded sites at 1-3 year intervals t...
Moore JM, Timperio AF, Crawford DA, Burns CM, Cameron-Smith D.Jockeys are required to maintain very low body weight and precise weight control during competition. This study examined the weight loss and weight management strategies of professional horseracing jockeys in the state of Victoria, Australia. An anonymous, self-completed questionnaire was administered (55% response rate, n = 116). Almost half (43%) reported that maintaining riding weight was difficult or very difficult, with 75% routinely skipping meals. In preparation for racing, 60% reported that they typically required additional weight loss, with 81% restricting food intake in the 24 hours...
Bunning ML, Bowen RA, Cropp CB, Sullivan KG, Davis BS, Komar N, Godsey MS, Baker D, Hettler DL, Holmes DA, Biggerstaff BJ, Mitchell CJ.A total of 12 horses of different breeds and ages were infected with West Nile virus (WNV) via the bites of infected Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Half the horses were infected with a viral isolate from the brain of a horse (BC787), and half were infected with an isolate from crow brain (NY99-6625); both were NY99 isolates. Postinfection, uninfected female Ae. albopictus fed on eight of the infected horses. In the first trial, Nt antibody titers reached >1:320, 1:20, 1:160, and 1:80 for horses 1 to 4, respectively. In the second trial, the seven horses with subclinical infections developed Nt a...
Pollmann U.The conditions under which horses are kept and the performance of acts in the circus ring may give rise to animal protection-relevant aspects for circus and show horses. A number of intolerable conditions under which horses are kept and procedures adopted for the work with circus and show horses are described. In addition, attention is drawn to monitoring methods capable of exposing the deplorable shortcomings of these businesses.
Schedel-Stupperich A.Since 1993 increasing numbers of violent crimes against horses were recorded in Germany. Meanwhile "Horse Ripping" is accepted as a new criminal phenomenon. It is defined as destructive acts with the aim to harm a horse or the acceptance of a possible injury of a horse, especially killing, maltreatment, mutilation and sexual abuse in sadomasochistic context. The study includes a complete situation report from 1993 to 2000, especially the development of the crime. Criminal events (N = 1035) were analysed about modus operandi, especially the specification of the injuries and regional distributio...
Gunsen U, Yaroglu T.Aflatoxin levels were determined by ELISA in 18 dog and 20 horse feed samples, collected from different firms from June 2000 to June 2001 in Turkey. The minimum and maximum levels of total aflatoxin in the dog and horse feeds were <1.75-20 microg/kg and <1.75-14 microg/kg, respectively; 3/18 dog feed samples (16.7%) and 2/20 horse feed samples (10%) exceeded the Turkish tolerance limit of 10 microg/kg in food or feed.
Palombo EA.Rotaviruses are the major cause of severe gastroenteritis in young children and animals. The rotavirus genome is composed of eleven segments of double-stranded RNA and can undergo genetic reassortment during mixed infections, leading to progeny viruses with novel or atypical phenotypes. There are numerous descriptions of rotavirus strains isolated from human and animals that share genetic and antigenic features of viruses from heterologous species. In many cases, genetic analysis by hybridization has clearly demonstrated the genetic relatedness of gene segments to those from viruses isolated f...
Kaaden OR, Eichhorn W, Essbauer S.There is continual variation in viral epidemics regarding clinical symptoms, duration and disappearance, and the emergence of new diseases. This can be observed in both human and animal diseases. This evolution of virus diseases is mainly related to three factors: aetiological agent, host and environment. As far as genetic alterations of the virus are concerned, two major mechanisms are involved: mutations such as recombination and reassortment; and selection for resistance or susceptibility. This review focuses on the epidemiology of newly emerged virus diseases in man and animals, such as ac...
van Duijkeren E, Wannet WJ, Heck ME, van Pelt W, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Smit JA, Houwers DJ.We studied 232 Salmonella strains from horses with salmonellosis in The Netherlands, isolated in the period from 1993 to 2000 in order to provide insight in the dynamics of sero-, phage types (pt) and antibiotic susceptibilities over time. The strains were tested for susceptibility to seven antimicrobial agents using the agar diffusion method. In addition, the isolates were sero typed and Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica Typhimurium and Enteritidis strains were further phage typed. S. Typhimurium strains of phage type 506 and 401 (both classified as DT 104 in the English phage typing sy...
