Topic:Seroprevalence
Seroprevalence refers to the measurement of the presence of specific antibodies in the blood serum of horses, indicating exposure to particular pathogens or diseases. This metric is used to assess the spread of infectious diseases within equine populations and can help in understanding the epidemiology of these conditions. Seroprevalence studies involve the collection and analysis of blood samples to determine the proportion of horses that have been exposed to a specific infectious agent. These studies provide valuable data for disease surveillance, control, and prevention strategies. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that focus on the seroprevalence of various infectious diseases in horses, exploring their distribution, risk factors, and implications for equine health management.
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%)....
Borreliosis in equids in northeastern United States. During 1982 and 1985, blood samples from 705 equids were examined for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi. By indirect immunofluorescence staining, IgM and total immunoglobulin (IgM and IgG) antibodies were detected in 37 (5.3%) and 90 (12.8%) serum specimens, respectively. The geometric mean titer for IgM antibody (140.4) was highest during July, whereas total immunoglobulin ranged from 94.1 in October to 338 in May. Eighty-six equids with total immunoglobulin to B burgdorferi lived in areas of Connecticut where the primary tick vector, Ixodes dammini, was present. Of the 86 equids, 9 from Lym...
[Epidemiological study of leptospirosis in New Caledonia]. This epidemiological survey includes the study of human and animal leptospirosis in New Caledonia from clinical cases as well as a systematic serological study about exposed human and animal populations. The results show that this disease is endemic on the whole territory with a few important focuses in agricultural area, especially on the Western coast. Leptospira icterohemorrhagiae is the main serotype and is responsible for serious human leptospirosis. The male farmers constitute the most exposed population, especially from March to May, end of the host season. In order to reduce the import...
Host responses to Borrelia burgdorferi in dogs and horses. By using paired sera the IgM and IgG host responses were analyzed in dogs with ELISA and Western blot techniques. Antibodies in clinical seropositive dogs bound to 4-25 IgM and up to 40 or more IgG antigenic determinants. Early IgM response to the 41-kDa flagellin persisted for at least 9 months and involved as many as seven other peptides. IgG response expanded later in the disease and involved more immunogens than are currently recognized in late human disease. A percentage of asymptomatic dogs that later developed clinical symptoms were seropositive. Immunoblot studies suggested that B. bur...
Epidemiologic studies of Lyme disease in horses and their public health significance. A serologic survey of horses in the New Jersey-Pennsylvania area demonstrated that about 10% (6.2-14.2%) have significant levels of serum antibody to Borrelia burgdorferi. However, in a highly endemic area of central New Jersey, up to 60% of the mares and yearlings samples on one farm were seropositive. In 1983, sera from this same farm exhibited only 12% positives in mares and 35% positives in yearlings. Longitudinal studies of paired sera obtained from individual yearlings over a 6-month period in 1985 showed that 34% of them declined during the period. A new clinical syndrome associated wit...
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.
Sero-epizootiological study of racehorses with pyrexia in the training centers of the Japan Racing Association. A sero-epizootiological study was conducted on horses which showed clinical pyrexia at two training centers, each of which maintained 1, 200 to 2, 100 racehorses for training, of the Japan Racing Association. It continued from 1980 to 1985 to clarify the cause of pyrexia, so that measures might be considered for the prevention of infectious disease. A total of 3, 849 horses were found to be affected with pyrexia for the 6 years. Of them, 2, 852 horses were tested to equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), equine rhinovirus type 1 (ERhV-1), rotavirus and equine adenovirus (EAdV) by collecting paired...
Leptospirosis in horses in Ontario. Sera from Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses in southwest Ontario were tested for antibody to seven Leptospira interrogans serovars (autumnalis, bratislava, canicola, grippotyphosa, hardjo, icterohaemorrhagiae, pomona), using the microscopic agglutination test. There was significantly higher seroprevalence of bratislava than of other serovars, in which prevalence was low. Seroprevalence of bratislava increased significantly with age; only 5% of two to three year old horses had titers greater than or equal to 1:80 compared to 52% of horses older than seven years. Eight of 16 foals from two fa...
