Topic:Public Health
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.
Trajectory analysis of winds and eastern equine encephalitis in USA, 1980-5. Backward trajectories of winds were determined to identify possible sources of eastern equine encephalitis virus associated with isolation of virus from mosquitoes or birds or outbreaks in horses between 1980 and 1985 in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Michigan, USA. The results of the trajectory analyses suggested that eastern equine encephalitis virus could have been carried by infected mosquitoes on surface winds at temperatures 13 degrees C or higher from North Carolina north-eastwards along the Atlantic Coast to Maryland and New Jersey and thence to upstate New York and from western Ke...
Trajectory analysis of winds and vesicular stomatitis in North America, 1982-5. Outbreaks of vesicular stomatitis, serotype New Jersey, during epidemics in the United States and northern Mexico, 1982-5, were examined by backward trajectories of winds to investigate spread and possible sources. The outbreaks selected for analysis did not involve introduction of disease by infected animals. The findings indicate that wind could have been responsible for carrying infection from northern Mexico to Arizona and New Mexico and thence to Colorado and Utah and on to Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. The results of these analyses are consistent with the findings from T1 RNAse fingerprint...
Distribution of neutralizing antibodies to California and Bunyamwera serogroup viruses in horses and rodents in California. Neutralization tests were done on sera from 141 horses from high elevation regions of California. Antibody prevalences to Jamestown Canyon, snowshoe hare, and California encephalitis viruses in the California serogroup and Northway virus in the Bunyamwera serogroup were 55%, 43%, 18%, and 46%, respectively. In 51 horses from rural low elevation regions, seroprevalences were 31%, 35%, 35%, and 37%, respectively. Twenty-four horses from a suburban lowland area were seronegative, except for a single horse with a low titer to snowshoe hare virus. Seroprevalence to Jamestown Canyon and snowshoe har...
Epidemiology of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis in North America based on histologically confirmed cases. A report. Following a workshop on equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) convened at the Veterinary Medical Forum of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 1988, this survey of EPM in North America was developed. It is based upon 364 histologically confirmed case records from California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Texas up to 1988. The highest rate of infection was found in young Thoroughbred, Standardbred, and quarter horses. Differences in geographic location, sex, and month (season) of infection were not discernible. This repor...
Medical treatment and costs of sports-related injuries in a total population. A prospective study of acute injuries from sports and physical exercise was carried out during 1 year in a total population of a municipality with 31,620 inhabitants. The medical treatment and the services required for the injuries have been calculated and related to the total consumption of medical care in the municipality. A total of 571 injuries (17% of all injuries) occurred in 28 different sports: 65% of the injured were males. Sports injuries accounted for 3% of all acute visits and there were altogether 1,083 outpatient visits, which yields a mean of 1.9 visits per injury. Related to th...
Blood lead and zinc protoporphyrin levels in donkeys and mules near a secondary lead smelter in Jamaica, 1987-88. During the course of an investigation into community lead poisoning near a secondary lead smelter in Jamaica, blood lead and zinc protoporphyrin levels were measured in 8 exposed and 6 (3 Jamaican, 3 US) unexposed donkeys and mules. The blood lead levels of 6 animals in the contaminated area ranged from 7.5 to 33 micrograms/dl (mean = 17.6 micrograms/dl), compared to 1.8 and 2.4 in unexposed Jamaican animals. More striking was the difference in zinc protoporphyrin levels; all 8 exposed donkeys and mules had values between 900 and 1890 micrograms/dl, compared with a range of 34-46 micrograms/dl...
Equine rabies immune globulin: a product with an undeserved poor reputation. Four hundred nineteen patients exposed to rabies in Thailand were treated with equine rabies immune globulin (ERIG) manufactured by Sclavo of Italy, a product also licensed in the United States of America. They were followed for a minimum of 1 month after ERIG injection and rabies vaccine administration. Adverse serum sickness-like reactions were noted in 15 patients (3.58%). These were clinically acceptable and only 1 of these patients required corticosteroid therapy and short term hospitalization for serum sickness. ERIG is approximately 1/10 of the cost of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG...
Feedtrough dirt as a source of Clostridium botulinum type C intoxication in a group of farm horses. 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...
The toxic factor in white snakeroot: identity, analysis and prevention. 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...
Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from animal and human sources in Brazil. The susceptibilities of 760 Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from animal infections (400), human infections (300) and healthy human carriers (60) to seven antibiotics were determined by an agar dilution technique. The isolates from human infections were more resistant to a wider spectrum of antibiotics than were the strains from animal infections and healthy human carriers. Amikacin and gentamicin were the most active drugs against all groups of strains.
Haemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibodies against strains of influenza A virus in horse and pig sera in Nigeria. Sera from horses and pigs obtained from Lagos and Ibadan respectively were examined for haemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibodies to two strains each of H3N2 and H1N1 subtypes of influenza A virus. More horse sera had HI antibodies to the H3N2 than the H1N1 strains while pig sera reacted almost equally with strains of both subtypes. All the horse sera had HI antibodies to the two strains of H3N2 subtype (A/Mississippi/1/85 and A/Leningrad/360/86), while 87% and 14% of the horses examined were positive to A/Taiwan/1/86 and A/Chile/1/83. On the other hand HI antibody prevalence to the two sub...
Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis associated with domestic animals in Venezuela and Brazil. After outbreaks of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Solano State, Venezuela, 5% of the population had parasitized ulcers while after similar outbreaks in Mesquita, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, 9% had the disease. In these foci children, including some under six years of age, were affected. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of the disease according to sex or type of employment. In Solano, 3% of dogs and 28% of donkeys had parasitized lesions, while in Mesquita these indices were 19.8% and 30.8% respectively. The parasite from man, dogs and equines was identified as Leishmania (Vi...
Injuries in intercollegiate rodeo athletes. Collegiate rodeo athletes (N = 156) in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Southern Region, were examined for injuries during a 7 month (10 rodeo) season from 1987 to 1988. Sixty-two athletes sustained a total of 138 acute injuries resulting from 3292 exposures. One hundred twenty-seven injuries (92% of total injuries) occurred in the roughstock and steer wrestling events, and 11 injuries (8%) occurred in the roping and female events. When calculating opportunity for injury, rodeo athletes face an 89% potential for injury per season. Ninety-one of the injuries incurred were u...
Comparative features of retroviral infections of livestock. Retroviral infections of livestock have become of increasing importance due to their usefulness as comparative models for human retroviral infections and their effects upon animal health and marketability of animals and animal products nationally and internationally. This paper presents a perspective on the retroviruses of economic concern in veterinary medicine with emphasis on the importance of understanding the modes of virus transmission and the species specificity of the viruses. The retroviruses reviewed include the oncovirus, bovine leukosis virus, and the lentiviruses, equine infectiou...
Equine infectious anemia: prospects for control. Equine infectious anemia has been managed in most countries by the imposition of testing and quarantine regulations. In the United States, about 700,000 of the more than 7,000,000 horses are tested annually. As long as the status of greater than 90% of the horse population remains unknown and horses are transported and congregate in a relatively unrestricted manner, EIA will continue to exact its toll. Therefore, it is incumbent on the scientific community to continue to develop and refine practical and sensitive diagnostic tests for EIA which will be used in an expanding market, to reduce the...
Prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in cats, dogs and horses in Sweden. Samples of serum or plasma taken during 1986 and 1987 from 244 pet cats, 303 dogs and 219 horses, randomly selected among animals referred to the Animal Clinics of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, were screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. 42% of cats, 23% of dogs and 1% of horses examined were found seropositive. Serum eller plasma från 244 tamkatter, 303 hundar och 219 sporthästar som provtagits vid djur-klinikerna vid Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet i Uppsala under 1986 och 1987 testades med ELISA för antikroppar mot Pre...
Common injuries in horseback riding. A review. The most common location of horse-related injuries is the upper extremity (24% to 61%) with injuries to the lower extremity second in frequency (36% to 40%). The head and face sustain 20% of horse-related injuries. The most common type of injury is a soft tissue injury (92% to 1%), followed by a fracture (57% to 3%). Concussion is the third most common type of injury (63% to 2%). The most frequent cause of hospitalisation is concussion (38% to 4%) with fracture second. The most common injury which leaves residual impairment is injury to the central nervous system. The age at which most injury ...
[Antibodies against Venezuelan equine encephalitis in the human population of the Mara district of the state of Zulia, Venezuela]. Antibodies against Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus (VEEV) were studied in the human population of Mara District, Zulia State, Venezuela. Two hundred thirty nine blood samples were taken from the towns of San Rafael de Mara, Santa Cruz de Mara, La Sierrita-4 Bocas, Carrasquero, Isla de San Carlos e Isla de Toas, during june, july and september, 1988. Donors samples were classified by age, sex and serological titres. Eighty nine were less than 15 years old (37.2%) and 150, over 15 years old (62.7%). From the 239 samples, 224 were negative (93.7%) and 15 positive (6.3%). Our results indicate...
Neonatal viral diarrhoeas. Diarrhoea continues to be one of the more common and
important causes of economic loss in young animals (Anon
1978). Virus particles identified as rotaviruses, coronaviruses,
calci-like viruses, astroviruses, parvoviruses, and several others
have been detected by direct electron microscopy of ultracen-
trifuged samples of diarrhoeic faeces from young animals and
human infants over the past 20 years. Despite numerous stud-
ies on the many aetiological agents associated with neonatal
viral diarrhoea in recent years (Tzipori 1985), the challenge
for today’s new veterinary graduate is s...
[The pattern of riding injuries]. During the period from 1.1. to 31.12.1988, 104 patients with injuries resulting from riding or other forms of direct contact with horses were examined and treated in a casualty department in the County of Vejle. Antecedent data from these patients were collected. The majority of injuries occurred on falling from the horse and involved particularly the upper part of the body. The commonest injuries were bruises which did not require special treatment. The relationships between concussion, fracture of the humerus and fracture of the clavicle and riding were investigated by odds ratio. Much fewer...
Monthly prevalence (in 1986) of antibody titers against equine monocytic ehrlichiosis in apparently healthy horses in Illinois. The seroprevalence and seasonal trend of antibody titers against equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (Potomac horse fever) were determined in apparently healthy horses in selected areas of Illinois in 1986. Sera from 1,367 horses (6 months to 29 years old) were evaluated for the presence of antibodies against Ehrlichia risticii with indirect immunofluorescence. The majority (88%) of the horses were Thoroughbred or Standardbred racehorses. The number of horses with antibodies against E risticii was 229/1,367 (16.75%). The titers in these horses ranged from 1:10 to 1:640. As the year progressed, the n...