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.
Adney DR, Brown VR, Porter SM, Bielefeldt-Ohmann H, Hartwig AE, Bowen RA.The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was first recognized in 2012 and can cause severe disease in infected humans. Dromedary camels are the reservoir for the virus, although, other than nasal discharge, these animals do not display any overt clinical disease. Data from in vitro experiments suggest that other livestock such as sheep, goats, and horses might also contribute to viral transmission, although field data has not identified any seropositive animals. In order to understand if these animals could be infected, we challenged young goats and horses and adult sheep wi...
Tirosh-Levy S, Blum SE, Steward KF, Waller AS, Steinman A.The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the seroprevalence of Streptococcus equi in Israel, to monitor seropositive horses over time and to identify archived strains that were recovered from Israeli horses. A serological survey of 200 healthy horses on 20 farms throughout Israel was performed to detect recent exposure to S equi antigens A and C via indirect ELISA. Seroprevalence was 9.5 per cent (19/200) and positive horses were found in 30 per cent (6/20) of the farms. Sixteen horses that returned a positive serology result were retested three and six months later. Most (12...
Harvey AM, Watson JL, Brault SA, Edman JM, Moore SM, Kass PH, Wilson WD.OBJECTIVE To investigate the impact of age and inferred prior vaccination history on the persistence of vaccine-induced antibody against rabies in horses. DESIGN Serologic response evaluation. ANIMALS 48 horses with an undocumented vaccination history. PROCEDURES Horses were vaccinated against rabies once. Blood samples were collected prior to vaccination, 3 to 7 weeks after vaccination, and at 6-month intervals for 2 to 3 years. Serum rabies virus-neutralizing antibody (RVNA) values were measured. An RVNA value of ≥ 0.5 U/mL was used to define a predicted protective immune response on the b...
Gather T, Walter S, Todt D, Pfaender S, Brown RJP, Postel A, Becher P, Moritz A, Hansmann F, Baumgaertner W, Feige K, Steinmann E, Cavalleri JV.Non-primate hepacivirus (NPHV), a recently discovered hepatotropic virus infecting horses, is phylogenetically the closest known homologue of hepatitis C virus (HCV). The main route for acquiring HCV infection in childhood is vertical transmission. However, nothing is known about the natural mode of transmission for NPHV. To investigate the possibility of vertically transmitted NPHV infection in horses, 20 Thoroughbred broodmares and their foals were monitored during foaling season 2015 until 6 months post-partum. Prepartal serum was taken from the mares, and during foaling umbilical cord bloo...
Sant C, d'Abadie R, Pargass I, Basu AK, Asgarali Z, Charles RA, Georges KC.Equine piroplasmosis caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi is endemic in Trinidad and Tobago. Transmission occurs by ticks of the family Ixodidae. T. equi can also be transmitted transplacentally; however transplacental transmission of B. caballi is unknown. This study aims to investigate transplacental transmission of equine piroplasmosis from thoroughbred mares naturally infected via the tick vector. Whole blood and serum samples were collected from 117 mares in the fifth month of pregnancy. Blood samples were also collected from each of their foals (89 in total) within the first 36h ...
Tagliabue S, Figarolli BM, D'Incau M, Foschi G, Gennero MS, Giordani R, Giordani R, Natale A, Papa P, Ponti N, Scaltrito D, Spadari L, Vesco G....Nowadays, leptospirosis is a re‑emerging widespread infectious disease often underestimate worldwide. The National Reference Centre for Leptospirosis (NRCL), at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Brescia (Italy), with the cooperation of all the other Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali (IIZZSS), evaluated the distribution of such important zoonosis in Italy. Serological data obtained between 2010‑2011 by each laboratory were collected by the NRCL and discussed. Serum samples collected from 43,935 animal specimens were analysed by the Microsco...
Johnstone LK, Engiles JB, Aceto H, Buechner-Maxwell V, Divers T, Gardner R, Levine R, Scherrer N, Tewari D, Tomlinson J, Johnson AL.Equine neuroborreliosis (NB), Lyme disease, is difficult to diagnose and has limited description in the literature. Objective: Provide a detailed description of clinical signs, diagnostic, and pathologic findings of horses with NB. Methods: Sixteen horses with histologically confirmed NB. Methods: Retrospective review of medical records at the University of Pennsylvania and via an ACVIM listserv query with inclusion criteria requiring possible exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi and histologic findings consistent with previous reports of NB without evidence of other disease. Results: Sixteen hors...
