Omneity® Pellets
All-In-One Vitamin & Mineral Pellet
Topic:Serology
Serology in horse research involves the study and analysis of blood serum to detect the presence of antibodies or antigens associated with infectious diseases and other health conditions. It is a diagnostic tool used to identify immune responses to pathogens, vaccination status, and exposure to specific diseases. Serological tests in equine research can include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), complement fixation tests, and virus neutralization tests. These tests help in understanding the epidemiology of diseases, monitoring herd health, and informing vaccination strategies. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, applications, and implications of serological testing in equine medicine.
Studies of antigenic components in acid extracts of group C streptococci with special reference to Streptococcus equi. For the determination of a species-specific antigen of Streptococcus (S.) equi, acid extracts of group C streptococcal strains from horses (S. equi, S. zooepidemicus, S. equisimilis) were investigated using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the immunoblotting technique. Using sera of horses suffering from strangles as well as sera from horses with respiratory infection of unknown etiology, Western blotting yielded more or less multiple banding reactions with bands in the 70, 54, 42, 40, and 31-28 kd molecular weight ranges against extracts of all of the 3 different bacterial species. Howe...
Aujeszky’s disease in a horse. A horse with neurological signs and severe meningoencephalitis caused by Aujeszky's disease is described. The diagnosis was established by immunohistochemistry, DNA-in situ hybridization and serological tests. Aujeszky's disease virus antigen and Aujeszky's disease viral DNA were detected in neurons of the cerebrum. In the serum of the horse antibodies against Aujeszky's disease virus were detected in a virus neutralization test, in a blocking ELISA which specifically detects antibodies against the glycoprotein I (Ig) of the virus, in an indirect double sandwich ELISA and with colloidal gold i...
Haematological measurements as an aid to early diagnosis and prognosis of respiratory viral infections in thoroughbred horses. In late November 1988 large numbers of thoroughbred horses in training in Hong Kong developed a transient pyrexia with, in some cases, the clinical signs of viral respiratory disease. Serial blood samples for haematological examination were taken from 10 of the horses which were stabled in six different blocks. They had developed a high temperature within three days of each other and subsequently seroconverted to equine herpes virus 1 (EHV1). The absolute monocyte count was more than 0.5 x 10(9)/litre in all 10 within the first five days, and nine of them had a high neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio...
[New types of virus infections of domestic animals in the German Democratic Republic. 1. Serologic survey studies of the distribution of equine torovirus infections in the GDR]. Sera collected from 124 horses were checked by means of the serum neutralisation test against equine Bern virus. Torovirusspecific antibodies were recordable from 35 percent of all horses tested. These results are likely to suggest that toroviruses are widespread in the GDR and occur not only in horses but in other domestic animals and in man, as well.
Mycoplasmas from donkeys and horses in the Sudan. Seventeen isolates (4.27%) were recovered from 398 samples. Twelve isolates (4%) were obtained from 300 donkey nasal swabs, three (4.3%) and two (6.89%) isolates were recovered from 69 horse nasal swabs and 29 mare uterine washings, respectively. Nine isolates were lost during storage at -20 degrees C and the remaining eight were identified as mycoplasmas and their biological, biochemical and serological reactions were investigated. The isolates could be divided into two groups on the basis of glucose fermentation and arginine hydrolysis. The first group neither fermented glucose nor hydrolyse...
Antibodies to staphylococcal DNases in sera from different animal species, including humans. An agar diffusion method using microtiter plates was used to detect antibodies to the DNases produced by Staphylococcus aureus, S. intermedius, and S. hyicus. Antibodies to DNase from S. aureus were demonstrated in most of the sera from the species investigated, except dogs, only 11% of whose sera were positive. Positive titers to S. intermedius DNase were found in 84% of deg sera, 61% of Icelandic pony sera, 41% of pig sera, 21% of human sera, and 20% of cow sera but in only 2 and 4% of goat and sheep sera, respectively. Although antibodies to DNase from S. hyicus were not found in sera from ...