Status of equine viral arteritis in Kentucky, 1985. Clinical cases of equine arteritis virus infection have not been diagnosed in Kentucky since 1984, and there has been no indication that any of the horses involved in the 1984 epizootic have since been responsible for spread of the disease to horses in other states or other countries. Cases of abortion caused by naturally acquired infection with this virus have not been confirmed in 1984 or 1985. Neither field nor vaccine strains of equine arteritis virus have been shown to induce teratologic abnormalities or the carrier state in foals born to infected or vaccinated mares. The carrier stallion...
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...
Vesicular exanthema of swine virus: isolation and serotyping of field samples. Virus isolation was attempted from 262 field samples of vesicular material collected during the outbreaks of vesicular exanthema of swine in the U.S.A. from 1952-54. Using primary swine kidney culture, viral cytopathogenic agents were isolated from 76.3% of the samples. However, an overall recovery rate of 82.1% was obtained after samples negative in tissue culture were inoculated intradermally in susceptible swine. All vesicular exanthema of swine virus isolates were identified as serotype B51 using complement fixation and serum neutralization tests. Two isolates did not react with antisera t...
The isolation of Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona and related serological findings associated with a mixed farming unit in the Transvaal. This is the first known isolation in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) of the serovar pomona from the organs of porcine foetuses as well as from the renal lymph nodes of slaughter pigs showing chronic nephritis. In addition, the serovar pomona was isolated from the kidneys of 87.5% of the slaughter pigs examined. The success of these isolations was attributed in part to the refining of 2 existing isolation techniques which complement each other. Using the microscopic agglutination test, serum samples taken from the same farming unit showed evidence of antibodies to the serovar pomona in 89 ou...
Isolation of Legionella pneumophila from calves and the prevalence of antibodies in cattle, sheep, horses, antelopes, buffaloes and rabbits. The lungs of 139 calves presented for autopsy and 29 healthy slaughtered calves were examined for Legionella by culture and by direct immunofluorescence (DIF) with fluorescein-conjugated antisera. About 17% of the cadaver lungs and 4% of lungs from slaughtered animals were positive by DIF. Legionella organisms were only isolated from the lungs of two cadavers (L. pneumophila, serogroup 1). In a prevalence study of antibodies to Legionella in domestic and wild animals of various species, titers of greater than or equal to 64 were demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence in sera of 10% of dai...
Serological study of leptospiral infections and endogenous uveitis among horses and ponies in the United Kingdom. The prevalence of antibody titres to a range of 20 leptospira antigens in the serum of horses and ponies with no ophthalmic abnormalities and with ophthalmoscopic evidence of endogenous uveal inflammatory disease was determined using a microscopic agglutination technique. Titres against leptospira antigens were observed in 13 out of 138 (9.1 per cent) animals with no ophthalmic abnormalities, and in three out of 27 (11.1 per cent) animals with anterior uveitis. Serovar sejroe was common to all seropositive animals with anterior uveitis. The results show that leptospira infection is not a major...
A newly recognized vesiculovirus, Calchaqui virus, and subtypes of Melao and Maguari viruses from Argentina, with serologic evidence for infections of humans and horses. In 1983, 17 virus strains were isolated from mosquitoes collected during an outbreak of western equine encephalitis in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. Strains of western equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, and Antequera viruses were isolated, as were several bunyaviruses of the California and Bunyamwera serogroups and a new vesiculovirus. Complement fixation and neutralization tests were used to identify the California serogroup virus as a subtype of Melao virus, the Bunyamwera serogroup virus as a subtype of both Maguari and Playas viruses, and the vesic...