Lee H, Kim EJ, Cho IS, Song JY, Choi JS, Lee JY, Shin YK.Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). The SFTSV appears to have a wide host range, as SFTSV-positive ticks have been isolated from both farm animals and wild rodents. Therefore, it is important to monitor SFTSV-positive animals to prevent the transmission of SFTSV from animals to humans. Previously, we developed a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) to detect SFTSV-specific antibodies from field animals and compared the cELISA results to those from an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). In this study, cELISA results were...
Lightbody KL, Davis PJ, Austin CJ.Tapeworm infections pose a significant threat to equine health as they are associated with clinical cases of colic. Diagnosis of tapeworm burden using fecal egg counts (FECs) is unreliable, and, although a commercial serologic ELISA for anti-tapeworm antibodies is available, it requires a veterinarian to collect the blood sample. A reliable diagnostic test using an owner-accessible sample such as saliva could provide a cost-effective alternative for tapeworm testing in horses, and allow targeted deworming strategies. Objective: The purpose of the study was to statistically validate a saliva ta...
Kumar J, Chaudhury A, Yadav SC.Trypanosomosis (Surra) is an economically important disease caused by Trypanosoma evansi which is an extracellular parasite present in the plasma, tissues and other body fluids of a wide range of hosts including domesticated animals. Currently, serological reports are based on detection of antibodies by ELISA using whole cell lysate (WCL) antigen, which has a limitation of persistence of anti-trypanosomal antibodies after successful treatment of the disease. Moreover, it has some ethical issues also like requirement of mice for in vivo maintenance of parasite for preparing the antigen. Therefo...
Abrahão JS, de Souza Trindade G, Pereira-Oliveira G, de Oliveira Figueiredo P, Costa G, Moreira Franco-Luiz AP, Lopes Assis F, Bretas de Oliveira D....In August 2014, an outbreak of oral exanthematous disease in equids was reported in Brazil, affecting 11 donkeys and 3 mules. Objective: To investigate if Vaccinia virus (VACV) was the aetiological agent in this outbreak. Methods: Investigation of clinical cases using serological, molecular and phylogenetic approaches. Methods: To analyse the presence of neutralising antibodies against VACV, samples were submitted in triplicate to a plaque-reduction neutralisation test (PRNT ). On the basis of previous studies which detected VACV DNA in sera, we submitted extracted DNA samples to different pol...
Nardini R, Autorino GL, Ricci I, Frontoso R, Rosone F, Simula M, Scicluna MT.The Italian National Reference Center for equine infectious anemia (CRAIE; Rome, Italy) developed and validated a monoclonal, recombinant p26-based competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) for the detection of EIA virus antibodies employing the 2010 criteria of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The following parameters were evaluated: cutoff values, repeatability, reproducibility, concordance, analytical sensitivity (Se), absolute analytical specificity (Sp), and diagnostic Se and Sp. Positive and negative predictive values were also defined in relation to the estim...
Ricotti S, Garcia MI, Veaute C, Bailat A, Lucca E, Cook RF, Cook SJ, Soutullo A.Molecular and serological techniques for Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV) diagnosis were compared using samples from 59 clinically normal horses stabled on five farms in the Santa Fe Province of Argentina. Of these 26 (44.1%) were positive in official AGID tests and/or gp45/gp90-based ELISA. Surprisingly 18 of the 33 seronegative horses were positive in a PCR against viral sequences encoding gp45 (PCR-positive/AGID-negative) with all but one remaining EIAV-antibody negative throughout a two year observation period. The gp45 PCR results are supported by fact that 7/18 of these horses were ...
Kinsley R, Scott SD, Daly JM.Serological assays provide an indirect route for the recognition of infectious agents via the detection of antibodies against the infectious agent of interest within serum. Serological assays for equine influenza A virus can be applied for different purposes: diagnosing infections; subtyping isolates; surveillance of circulating strains; and to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines before they reach the market. Haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and single radial haemolysis (SRH) assays are most commonly used in the equine field. This review outlines how both these assays together with virus neutra...
Durand B, Haskouri H, Lowenski S, Vachiery N, Beck C, Lecollinet S.A serosurvey of 349 military working horses and 231 military working dogs was conducted in ten sites in Morocco in 2012. This survey revealed a high level of exposure of these animals to flaviviruses: seroprevalence rates of 60% in horses and of 62% in dogs were observed using a competitive West Nile virus (WNV) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). Seroneutralization test results showed that the majority of cELISA-positive results were due to exposure to WNV. Further assays conducted in vaccinated horses with a DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) test indicated that ...