Serological response of experimental ponies orally infected with Ehrlichia risticii. Ten healthy, mature ponies were orally infected with Ehrlichia risticii using Ehrlichia-infected P388D1 mouse monocyte tissue culture cells. Seven developed signs of equine ehrlichial colitis including fever, depression, anorexia, reduced borborygmi, increased abdominal hyperresonance, and diarrhoea. Three remained clinically normal apart from early fever in one. Indirect fluorescent antibody titres were detected in the clinically affected ponies by Days 12 to 17 post infection and increased rapidly to high levels (1:640 to 1:5120) which were maintained until the end of the observation period ...
[Training of the immune system of foals against ERP virus infections by frequent vaccination with presently available commercial vaccines]. During 3 foaling seasons around 150 Lipizzaner foals were vaccinated against ERP with commercial vaccines and groups thereof were serotested in CF and SN for their humoral immune response. In addition, 6 horses of cheaper common breeds were vaccinated on the University premises, were continuously serologically screened and subjected to virulent nasal test infection. The live-virus vaccine Prevaccinol interfered so profoundly and up to the 20th week of life with maternal antibodies that its further use was discontinued. The inactivated vaccine Pneumabort-K proved to be of impressive immunogenic...
Antigenic relationship between Pythium insidiosum de Cock et al. 1987 and its synonym Pythium destruens Shipton 1987. Antigens and rabbit-antisera from holotypes of Pythium insidiosum and P. destruens were prepared to elucidate their antigenic relationship. The antigens and rabbit-antisera of P. insidiosum as well as P. destruens used as a reference system showed that both shared three precipitin bands in common. The antigen and rabbit-antisera of P. destruens and P. insidiosum used as a reference system against other strains isolated from humans and animals with pythiosis, also showed three precipitin bands in common. When we used sera taken from horses with proven pythiosis against antigens of P. insidiosum...
[Experimental equine fascioliasis: evolution of serologic, enzymatic and parasitic parameters]. Three, four, and one horses were respectively infected with 100, 1,000, and 5,000 metacercariae of Fasciola hepatica. Six of them were reinfected 38 weeks later with 1,000 metacercariae each. Specific antibodies assayed by counter-electrophoresis, passive hemagglutination and ELISA tests appeared three to six weeks post-infection and peaked 10 to 17 weeks post-infection. Horses infected by 1,000 metacercariae and more showed 17.6% of positive samples by counter-electrophoresis, 49.2% by ELISA, and 75.6% by passive hemagglutination. Plasma glutamate dehydrogenase and gamma-glutamyltransferase l...
Comparison of diagnostic tests for the detection of equine infectious anemia antibody. Two diagnostic tests are approved for detecting antibody to equine infectious anemia virus: the agar-gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test and the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A total of 420 sera from National Veterinary Services Laboratories check sets were tested with the AGID and competitive ELISA. A 100% correlation was obtained. The AGID and competitive ELISA were further used to test difficult samples with low levels of equine infectious anemia antibody (weak positives). A third test (Western blot) was also used with these weak positive samples to resolve any discorda...
An immunochemical demonstration of a pregnancy-specific protein in the horse and its use in the serological detection of early pregnancy. Two-dimensional crossed immunoelectrophoresis of sera from pregnant and non-pregnant horses, using antisera developed against early pregnant mare serum, revealed the presence of two immunologically related proteins one of which appeared to be specific to the pregnant state. This pregnancy-specific protein had beta 2-electrophoretic mobility and was first detectable at Day 6 after successful mating with a stallion. The second protein had gamma 2-electrophoretic mobility and was present in sera from pregnant and non-pregnant horses. The proteins were termed beta 2-horse pregnancy protein and gam...
Characterization of the serological cross-reactivity between glycoproteins of the human immunodeficiency virus and equine infectious anaemia virus. The reported serological relatedness between the major glycoproteins of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV gp120) and equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV gp90) was examined using purified antigens in radioimmunoprecipitation (RIP), radioimmunoassay (RIA) and immunoblot assays with reference serum from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, an anti-gp120 goat serum and EIAV-infected horse serum. To assess the contributions of glycoprotein oligosaccharide and peptide components to any observed reactivities, antigens treated with endoglycosidase F to remove carbohydrate were assayed...