Labruna MB, Kasai N, Ferreira F, Faccini JL, Gennari SM.Natural tick infestations were assessed every 14 days on horses over a 2-year period. Amblyomma cajennense adult ticks were counted individually, without detachment from the horses. Larvae and nymphs of A. cajennense were collected using a rubber scraper that scratched engorged immature ticks from the host. Adult females of Anocentor nitens larger than 4mm length were counted on the horses. Blood samples were also obtained from the horses every 14 days and macroclimatic data were obtained for the study period. Infestations of A. cajennense demonstrated distinct peaks of activity for each of th...
Dumasia MC, Houghton E, Hyde W, Greulich D, Nelson T, Peterson J.Studies related to the in vivo biotransforrmation and urinary excretion of fenspiride hydrochloride in the horse are described. After oral administration, the drug is metabolised by both phase I functionalisation and phase II conjugation pathways. Following enzymatic deconjugation, fenspiride and its phase I metabolites were isolated from post-administration biofluids using bonded co-polymeric mixed mode solid-phase extraction cartridges to isolate the basic compounds. Following trimethylsilylation (TMS), the parent drug and metabolites were identified by capillary gas chromatography-mass spec...
Butterwick DJ, Meeuwisse WH.To document injury rates, severity, and relative risk during five competitive seasons of Canadian professional rodeo, between experienced (saddle bronc [SB], bareback [BB], and bull riders [BR]) and inexperienced (novice saddle bronc [NSB], novice bareback [NBB], and boys' steer riders [BSR]) rough stock competitors. Methods: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Canadian professional rodeo competition. Methods: Experienced competitors included professional cowboys from Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. Inexperienced competitors included cowboys from Canada and the Un...
Boucher C, Higgins R, Nadeau M, Vincent C.A sexagenarian couple operating a dairy farm, where there were also many horses, suffered a severe respiratory infection associated with the bacterium Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus. The investigation revealed that the source of infection was due to contacts with a horse having an infected wound from which we isolated this zoonotic agent. A sexagenarian couple operating a dairy farm, where there were also many horses, suffered a severe respiratory infection associated with the bacterium Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus. The investigation revealed that the source of infection was du...
Holland AJ, Roy GT, Goh V, Ross FI, Keneally JP, Cass DT.To identify the frequency, spectrum and outcome of horse-related injuries in children. Methods: Retrospective case series of horse-related injuries in children admitted to the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW) from January 1988 to December 1999, the John Hunter Children's Hospital (JHCH) from January 1991 to December 1997 and deaths reported to the New South Wales Paediatric Trauma Death (NPTD) Registry from January 1988 to December 1999. Methods: Circumstances of injury; helmet use; adult supervision; type and number of injuries identified. Results: 232 children were admitted with horse-r...
DebRoy C, Maddox CW.The pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli recovered from the intestinal tract of animals fall into categories called enterotoxigenic, enteropathogenic, enterohemorrhagic and necrotoxigenic. The other two categories, enteroinvasive and enteroaggregative, have not been reported in animals. The pathogenicity of these strains is determined by the presence of certain genes that encode adhesins and toxins, are generally organized in large blocks in chromosomes, large plasmids or phages, and are often transmitted horizontally between strains. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the vir...
Gehring R.The Veterinary Pharmacovigilance Centre received 59 reports of suspected adverse drug reactions during the period January 1998 - February 2001. The number of reports received increased after the establishment of a formal procedure for recording and responding to reports. The number of reports received per species was: dogs 19, cats 15, cattle 7, sheep/ goats 6, chickens 4, pigs 3, horses 2 and giraffe 1. Many different types of adverse reactions were reported, including lack of efficacy, hypersensitivity, inappropriate use of products by non-veterinarians, known adverse effects and adverse eff...
Tryland M.In December 1801, the first vaccination against smallpox in Norway took place. Vaccine material came from Denmark, England, Ireland, and other countries; it was also obtained from a few local cowpox cases. What mattered was the effect, not the origin. Several reports indicate that variola virus itself, the cause of smallpox, was also used for human vaccination after passages through cows and horses. A vaccine institute for production of vaccine in calves was established in Kristiania in 1891. Cowpox was once a rare disease in cattle, but a total of 70,985 bovine cases were reported between 188...
Ito M, Itou T, Sakai T, Santos MF, Arai YT, Takasaki T, Kurane I, Ito FH.Brain samples from different animal species including humans: five vampire bats, 14 cattle, 12 dogs, 11 cats, two horses, one pig, one sheep and three humans collected from various geographical regions of Brazil were found to be positive for rabies by means of the fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and the mouse inoculation test (MIT). The brain samples were retested for rabies by means of the reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with 2 primer sets (P1/P2 and RHNI/RHNS3), which amplified full or partial regions on the nucleoprotein (N) gene of the rabies virus, respectivel...