Kang BK, Hwang JM, Moon H, Han SY, Kim JM, Yang DK, Park BK, Song D.The Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype circulating in Korea has changed from G3 to G1. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the antigenic relationship between the two genotypes by using antibody tests. Methods: Blood samples from 42 sows and 216 horses were collected, and their seroprevalence was monitored using the hemagglutination inhibition and virus neutralization tests. Antisera against JEV G1 and G3 were isolated and prepared from guinea pigs. The cross-reactivity of these two viruses was then compared using the neutralizing antibody test. Results: We found that th...
Sumbria D, Singla LD, Kumar S, Sharma A, Dahiya RK, Setia R.Equine piroplasmosis is a febrile, tick-borne disease of equids predominately caused by obligatory intra-erythrocytic protozoa Theileria equi in the Indian sub-continent. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 464 equids (426 horses and 38 donkeys/mules) in Punjab, India to assess the level of exposure to equine piroplasmosis by 18S rRNA gene nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) and equine merozoite antigen-2 (EMA2) indirect-ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), to investigate risk factors and haemato-biochemical alterations associated with the infection. The endemicity of the dise...
Saqib M, Hussain MH, Sajid MS, Mansoor MK, Asi MN, Fadya AA, Zohaib A, Sial AU, Muhammad G, Ullah I.Toxoplasmosis is a serious threat for livestock in addition to being of zoonotic significance. In this study, serodiagnosis of equine toxoplasmosis was conducted in a randomly selected population from the 3 metropolises of Punjab, Pakistan. To this end, 272 draught equines were screened using a commercial latex agglutination assay kit. Association of probable risk factors of equine toxoplasmosis was also documented. A total of 91 (33.5%) equines were found sero-positive for Toxoplama (T.) gondii having antibody titers ranging between 1:32 to 1:612. The highest rates of seropositive cases were ...
Velineni S, Timoney JF, Artiushin SC, Donahue JM, Steinman M.Foals of mares infected with Leptospira interrogans serovar Pomona type kennewicki (Lk) may be aborted/stillborn or delivered as healthy foals. Is fetal survival explained in part by the immune response of the fetus to Leptospira antigens? Objective: To describe an outbreak of Leptospira abortion in which infected mares delivered dead/sick or normal foals and determine specificities of antibody in a collection of 54 fetuses from similar outbreaks. Methods: Outbreak investigation in combination with a case-control study of a larger set of samples from aborted fetuses. Methods: Serology and poly...
Perglione CO, Gildea S, Rimondi A, Miño S, Vissani A, Carossino M, Cullinane A, Barrandeguy M.In 2012, equine influenza (EI) virus was confirmed as the cause of outbreaks of respiratory disease in horses throughout South America. In Uruguay and Argentina, hundreds of vaccinated thoroughbred horses in training and racing facilities were clinically affected. Objective: To characterise the EI viruses detected during the outbreak in Uruguay and Argentina. Methods: Virus was detected in nasopharyngeal swabs by a pan-reactive influenza type A real-time RT-PCR. The nucleotide sequence of the HA1 gene was determined and analysed phylogenetically using mega 5 software. Amino acid sequences alig...
Malik P, Singha H, Goyal SK, Khurana SK, Tripathi BN, Dutt A, Singh D, Sharma N, Jain S.Burkholderia mallei is the causative agent of glanders which is a highly contagious and fatal disease of equines. Considering the nature and severity of the disease in equines, and potential of transmission to human beings, glanders is recognised as a 'notifiable' disease in many countries. An increasing number of glanders outbreaks throughout the Asian continents, including India, have been noticed recently. In view of the recent re-emergence of the disease, the present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of glanders among indigenous equines from different parts of India. Serum sa...
Abdelgawad A, Hermes R, Damiani A, Lamglait B, Czirják GÁ, East M, Aschenborn O, Wenker C, Kasem S, Osterrieder N, Greenwood AD.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) causes respiratory disorders and abortion in equids while EHV-1 regularly causes equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM), a stroke-like syndrome following endothelial cell infection in horses. Both EHV-1 and EHV-9 infections of non-definitive hosts often result in neuronal infection and high case fatality rates. Hence, EHV-1 and EHV-9 are somewhat unusual herpesviruses and lack strict host specificity, and the true extent of their host ranges have remained unclear. In order to determine the seroprevalence of EHV-1 and EHV-9, a sensitive and specific pepti...
Beck C, Desprès P, Paulous S, Vanhomwegen J, Lowenski S, Nowotny N, Durand B, Garnier A, Blaise-Boisseau S, Guitton E, Yamanaka T, Zientara S....West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are flaviviruses responsible for severe neuroinvasive infections in humans and horses. The confirmation of flavivirus infections is mostly based on rapid serological tests such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). These tests suffer from poor specificity, mainly due to antigenic cross-reactivity among flavivirus members. Robust diagnosis therefore needs to be validated through virus neutralisation tests (VNTs) which are time-consuming and require BSL3 facilities. The flavivirus envelop...
