Veterinary medicine for horses encompasses the study and application of medical practices to diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases in equine species. This field involves a comprehensive understanding of equine anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Veterinary practitioners employ a range of diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions to address health issues in horses, including lameness, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory conditions, and infectious diseases. Preventative care, such as vaccination and deworming programs, is also a significant aspect of equine veterinary medicine. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of veterinary medicine as it pertains to horses, including advancements in diagnostic techniques, treatment protocols, and preventive health strategies.
Schwarz B, Klang A, Schwendenwein I.A 14-year-old Zweibrücker Warmblood gelding was presented for evaluation of lethargy and headshaking. The horse had a history of bouts of lameness in different limbs and back problems. It also had many mild colic episodes in the past. Results of repeat laboratory tests had shown persistent hypercalcemia (4.8 mmol/L; reference interval [RI]: 2.0-3.2 mmol/L) for 1.5 years and later on hypophosphatemia (0.4 mmol/L; RI: 0.5-1.3 mmol/L) and mild hypermagnesemia (1.0 mmol/L; RI: 0.5-0.9 mmol/L). Parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration was within the RI. Other causes of hypercalcemia, such as...
Delgado-Bermúdez A, Noto F, Bonilla-Correal S, Garcia-Bonavila E, Catalán J, Papas M, Bonet S, Miró J, Yeste M.Aquaporins (AQPs), a family of ubiquitous water channels divided into orthodox AQPs, aquaglyceroporins (GLPs), and superAQPs, are present in stallion spermatozoa. The aim of this study was to elucidate the functional relevance of each group of AQPs during stallion sperm cryopreservation through the use of three different inhibitors: acetazolamide (AC), phloretin (PHL) and propanediol (PDO). Sperm quality and function parameters were evaluated in the presence or absence of each inhibitor in fresh and frozen-thawed samples. In the presence of AC, different parameters were altered ( < 0.05), b...
Yang F, Shao Q, Jiang Z.Using the Yellow-River-Source National Park (YRSNP) as a study site, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing and line transect method was used to investigate the number of wild herbivorous animals and livestock, including the kiang () and Tibetan gazelle (). A downscaling algorithm was used to generate the forage yield data in YRSNP based on a 30-m spatial resolution. On this basis, we estimated the forage-livestock balance, which included both wild animals and livestock, and analyzed the effects of functional zone planning in national parks on the forage-livestock balance in YRSNP. Th...
Reed L, MacNicol JL, Charchoglyan A, Brewer D, Murrant C, Pearson W.The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a botanical-based equine nutraceutical on contractility of gastric smooth muscle in vitro. Gastric ulcers are prevalent in performance horses and negatively impact horse welfare. Gastric hypermotility has been positively associated with the development of gastric ulceration in nonequine species, and reduction of hypermotility may be protective against their development. Stomachs from 12 pigs processed for food at a provincially inspected abattoir were collected within 1 hour of slaughter. Explants of nonglandular gastric tissue were p...
Mouloodi S, Rahmanpanah H, Burvill C, Davies HMS.The hierarchical nature of bone makes it a difficult material to fully comprehend. The equine third metacarpal (MC3) bone experiences nonuniform surface strains, which are a measure of displacement induced by loads. This paper investigates the use of an artificial neural network expert system to quantify MC3 bone loading. Previous studies focused on determining the response of bone using load, bone geometry, mechanical properties, and constraints as input parameters. This is referred to as a forward problem and is generally solved using numerical techniques such as finite element analysis (FEA...
Lancheros-Buitrago J, Rodriguez-Villamil P, Gregory J, Bastos H, Camacho CA, Caballeros JE, Cazales N, Barros E, José de Jesus Silva M, Pimentel A....Characterization of the uterine proteome before the entry of the conceptus to the uterus is essential to know the factors involved in the physiological events of gestation. The objective of the study was to compare proteomic profile of uterine fluid collected on day 5 post ovulation of cyclic and inseminated mares. Samples of endometrial secretion were recovered over 2 cycles during the fifth day post ovulation. The first cycle constituted the Cyclic group and in the following cycle, the same mares were inseminated and considered as the Inseminated group. All the samples were subjected to two-...
Allen KJ, Tennant KV, Franklin SH.Published studies vary as to whether epithelial cells are included in differential counts for tracheal wash (TW) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology in horses. The aim of this study was to determine whether inclusion or exclusion of epithelial cells affects interpretation of airway cytology. Using criteria of >20% TW neutrophils, >10% BAL neutrophils and/or >5% BAL mast cells to indicate airway inflammation, there was a change in categorisation from 'normal' to 'abnormal' in 21%, 4% and 8% horses, respectively, when epithelial cells were excluded from differential counts. It is recommend...