Osweiler GD.Horses consume feed grains and forages that can produce a range of mycotoxins resulting from mold invasion. Toxicosis of horses often occurs from fumonisins or aflatoxin in grains, from the tremorgenic mycotoxins in dallis grass, or from slaframine in red clover. Fumonisin toxicosis often is severe and fatal, and aflatoxin can be acute or chronic and debilitating. Other mycotoxins reported in horses may cause moderate to mild signs that regress when the contaminated feedstuff is removed. Overall, horses appear to have a relatively low prevalence of reported mycotoxicoses among domestic animals...
Lohmann KL, James CR, Higgins SN, Howden KJ, Epp T.This retrospective study describes the detection of equine infectious anemia (EIA) during Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) disease investigations in Canada, examines aspects of importance for disease control, and evaluates potential animal-level risk factors for EIA in high-risk horses. Based on review of all EIA-positive samples and all samples collected during disease investigations (N = 4553) over a 4-year period (2009 to 2012), 409 EIA cases were detected. Horse owners with EIA cases owned between 1 and 60 affected animals, and 49 horses seroconverted during a disease investigation p...
Heath SE, Bell RJ, Chirino-Trejo M, Schuh JC, Harland RJ.Four horses from the same farm developed clinical signs of botulism during the winter months; three of these horses died. One horse survived an initial attack and recovered over a three-week period, but died during a second attack. The horse that survived took six weeks to recover. Clinical and postmortem examination ruled out other causes of disease. Confirmation of the diagnosis was made by isolation of Clostridium botulinum type C toxin from the dirt in the bottom of an oak feedtrough used by all horses, and from the colonic contents of one of the horses that died. To our knowledge, this is...
Kaiser A, Meier HP, Straub R, Gerber V.Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) is a reportable, eradicable epizootic disease caused by the equine lentivirus of the retrovirus family which affects equids only and occurs worldwide. The virus is transmitted by blood, mainly by sanguivorous insects. The main symptoms of the disease are pyrexia, apathy, loss of body condition and weight, anemia, edema and petechia. However, infected horses can also be inapparent carriers without any overt signs. The disease is diagnosed by serological tests like the Coggins test and ELISA tests. Presently, Switzerland is offi cially free from EIA. However, Switz...
Hancock K, Zajac AM, Elvinger F, Lindsay DS.Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis is the most important protozoan disease of horses in North America and is usually caused by Sarcocystis neurona. Natural and experimentally induced cases of encephalitis caused by S. neurona have been reported in raccoons (Procyon lotor) and raccoons are an intermediate host for this parasite. A 3-yr-long serological survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of agglutinating antibodies to S. neurona in raccoons collected from Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburban-urban area outside Washington, D.C. Samples from 469 raccoons were examined, and agglutinat...
Murray MD, Snowdon WA.The distributions of the following feral animals are given -- cattle, buffalo, pig, goat, deer, camel, horse, donkey, fox, dog and cat -- and the native dingo. The possible role these and the native rodents, marsupials and monotremes would play should an exotic disease of livestock enter Australia is discussed. It is considered that feral animals would be important in creating foci from which the disease would spread.
Beier RC, Norman JO.White snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum Houtt) has been known to cause trembles in animals and milk sickness in humans since the American Revolution. It still continues to poison animals. Horses and goats are particularly sensitive to white snakeroot poisoning. Resurgence of livestock production on small farm units, and utilization of fresh raw milk may result in milk sickness; if the animals have white snakeroot exposure. The goat is the only animal with good toxicity threshold data. In other animals and humans the toxicity thresholds of white snakeroot are not known, and that until responsible t...
Science (New York, N.Y.)August 25, 1961
Volume 134, Issue 3478 565-566 doi: 10.1126/science.134.3478.565
LOWENTHAL JP, BERMAN S, GROGAN EW.Protection tests in guinea pigs indicate that vaccines prepared from virus propagated in chick embryo cell cultures are as effective as the purified whole chick embryo vaccines which are currently used for human immunization against eastern equine encephalomyelitis.
Baxter C.This is a clinician's view of the current state of veterinary dentistry at the level of the general practitioner across the different species. An indication of the work done and the hazards commonly encountered are covered. Conclusions: To increase awareness within the dental profession of the current state of veterinary dentistry.
Ebisawa I, Takayanagi M, Kigawa M.Clostridium tetani was isolated from human and animal stools at the following rates [95% confidence interval (CI)]: Human, 0% (1.5-0); horse, 1% (5-0); cow in cowshed, 4% (10-1); cow in pasture, 8.3% (17-1), calf in pasture, 0% (7-0); dog, 2% (11-0) and sheep in pasture, 25% (44-14). Quantification of C. tetani in 16 animal stools positive for the bacillus was impossible in most cases, as the number of tetanus bacilli present was not large enough for this purpose. Contaminating anaerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria in human and animal stools, i.e., C. perfringens and Streptococcus sp., ...