Hamond C, Martins G, Bremont S, Medeiros MA, Bourhy P, Lilenbaum W.A strain of Leptospira kirschneri (serogroup Grippotyphosa) was cultured from urine of a mare post-abortion in Brazil and characterized by serogrouping, multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis, PGFE, and sequencing of genes rrs and secY. Strains of L. kirschneri have apparently never been recovered from horses in tropical area, only in Europe and USA. Knowledge of local epidemiology is important to interpret genetic profiles of leptospires circulating in an area.
Bhagwan J, Kumar A, Kumar R, Goyal L, Goel P, Kumar S.A sizeable Indian equine population is considered to be pre-immune carrier of Theileria equi infection. In this study we confirmed the presence of T. equi specific DNA in Hyalomma anatolicum ticks which were infested on sero-positive horses. Fifty two Indigenous horses were randomly selected from endemic areas and their blood and tick samples were collected. Tick salivary glands and blood samples were processed for separation of DNA and serum, respectively. Serum samples were analyzed by EMA-2ELISA and nine horses were found positive for T. equi specific antibodies. Species-specific primers we...
Hamond C, Pestana CP, Rocha-de-Souza CM, Cunha LE, Brandão FZ, Medeiros MA, Lilenbaum W.Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of global importance, and has a worldwide distribution. Equine leptospirosis is commonly manifested by recurrent uveitis, reproductive disorders, as abortions, embryonic absorption, stillbirth and the birth of weak foals. The aim of this study was to verify the presence of Leptospira sp or its DNA in genital tract of mares with reproductive problems. A total of 38 mares with reproductive problems were studied. All the mares were sampled for blood (for serology), urine (for culturing and qPCR), vaginal fluid-VF and endometrial biopsy-EB (for culturing, qPCR a...
Chaintoutis SC, Diakakis N, Papanastassopoulou M, Banos G, Dovas CI.Although experimental data regarding cross-protection of horse West Nile virus (WNV) vaccines against lineage 2 infections exist, the cross-protective efficacy of these vaccines under field conditions has not been demonstrated. This study was conducted to evaluate the capability of an inactivated lineage 1 vaccine (Equip WNV) to protect against natural infections from the Nea Santa-Greece-2010 lineage 2 strain. In total, 185 WNV-seronegative horses in Thessaloniki, Greece, were selected during 2 consecutive years (2011 and 2012); 140 were immunized, and 45 were used as controls. Horses were ex...
Passamonti F, Veronesi F, Cappelli K, Capomaccio S, Reginato A, Miglio A, Vardi DM, Stefanetti V, Coletti M, Bazzica C, Pepe M.Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a multi-systemic tick-borne disease affecting both humans and animals, including horses, and is caused by a group of interrelated spirochetes classified within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex. Despite the high reported seroprevalence in the European equine population for B. burgdorferi s.l., to-date no documented clinical cases have been described. A 6-year-old Paint gelding was referred with a history of three weeks of fever, intermittent lameness and digital flexor tendon sheath effusion of the right hind limb. Based on a strict diagnostic protocol...
Back H, Penell J, Pringle J, Isaksson M, Ronéus N, Treiberg Berndtsson L, Ståhl K.While clinical respiratory disease is considered a main cause of poor performance in horses, the role of subclinical respiratory virus infections is less clear and needs further investigation. Objective: In this descriptive longitudinal study the relationship of markers of subclinical respiratory viral activity to occurrence of poor performance in racing Standardbred trotters was investigated. Methods: 66 elite Standardbred trotters were followed for 13 months by nasal swabs analysed with qPCR for equine influenza virus, equine arteritis virus, equine rhinitis B virus (ERBV), equine herpesvi...
Schvartz G, Epp T, Burgess HJ, Chilton NB, Lohmann KL.To investigate the agreement between available serologic tests for the detection of antibodies against Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi, 50 serum samples from horses of unknown clinical status and at low risk for infection were tested. In addition to a point-of-care enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (pocELISA), the evaluated tests included 2 indirect fluorescent antibody tests (IFATs) for antibodies against A. phagocytophilum and an IFAT, an ELISA confirmed with Western blot, and the Lyme multiplex assay for antibodies against B. burgdorferi. For each pair-wise comparison bet...