Prevalence of piroplasmosis in equines in the Colombian province of Cordoba. Eighty-two equine sera from 13 farms in northern Colombia were examined for antibodies to Babesia caballi and B. equi using the complement fixation (CF) and the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test. Seroreactors to both piroplasms were present on all farms. The IFA test indicated a prevalence of 90% for B. caballi and 94% for B. equi. The CF test detected antibodies to B. caballi in 41% and to B. equi in 65% of the animals. The prevalence of seroreactors in different age groups revealed a significant decline in CF antibodies to B. caballi in animals older than three years. IFA titres for b...
Isolation of pure Babesia equi and Babesia caballi organisms in splenectomized horses from endemic areas in South Africa. Both Babesia equi and Babesia caballi are endemic in large parts of South Africa. Attempts were made to obtain pure local isolates of both B. equi and B. caballi for the purpose of developing serological tests to study the epidemiology of equine babesiosis in this country. The indirect fluorescent antibody test was used to screen horses for B. equi and B. caballi in an endemic area. Seven horses and 3 donkeys between 3 and 36 months of age that tested negative were subsequently splenectomized. The splenectomy operation was performed through the abdominal approach. A 100% survival rate was achi...
A review of Legionella pneumophila in horses and some South African serological results. An examination of the sera of 329 horses for L. pneumophila antibodies revealed a much lower exposure rate than that reported in the United States of America. Further serological investigations of persons closely associated with a sero-positive horse indicated that the horse could not be considered to be a source of infection but that both humans and animals were probably exposed to a common source of infection. The results showed that 192/329 (58.4%) of the sera tested negative, 114/329 (34.7%) had end-point titres of 1/2, 22/329 (6.7%) end-points of 1/16 and one an end point of 1/256 (0.3%)....
Duration of circulating antibody and immunity following infection with equine influenza virus. The duration of immunity as measured by virological, serological and clinical responses following infection with influenza A/equine/Newmarket/79 (H3N8) was assessed in repeated challenge experiments in which ponies were infected by exposure to aerosols of infectious virus. Previous infection stimulated complete clinical protection which persisted for at least 32 weeks as demonstrated by the absence of febrile responses and coughing in two groups of ponies infected 16 weeks or 32 weeks after the first infection. Partial clinical protection persisted for over a year as demonstrated by the absenc...
Serologic response of Babesia equi-infected horses as measured by complement-fixation and indirect fluorescent antibody tests. Both the complement-fixation test (CFT) and the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) were conducted on weekly serum samples from nine Arab geldings for 28 days before and 256 days after their exposure to Babesia equi of European origin. On an average the IFAT became positive 8 days before the CFT and showed higher relative serum titer increases. Both test procedures successfully detected infection and neither showed an appreciable drop in titer during this time frame, with the exception of the CFT, which showed a transient drop immediately following treatment with imidocarb. A test conduc...
Serologic correlation of suspected Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona-induced uveitis in a group of horses. After the observation of 2 horses with uveitis on a horse farm in the Minnesota River valley, 100 horses from this geographic area were given ophthalmologic examinations and were evaluated serologically for leptospirosis. A statistically significant (P less than 0.001) association was observed between the finding of antibodies against Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona and uveitis.
Rapid detection of viral-specific antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The development of three separate rapid ELISAs for detecting antibodies in host serum to three different viruses is described. These include: 1. A direct antigen assay using enzyme labelled anti-canine Ig for detecting antibodies to canine parvovirus, 2. A competitive ELISA using a feline infectious peritonitis virus-specific monoclonal antibody labelled with enzyme, and 3. A competitive ELISA using an equine infectious anemia virus-specific monoclonal antibody and enzyme labelled antigen, p. 26. The utility and benefits of each of the three approaches is emphasized.
Characterization of a homogeneous paraprotein from a horse with spontaneous multiple myeloma syndrome. A novel myeloma paraprotein has been isolated from a horse with a lymphoid tumor. The protein was a euglobulin and consequently was readily isolated from serum in pure form and high yield by simple dilution in distilled water. The purified intact protein had a molecular weight of 150,000 and was composed of heavy and light chains, both of which had blocked amino-termini and were thus not susceptible to amino-terminal sequence analysis. The amino acid compositions of these respective chains corresponded to those of comparable chains from immunoglobulins of other species. Peptide maps of parapro...