Shawaf T, Al Mubarak A, Eidi H, El-Bahr SM.Influence of heat or cold stress in sedated animals is unclear and requires further investigations. The present study aimed to evaluate the season's effects on some clinical, hematological parameters and blood cortisol level in sedated Arabian horses with xylazine. Therefore, seven Arabian horses were used to investigate heart and respiratory rates, and capillary refill time and serum cortisol level were recorded before (0) and at 5, 15, 60, and 180 minutes postsedation. Heparinized venous samples were collected before (0) and 3 hours postsedation for analysis of hematological analysis. Arte...
Merlin A, Schneider J, Cazeau G, Sala C, Linster M, Foucher N, Ferry B, Delerue M, Amat JP, Tapprest J.The core of the French equine traceability system is the census database (SIRE) managed by the French horse and riding institute (IFCE). Following the death of an equine, owners are legally obliged to take charge of cadaver removal by contacting a rendering company directly or after registration on the national ATM-équidés ANGEE association (ATM) website, which proposes negotiated prices for removal and recording of the death in the SIRE database. Despite these offers, ATM notes few users. Owners are also legally obliged to return the equine's passport to the IFCE, but only 30-40 % of owners...
Papas M, Catalán J, Fernandez-Fuertes B, Arroyo L, Bassols A, Miró J, Yeste M.While the removal of seminal plasma is a routine practice prior to equine sperm cryopreservation, this fluid contains the main source of antioxidant enzymes able to scavenge these reactive oxygen species. Therefore, stallion seminal plasma components may have an impact on ejaculate freezability. Against this background, this study was designed to investigate whether the activities of the main stallion seminal plasma antioxidant enzymes are related to sperm cryotolerance. With this purpose, 16 ejaculates were collected from 14 healthy stallions, and each ejaculate was split into two aliquots. T...
Arndt S, Hopster K, Sill V, Rohn K, Kästner SBR.To compare attempts to stand, duration, quality, and occurrence of injuries between head-tail rope assistance and unassisted recoveries in healthy horses undergoing general anesthesia for elective surgeries. Methods: Randomized, prospective, clinical trial. Methods: Three hundred one healthy horses undergoing elective surgeries were randomly assigned to recover with head-tail rope assistance (group A) or unassisted (group U); 305 recoveries (group A, n = 154; group U, n = 151) were analyzed. Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane and triple drip. For each recovery, attempts to stand, durati...
Kumar R, Yadav SC, Kumar S, Dilbaghi N.A rapid flow-through immunoassay using protein A labeled gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for the qualitative detection of trypanosomosis in equine serum samples was developed. The flow-through device consisted of antigen-coated nitrocellulose membrane fixed on absorbent pads. The GNPs based detection probe was used as the colored marker. The assay can be employed for the detection of specific antibodies at 14 days post-infection in the infected pooled serum samples of equines. The assay can be conducted in < 5 min. The results of the flow-through assay were comparable with the methods like E...
Unterköfler MS, McGorum BC, Milne EM, Licka TF.In horses a number of small intestinal diseases is potentially life threatening. Among them are Equine Grass Sickness (EGS), which is characterised by enteric neurodegeneration of unknown aetiology, as well as reperfusion injury of ischaemic intestine (I/R), and post-operative ileus (POI), common after colic surgery. The perfusion of isolated organs is successfully used to minimize animal testing for the study of pathophysiology in other scenarios. However, extracorporeal perfusion of equine ileum sourced from horses slaughtered for meat production has not yet been described. Therefore the pre...
Every LJ, Hostnik ET, Hostnik LD, Yardley J, Shore-Khirallah AT, Thompson A, Linn SC.Tracheal collapse in horses is reportedly uncommon; however, American Miniature Horses are more commonly affected. There is no description of the tracheal luminal diameter of American Miniature Horses, making early detection of tracheal luminal narrowing difficult. Objective: To 1) describe radiographic tracheal luminal diameter in clinically normal American Miniature Horses, 2) report the prevalence of subclinical tracheal collapse in a population of American Miniature Horses, and 3) use tracheal videofluoroscopy to quantify variation in tracheal luminal diameter throughout the respiratory c...
Singleton C, Manchella S, Nastri A.The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of equine-related maxillofacial trauma that required operative treatment in patients who presented to a level-one trauma centre in Melbourne between 2011 and 2016. A total of 28 patients (16 female and 12 male, median (range) age 31 (16-76) years) were identified from a database of all operatively managed maxillofacial trauma cases, and data were collected on demographics, mechanisms and patterns of injury, and management. The most common mechanism was kicking (n=16), which was also the most likely to result in multiple injuries. Half the patien...
Marín-López A, Barreiro-Piñeiro N, Utrilla-Trigo S, Barriales D, Benavente J, Nogales A, Martínez-Costas J, Ortego J, Calvo-Pinilla E.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an insect-borne pathogen that causes acute disease in horses and other equids. In an effort to improve the safety of currently available vaccines and to acquire new knowledge about the determinants of AHSV immunogenicity, new generation vaccines are being developed. In this work we have generated and tested a novel immunization approach comprised of nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of AHSV serotype 4 (AHSV-4) incorporated into avian reovirus muNS protein microspheres (MS-NS1) and/or expressed using recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector (MVA-NS1)....