Alanazi AD, Alyousif MS.The aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in horses used for sporting purposes in the Province of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In total, 266 serum samples from clinically healthy horses were analyzed for anti- T. gondii antibodies using the Sabin-Feldman dye test. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 84 (31.6%) horses, with specific titers of 1∶16 (78 with a prevalence of 29.3%), 1∶64 (4 with a prevalence of 1.5%), and 1∶256 (2 with a prevalence of 0.8%). The number of seropositive horses in Shaqra (43.7%) was considerably higher than in other region...
Berlin D, Nasereddin A, Azmi K, Ereqat S, Abdeen Z, Baneth G.An outbreak of trypanosomoasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi involving horses, camels and donkeys occurred in a farm in Israel. A longitudinal study of two outbreak phases was conducted which included clinical monitoring, blood smears, packed cell volume (PCV), serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by reverse dot blot (RDB) for the molecular detection of infection. This was the first reported T. evansi outbreak in domestic animals in Israel. Most of the camels on the farm (8/10; 80%) were diagnosed with T. evansi infection whereas infection was less prevalent in the horses (3/7;...
Marcus LC, Patterson MM, Gilfillan RE, Urband PH.Twelve of 50 randomly selected horses from areas endemic for Borrelia burgdorferi had indirect fluorescent antibody titers of 1:8 to 1:2,048 against B burgdorferi. One of 50 horses from nonendemic areas had a titer of 1:8. This difference in the number of horses seropositive for B burgdorferi (P less than 0.002) and our finding that seropositive horses did not have agglutinating antibodies against potentially cross-reacting Leptospira spp indicated that horses in endemic areas were exposed to B burgdorferi and that the spirochete induced an antibody response in the horses.
Malalana F, Blundell RJ, Pinchbeck GL, Mcgowan CM.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is a common cause of ocular pain and blindness in horses. Leptospira spp. have been commonly implicated in the pathophysiology of ERU in mainland Europe and the USA. No recent studies have been carried out in the UK, but Leptospira is reported not to be a major factor in the aetiology of ERU in the UK. Objective: To establish the prevalence of Leptospira-associated ERU in the UK and to identify the serovars involved in these cases; to compare serum vs. aqueous humour antibody levels in cases and controls in order to confirm the diagnosis of Leptospira-associated ...
Tsachev I, Pantchev N, Marutsov P, Petrov V, Gundasheva D, Baymakova M.Lyme Borreliosis and granulocytic anaplasmosis are less extensively studied in horses than in dogs and humans. Equine ehrlichiosis is not known in Europe and is in the initial stage of investigation in South, Central, and North America. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of these infections in Bulgaria. A total of 155 horses were investigated from five regions in Southeastern Bulgaria. Horses were tested for Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Ehrlichia spp. antibodies by a commercial rapid ELISA test. B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum antibodies wer...
Pitel PH, Romand S, Pronost S, Foucher N, Gargala G, Maillard K, Thulliez P, Collobert-Laugier C, Tainturier D, Fortier G, Ballet JJ.Neospora caninum, an apicomplexan protozoan parasite, is recognized as a major cause of abortion in cattle while limited information is presently available on association between equine Neospora infections and abortions. The aim of the present study was to document prevalence of antibodies against Neospora sp. in aborted mares as a clue to the role of N. caninum in mare reproductive failure in Normandy, France. Using an agglutination test, the number of animals with elevated (>80) anti-Neospora sp. antibody titer was higher in a group of 54 aborted mares than in randomly chosen groups of 45 ma...
Pringle J, Storm E, Waller A, Riihimäki M.Antibiotic treatment of horses with strangles is reported to impair the development of immunity to subsequent exposure to Streptococcus equi ssp equi (S. equi). However, apart from a single clinical report, evidence-based studies for this hypothesis are lacking. Objective: To determine whether penicillin treatment during clinical strangles influences the development or persistence of seropositivity to S. equi-specific antibodies. Methods: A natural outbreak of strangles with 100% morbidity in 41 unvaccinated mature Icelandic horses. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study of acute clinical s...
Chaintoutis SC, Diakakis N, Papanastassopoulou M, Banos G, Dovas CI.Although experimental data regarding cross-protection of horse West Nile virus (WNV) vaccines against lineage 2 infections exist, the cross-protective efficacy of these vaccines under field conditions has not been demonstrated. This study was conducted to evaluate the capability of an inactivated lineage 1 vaccine (Equip WNV) to protect against natural infections from the Nea Santa-Greece-2010 lineage 2 strain. In total, 185 WNV-seronegative horses in Thessaloniki, Greece, were selected during 2 consecutive years (2011 and 2012); 140 were immunized, and 45 were used as controls. Horses were ex...