Encephalitis associated with Borrelia burgdorferi infection in a horse. Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi was associated with encephalitis in a horse. The horse lived in an area of Wisconsin endemic for B burgdorferi infection. Borrelia burgdorferi was isolated from the brain, but rabies virus was not detected in the brain. Serum obtained from the horse had a B burgdorferi antibody titer of 1:2,048, but was negative for antibodies to eastern and western encephalomyelitis.
An investigation into the clinical pathological changes and serological response in horses experimentally infected with Babesia equi and Babesia caballi. Serologically negative horses, as determined with the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFA), were infected with Babesia equi and 60 days later with Babesia caballi. The only clinical signs of disease observed in these animals were a febrile reaction and slight icterus. Haematological changes included a drop in haematocrit and haemoglobin concentration, as well as lowered platelet counts. The serum concentrations of albumin, iron and phosphorus were lowered. Mildly elevated serum bilirubin and fibrinogen concentrations were observed. Antibody titres were determined with the IFA and complemen...
An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for measurement of antibodies against equine herpesvirus 2 in equine sera. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of antibodies against equine herpesvirus type 2 (EHV-2) in equine sera. The optimal conditions of antigen concentration, and serum and conjugate dilutions were established by chequerboard titrations. When the standard ELISA test was used for titration of test sera, it was found to give titres approximately 1500 times higher than those obtained in the virus neutralization (VN) test, and a correlation coefficient of 0.815 was obtained between these two tests on 42 equine sera. All the positive serum samples by ...
The immunological response of foals to Rhodococcus equi: a review. Normal horses of all ages regularly show evidence of having responded immunologically to R. equi, thus adding serological support to epidemiological evidence that this organism is a normal intestinal inhabitant. More animals from "diseased" farms show a stronger antibody response when compared with foals from "healthy" farms. Various serological tests have been used to detect evidence of infection and to relate antibody level to severity of disease. Anti-R. equi IgG antibody levels, as measured by ELISA, are raised significantly during natural infection. Clinical severity of pneumonia can be c...
Dynamics of equi-factor antibodies in sera of foals kept on farms with differing histories of Rhodococcus equi pneumonia. The occurrence of equi-factor antibodies in sera of mares and their foals was studied on two horse breeding farms, one of which (Farm A) had a positive and the other (farm B) a negative history of R. equi infection of foals. The equi-factor neutralization (EFN) and the reverse Elek-Ouchterlony (REO) precipitation were used as assays. On Farm A, 25 mares positive in both tests (EFN+ REO+) and 25 mares negative in both tests (EFN- REO-) was chosen. On Farm B, a group of 25 EFN- REO+ mares and a group of 25 EFN- REO- mares were studied. The first serum samplings in mares were 1 week ante partum a...
Serological responses of equids fed Toxoplasma gondii oocysts. SEROLOGICAL and parasitological surveys indicate that Toxoplasma gondii infection is widely prevalent in horses (Riemann et a! 1975). To study the pathogenesis of orally-induced toxoplasmosis, 13 equids aged between Aix months and 13 years (nine ponies, three horses and one mule) were each inoculated orally with 10,000 oocysts of the GT-I strain of TRondii. The equids were killed 33 to 476 days after inoculation and their tissues were bioassaycd for T gondit (Dubey 1985). Details of inoculation, housing, clinical response and parasitological and histological findings were previously reported (...
Isolation of Cache Valley virus and detection of antibody for selected arboviruses in Michigan horses in 1980. Blood samples collected in September and November 1980 from 87 horses in southwestern Michigan were examined for virus isolation and for plaque-reduction neutralizing antibody against selected arboviruses. Cache Valley virus was isolated from the blood of a clinically normal horse in St Joseph County in September. The age-specific antibody prevalence for Cache Valley virus indicated enzootic transmission in the study area. The high antibody prevalence and the lack of age-specific antibody prevalence indicated sporadic, but intense, exposure to Jamestown Canyon virus. Low prevalences of antibod...