Raftery AG, Gummery L, Garcia K, Mohite D, Capewell P, Sutton DGM.Equine trypanosomiasis is a neglected protozoal disease. Objective: To perform a systematic search of literature to explore: (1) In equines what is the global geographical distribution and prevalence of trypanosomiasis? In low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is trypanosomiasis more prevalent than in higher-income countries (HICs)? (2) Is trypanosomiasis infection a significant contributor to global morbidity and mortality? Methods: Systematic review and meta-analyses. Methods: Studies were identified that described naturally occurring equine trypanosomiasis worldwide following 'Preferred R...
Javed R, Taku AK, Sharma RK, Badroo GA.The aim was to determine the occurrence of in equines and their environment in Jammu (R.S. Pura, Katra), molecular characterization and to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern of . Methods: A total of 96 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from equines. The organism was isolated on Columbia nalidixic acid agar containing 5% sheep blood as well as on sheep blood agar and was later confirmed by cultural characteristics and biochemical tests. Molecular detection of isolates was done by gene amplification followed by virulence associated protein A () gene amplification. Antibiogra...
Allen DA, Schertel ER.Shock has been described and defined by the inciting cause. This method of categorization does little to clarify common pathophysiologic changes known to occur regardless of the etiology. Each type of shock involves different stages that are determined by the inciting cause, its duration, severity of the initial result, susceptibility of the patient, and adequacy of treatment.
Holmquist JG, Schmidt-Gengenbach J, Haultain SA.Grazing management necessarily emphasizes the most spatially extensive vegetation assemblages, but landscapes are mosaics, often with more mesic vegetation types embedded within a matrix of drier vegetation. Our primary objective was to contrast effects of equine grazing on both subalpine vegetation structure and associated arthropods in a drier reed grass (Calamagrostis muiriana) dominated habitat versus a wetter, more productive sedge habitat (Carex utriculata). A second objective was to compare reed grass and sedge as habitats for fauna, irrespective of grazing. All work was done in Sequoia...
Huxtable CR, Chapman HM, Main DC, Vass D, Pearse BH, Hilbert BJ.A severe paretic syndrome accompanied by intense neuronal lipofuscinosis is described in sheep and horses exposed to Trachyandra divaricata. This is a newly recognised toxic hazard for grazing livestock in the coastal region of the south west of Western Australia. Animals appear to become affected over a period of weeks when summer conditions induce a scarcity of alternative feed. The disease is discussed in relation to its recent documentation in South Africa where the plant is indigenous.
Holý O, Matousková I, Holý V, Koukalová D, Chmelar D.Cronobacter spp. belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is a motile (peritricha) Gram-negative non-spore forming bacterium. At present, Enterobacter sakazakii is reported as a Cronobacter spp. species with 16 biogroups. It is a ubiquitous organism whose isolation used to be associated with a contaminated powdered infant formula and feed for neonates and infants. Information about the Cronobacter spp. species incidence in the environment, its potential dissemination and its vectors, is very limited. The authors have documented incidence of Cronobacter spp. in the nostril mucous membrane o...
Diyes GCP, Karunaratne WAIP, Tomberlin JK, Rajakaruna RS.Megaselia scalaris (Loew) is a cosmopolitan polyphagous small fly with the ability of exploiting variety of ecological niches. Different life history stages act as detritivore, parasite, and parasitoid of wider spectrum of plant and animal matter under natural and laboratory conditions. Here, for the first time we present the opportunistic parasitism of M. scalaris on Otobius megnini, which act as a vector of Q fever and is capable of causing paralysis, toxic conditions, otoacariasis and otitis in humans and other animals. Tick samples from the ear canals of 14 thoroughbred horses were brought...
Kośla T, Anke M, Grün M.The breed of horses took a significant effect on the Pb content of animals with a normal Pb supply. Warm-blooded horses stored more Pb in skeleton, kidneys, liver and cerebrum than heavy horses. The sex only had the trend of influencing the Pb status. Mares with a normal Pb supply incorporated more Pb than geldings. Age only took a slight effect on the skeleton. Older horses stored more Pb in the metatarsal bone than younger ones. The Pb content of horse meat was not influenced by Pb exposure. Pb was not additionally deposited in the musculature. The Pb offer of the living area took a signific...