Uehlinger FD, Clancey NP, Lofstedt J.A 16-year-old Paint stallion was presented with intermittent fever, inappetance, lethargy, icterus, distal limb edema, and submandibular lymphadenopathy. The horse was native to Nova Scotia and had never left that province. Morulae were detected in granulocytes. Ananaplasma phagocytophilum infection was confirmed by serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The horse responded to treatment with oxytetracycline. Anaplasmose granulocytaire chez un cheval de la Nouvelle-Écosse causée par une infection par Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Un étalon Paint âgé de 16 ans a été présenté avec un...
Lillini E, Macrì G, Proietti G, Scarpulla M.Ixodes ricinus (I. ricinus) is one of the vectors of Anaplasma phagocytophilum (A. phagocytophilum) in Europe, in which rates of infection range from 1.9% to 34%. In 1998, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis-like (HGE-like) Ehrlichia DNA was detected in Italy, by PCR technique in one I. ricinus nymph out of 55 ticks that were examined. In 1996, 6.3% of 310 human sera in high-risk subjects from Italy were found positive for antibodies to Ehrlichia phagocytophila (E. phagocytophila). In the same year, the authors reported the first case of equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis. In 1997, only 2 out of 563...
Truppel JH, Otomura F, Teodoro U, Massafera R, da Costa-Ribeiro MC, Catarino CM, Dalagrana L, Costa Ferreira ME, Thomaz-Soccol V.In this study, we detected Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection in equids living in endemic regions of cutaneous leishmaniasis. To determine the role of these animals in the Leishmania cycle, we used two approaches: serological and molecular methods. Antibodies to the parasite were assayed using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Blood samples were collected and tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the positive products were sequenced. The results showed that 11.0% (25/227) of the equids were seropositive for Leishmania sp, and 16.3% (37/227) were PCR positive. Ant...
Mumford EL, Traub-Dargatz JL, Carman J, Callan RJ, Collins JK, Goltz KL, Romm SR, Tarr SF, Salman MD.Horses vaccinated against common agents of infectious upper respiratory disease (IURD) may not have detectable serum antibody and may not be protected from clinical disease. Objective: The objectives of this study were to 1) investigate the serological response of horses to vaccination against influenza virus (H3N8 and H7N7) and equine herpesviruses (EHV) in a field setting and 2) evaluate associations among vaccination status, serum antibody concentrations, and occurrences of IURD in monitored horses. Methods: In this study, horses on 6 Colorado premises were vaccinated parenterally against i...
Vieira FT, Acosta ICL, Martins TF, Filho JM, Krawczak FDS, Barbieri ARM, Egert L, Fernandes DR, Braga FR, Labruna MB, Dietze R.This work aims to identify and quantify the percentage of Rickettsia spp., Ehrlichia spp., Babesia spp. and Hepatozoon spp. positive pet dogs, and to identify ticks collected on these animals in the state of Espírito Santo, in the Southeast region of Brazil. The study included 378 dogs, 226 females and 152 males, of various breeds and ages (mean age of 4.1 years). All animals were examined for ticks, and whole blood was collected and processed by conventional PCR protocols for Babesia spp., Anaplasmataceae, Hepatozoon spp. and by real-time PCR for Ehrlichia canis. Of the 378 dogs examined, 15...
Yamagishi H, Nagamine T, Shimoda K, Ide S, Igarashi Y, Yoshioka I, Matumoto M.Single radial hemolysis (SRH), neutralization (NT), and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests were carried out on sera from horses immunized against the Prague and Miami strains of equine influenza virus. The HI and NT tests demonstrated good sensitivity; the sensitivity of the SRH test was somewhat lower. The NT titers of individual sera were correlated very closely with the HI titers, although the NT titers were higher. SRH zone diameters of individual sera also showed significant correlation with the NT and NI titers. The SRH test appears to be suitable for large-scale serological surveys ...
Reemers S, Sonnemans D, Horspool L, van Bommel S, Cao Q, van de Zande S.Vaccination is an effective tool to limit equine influenza virus (EIV H3N8) infection, a contagious respiratory disease with potentially huge economic impact. The study assessed the effects of antigenic change on vaccine efficacy and the need for strain update. Horses were vaccinated (V1 and V2) with an ISCOMatrix-adjuvanted, whole inactivated virus vaccine (Equilis Prequenza, group 2, FC1 and European strains) or a carbomer-adjuvanted, modified vector vaccine (ProteqFlu, group 3, FC1 and FC2 HA genes). Serology (SRH, HI, VN), clinical signs and viral shedding were assessed in comparison to un...