Epizootic vesicular stomatitis in Colorado, 1982: infection in occupational risk groups. In 1982-1983, an epizootic of vesicular stomatitis occurred in the western United States. Veterinarians, research workers, and regulatory personnel who were exposed to vesicular stomatitis virus were examined for patterns of human infection and prevalence of vesicular stomatitis New Jersey serotype neutralizing antibody. Insight into the mechanism of transmission was sought by comparing activities of antibody-positive and antibody-negative persons. A statistically significant risk factor was a history of infected animals sneezing in the face of serosurvey participants. Elevated odds ratios wer...
Attempted transmission of Ehrlichia risticii by field-captured Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae). The capability of field-collected American dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis, to infect horses with Ehrlichia risticii, causative agent of Potomac horse fever (PHF), was examined by allowing adult ticks collected from horse farms with a history of PHF to feed on susceptible horses. More than 500 male and female ticks attached and fed on 3 test horses; however, no clinical or serologic evidence of PHF was observed in treated or control horses. All horses were challenge exposed with E risticii-infective blood by inoculation at 60 to 65 days after ticks fed, and all developed clinical PHF with su...
Dourine in Southern Africa 1981-1984: serological findings from the Veterinary Research Institute, Onderstepoort. The distribution of positive dourine cases found on the complement fixation test at the Veterinary Research Institute, Onderstepoort from 1981 to 1984, is recorded. Within the Republic of South Africa, foci of infection occurred in the Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Upington, Lichtenburg, Kroonstad, Louis Trichardt, Middelburg (Cape) and Mossel Bay state veterinary districts. In Bophuthatswana, Transkei, Lesotho, South West Africa and Swaziland, positive cases were also recorded. Anti-complementary activity of horse sera does not present a problem. In donkey and mule sera, ...
Diagnosis of equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (Potomac horse fever) by indirect immunofluorescence. The recent establishment of a system for the continuous in vitro propagation of Ehrlichia risticii, the causative agent of equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (EME; synonym, Potomac horse fever), has facilitated the development of an indirect fluorescent antibody test for the diagnosis of this disease under laboratory and field conditions. The field diagnostic application of the test has aided in the recognition of the disease in 16 states of the United States and in 1 province of Canada. A limited epidemiologic study conducted between January and September 1985, in an area where the disease is know...
Viruses associated with respiratory disease of horses in New Zealand: an update. Viruses causing or associated with respiratory disease in horses worldwide are reviewed. Results are presented from a serological survey of 121 New Zealand foals and horses that had been affected by respiratory disease, determining the prevalence of antibodies in this country to the major viruses associated with similar disease overseas. To date there is no evidence of equine influenza virus in New Zealand. Both equine herpesvirus type 1 and 2 have been frequently isolated and show high serological prevalences. Serological evidence of equine rhinovirus type 1 and type 2 is presented with a pre...
Serodiagnosis of experimental and natural Babesia equi and B. caballi infections. The sensitivity and specificity of the complement fixation (CF) test for the diagnosis of Babesia infections in equines was assessed, using the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test as a reference. Antibodies were first detected between 11 and 20 days post infection (dpi) in the CF test and between 7 and 14 dpi in the IFA test in ponies infected experimentally with B. equi (USDA strain). The CF test became negative in four of five ponies 63-174 dpi although B. equi was demonstrated microscopically in two of these four ponies up to 364 and 455 dpi. The IFA test remained positive up to 476 dp...
Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in New England horses: serologic survey. 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.
Recent vesicular stomatitis virus infection detected by immunoglobulin M antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that was capable of detecting immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody to vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in the sera of experimentally and naturally infected cattle and horses. The detection of IgM in the sera of these animals permitted an estimate of the recency of infection by VSV serotype New Jersey. A VSV serotype New Jersey epizootic strain isolated from a horse and passed once in an Aedes albopictus cell line was used to infect a horse and a calf. Sera from these animals were used to standardize the ELISA. This assay was used to test ser...