Howell AK, Malalana F, Beesley NJ, Hodgkinson JE, Rhodes H, Sekiya M, Archer D, Clough HE, Gilmore P, Williams DJL.Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) affects grazing animals including horses but the extent to which it affects UK horses is unknown. Objective: To define how liver fluke affects the UK horse population. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional, observational study. Methods: An F. hepatica excretory-secretory antibody detection ELISA with a diagnostic sensitivity of 71% and specificity of 97% was validated and used to analyse serum samples. An abattoir study was performed to determine prevalence. A case-control study of 269 horses compared fluke exposure between horses with liver disease and control...
Szeredi L, Tenk M, Jánosi S, Pálfi V, Hotzel H, Sachse K, Pospischil A, Bozsó M, Glávits R, Molnár T.Cases of equine abortion and perinatal foal losses were investigated in Hungary during a three-year period (1998-2000). Samples from aborted equine fetuses and newborn foals (total n = 96) were examined using bacteriological, virological, pathological, immunohistochemical (IHC), molecular biological and serological methods. The cause of abortion and perinatal foal loss was identified in 67/96 cases (70%); viral infection was found in 22 (23%), viral and bacterial coinfection in 1 (1%), bacterial infection in 23 (24%), protozoan infection in 1 (1%) and fungal infection in 2 cases (2%). Morpholo...
Passamonti F, Veronesi F, Cappelli K, Capomaccio S, Reginato A, Miglio A, Vardi DM, Stefanetti V, Coletti M, Bazzica C, Pepe M.Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a multi-systemic tick-borne disease affecting both humans and animals, including horses, and is caused by a group of interrelated spirochetes classified within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex. Despite the high reported seroprevalence in the European equine population for B. burgdorferi s.l., to-date no documented clinical cases have been described. A 6-year-old Paint gelding was referred with a history of three weeks of fever, intermittent lameness and digital flexor tendon sheath effusion of the right hind limb. Based on a strict diagnostic protocol...
Coggins L.Presently available data continue to support the idea that once a horse is infected with equine infectious anemia virus it remains infected indefinitely. Infection may not always be demonstrated by inoculation of plasma, serum, or whole blood transfusions into susceptible recipients, but transfusions of fresh whole blood will be infective in at least 95% of the horses testing positive in the agar gel immunodiffusion test. For detection of infectivity in a small percentage of inapparent carriers, it appears necessary to inoculate washed leukocytes collected over a period of time.
The Journal of hygieneJune 1, 1983
Volume 90, Issue 3 371-384 doi: 10.1017/s0022172400029004
Wood JM, Mumford J, Folkers C, Scott AM, Schild GC.Serological responses to three bivalent aqueous equine influenza vaccines of different potency and an adjuvanted bivalent vaccine containing inactivated A/equine/Prague/56 (H7N7) and A/equine/Miami/63 (H3N8) viruses, were examined in seronegative ponies. Potencies of the vaccines, measured by single-radial-diffusion tests, ranged from 4 to 56 micrograms of haemagglutinin (HA) antigen activity/virus strain per dose. Serological responses to vaccination were examined by haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and single-radial-haemolysis (SRH) tests. Four weeks after a primary dose, HI responses to bo...
Yasunaga S, Maeda K, Matsumura T, Kai K, Iwata H, Inoue T.Recently, a type-specific ELISA using equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and type 4 (EHV-4) glycoprotein Gs (gGs) was developed by Crabb and Studdert [1993]. To investigate the dissemination of EHV-1 and -4 among horses in Japan, we applied their ELISA as suitable for discriminating between EHV-1 and -4 infections serologically. Type-specificity of the ELISA was confirmed by using paired sera of infected horses with either EHV-1 or -4. Application of the ELISA to sera collected before and after the winter season of 1995-1996 from 80 racehorses revealed that 30 horses showed significant antibody...
Rolão N, Martins MJ, João A, Campino L.The present report describes the first case of equine leishmaniasis in Portugal. Leishmania infection was detected in one animal, which presented an ulcerated skin lesion. Diagnosis was based on serology by CIE, and parasite DNA detection by real-time PCR using a probe specific for L. infantum. This finding requests further leishmaniasis equine surveys in order to clarify the role of the horse as reservoir host in european endemic areas.
Bowen RA, Bosco-Lauth A, Syvrud K, Thomas A, Meinert TR, Ludlow DR, Cook C, Salt J, Ons E.Over the last years West Nile virus (WNV) lineage 2 has spread from the African to the European continent. This study was conducted to demonstrate efficacy of an inactivated, lineage 1-based, WNV vaccine (Equip WNV) against intrathecal challenge of horses with a recent isolate of lineage 2 WNV. Twenty horses, sero-negative for WNV, were enrolled and were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups: an unvaccinated control group (T01, n=10) and a group administered with Equip WNV (T02, n=10). Horses were vaccinated at Day 0 and 21 and were challenged at day 42 with WNV lineage 2, Nea Sant...
Lee CL, Zandrew F, Davidsohn I.One hundred infectious mononucleosis and the same number of non-infectious mononucleosis sera were studied to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of horse erythrocytes in the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis. Titres of horse agglutinins in infectious mononucleosis sera ranged from 28 to 7,168 with a geometric mean of 550, whereas the corresponding sheep agglutinin titres ranged from less than 7 to 3,584, with a geometric mean of 126. Horse agglutinin titres of non-infectious mononucleosis sera ranged from less than 7 to 896, with a geometric mean of 59. Infectious mononucleosis sera ...
Cybinski DH, Zakrzewski H.CSIRO 368 virus was isolated from blood collected in the Northern Territory from a healthy cow and electron microscope studies showed that the isolate had rhabdovirus morphology. Fluorescent antibody studies and complement fixation tests related the virus to bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) virus. Neutralization tests in both suckling mice and Vero cells showed that the virus was not BEF virus. Antibodies to CSIRO 368 virus were found in cattle sera from northern and eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea. Antibodies were found in 16 out of 45 buffalo, some of which also had antibodies to BEF viru...
Kutzler MA, Baker RJ, Mattson DE.To determine humoral responses to an equine West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine in healthy alpacas and llamas and compare responses in alpacas and llamas with responses in horses. Methods: Clinical trial. Methods: 28 alpacas, 56 llamas, and 16 horses. Methods: Horses received 2 vaccinations at 4-week intervals, and alpacas and llamas received 3 vaccinations at 3-week intervals. Fifty-five llamas received a fourth vaccination 3 weeks after the third. Blood samples were collected immediately prior to each vaccination, 3 weeks after the last vaccination for alpacas and llamas, and 4 weeks after the las...
Gari FR, Ashenafi H, Tola A, Goddeeris BM, Claes F.Study on comparative sensitivity of parasitological, serological, and molecular tests on 237 horses originating from two dourine-suspected districts of Arsi-Bale highlands of Ethiopia was conducted to determine the prevalence of the disease and degree of agreement of the diagnostic tests. Accordingly, the prevalence of the disease was found to be 4.6%, 36.7%, and 47.6% by parasitological Woo test, RoTat 1.2 and 18S PCR tests, respectively. The seroprevalence of the disease was 27.6% in CATT/Trypanosoma evansi test. In Ethiopia, it was for the first time that trypanosomes from dourine suspected...
Saqib M, Hussain MH, Sajid MS, Mansoor MK, Asi MN, Fadya AA, Zohaib A, Sial AU, Muhammad G, Ullah I.Toxoplasmosis is a serious threat for livestock in addition to being of zoonotic significance. In this study, serodiagnosis of equine toxoplasmosis was conducted in a randomly selected population from the 3 metropolises of Punjab, Pakistan. To this end, 272 draught equines were screened using a commercial latex agglutination assay kit. Association of probable risk factors of equine toxoplasmosis was also documented. A total of 91 (33.5%) equines were found sero-positive for Toxoplama (T.) gondii having antibody titers ranging between 1:32 to 1:612. The highest rates of seropositive cases were ...
Westcott D, Wescott DG, Mildenberg Z, Bellaiche M, McGowan SL, Grierson SS, Choudhury B, Steinbach F.Equine encephalosis virus (EEV) distribution was thought to be limited to southern Africa until 2008 when we reported EEV in Israel. It was then assumed that the clinical presentation resembled the initial incursion in Israel. To investigate further we conducted a retrospective analysis of equine sera, which had been collected for diagnosis of other suspected diseases, via serum neutralisation test. The data demonstrated that EEV was circulating as early as 2001 with incidence ranging from 20-100% for time period 2001-2008. As the symptoms of EEV can be similar to other equine notifiable disea...
Lopez AM, Hecker R, Mutwiri G, van Drunen Littel-van den Hurk S, Babiuk LA, Townsend HG.Previous studies have shown that protection against equine influenza virus (EIV) is partially mediated by virus-specific IgGa and IgGb. In this study we tested whether addition of a CpG ODN formulation to a commercial killed virus vaccine would enhance EIV-specific IgGa and IgGb antibody responses, and improve protection against an experimental EIV challenge. Thirty naïve horses were assigned to one of three groups and vaccinated as follows: 10 were given vaccine (Encevac TC4, Intervet Inc.) alone, 10 were given vaccine plus 0.25 mg CpG ODN 2007 formulated with 30% Emulsigen (CpG/Em), and 10 ...