Kopper JJ, Kogan CJ, Cook VL, Schott HC.The objective of this study was to determine whether there was an association between type of colloid administered and survival of horses with enterocolitis (N = 92). A retrospective review of medical records of horses with enterocolitis treated with plasma or hetastarch (HES) between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2011 was performed. Data collected included signalment, outcome, physical and clinicopathologic findings, and volume and type of colloid administered. Sixty-nine horses (75%) were treated with plasma and 23 horses (25%) were treated with HES. After accounting for confounding varia...
Zimmerli U, Thür B.Equine infectious anaemia (EIA) is a sporadic viral disease in many countries. Every single case has, however, a dramatic impact: infected animals have to be put down, and quarantine restrictions on horse movements lasting three months lead to substantial economic losses. In Switzerland, the mandatory notification was introduced in 1994 in order to facilitate international traffic. A year later, the "new" Ordinance on epizootics of 1995 classified EIA as a "disease to be eradicated". An infected polo horse in the canton of Argovia in summer 2017 thus represented Switzerland's first official ca...
Souza EAR, Araujo AC, Pires LCSR, Freschi CR, Azevedo SS, Machado RZ, Horta MC.Equine piroplasmosis, an economically important disease in horses, has so far not been reported in Pernambuco state, Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of anti-Babesia caballi and anti-Theileria equi antibodies based on the detection of these agents in equine blood and in ticks on horses in the municipality of Petrolina, Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. Blood samples were drawn from 393 horses and sera were examined by ELISA. The presence of tick infestations was evaluated, and 101 ticks were subjected to DNA amplification for the detection of Babesia spp. by polymerase ch...
Lohmann KL, James CR, Higgins SN, Howden KJ, Epp T.This retrospective study describes the detection of equine infectious anemia (EIA) during Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) disease investigations in Canada, examines aspects of importance for disease control, and evaluates potential animal-level risk factors for EIA in high-risk horses. Based on review of all EIA-positive samples and all samples collected during disease investigations (N = 4553) over a 4-year period (2009 to 2012), 409 EIA cases were detected. Horse owners with EIA cases owned between 1 and 60 affected animals, and 49 horses seroconverted during a disease investigation p...
Sekizuka T, Niwa H, Kinoshita Y, Uchida-Fujii E, Inamine Y, Hashino M, Kuroda M.MRSA is a known pathogen that affects horses. We investigated an equine MRSA isolate for potential antimicrobial resistance genes, classified the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) and identified the strain-specific dissemination in the horse community based on WGS. WGS, using short-read sequencing, and subsequent long-read sequencing by hybrid assembly, was conducted to obtain a complete genome sequence. Pairwise sequence alignment of relative SCCmec sequences and core-genome phylogenetic analysis were performed to highlight transmission routes of the SCCmec and MRSA strain-speci...
Costello J, Firshman AM, Brown JC, Maher M, Tadros EM.A 16-year-old American Paint Horse gelding was presented for evaluation of weight loss and high serum thyroid hormone concentrations resulting from a functional thyroid adenoma. The horse showed no response to a thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation test. Clinical signs resolved following surgical removal of the adenoma. . Un cheval American Paint Horse hongre âgé de 16 ans fut présenté pour évaluation à la suite d’une perte de poids et d’une concentration sérique élevée d’hormone thyroïdienne résultant d’un adénome thyroïdien fonctionnel. Le cheval ne démontrai...
Pownder SL, Caserto BG, Bowker RM, Lin B, Potter HG, Koff MF.Few noninvasive methods are available for equine hoof wall evaluation. The highly organised wall structures and composition of proteoglycans and collagens may make this region amenable to quantitative MRI (qMRI) techniques of T1ρ and T2 mapping to identify pathology related to proteoglycan content and collagen organisation respectively. Objective: To establish normative T1ρ and T2 values of the equine hoof wall of 3-year-old Quarter Horses with histological comparison. Methods: Cadaveric anatomical study. Methods: Six cadaveric left thoracic feet from 3-year-old racing Quarter Horses with no...
Bond SL, Hundt J, Léguillette R.Mild equine asthma is a common inflammatory airway disease of the horse. The primary treatment of mild equine asthma is corticosteroids. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of injected dexamethasone on relative IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p35, IL-17, IL-23, IFN-γ, Eotaxin-2 and TNF-α mRNA expression in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in healthy Thoroughbred horses (n = 6), and those with mild equine asthma (n = 7). Results: Horses with mild equine asthma had a significantly greater bronchoalveolar lavage mast cell percentage than healthy horses...
Pollard D, Wylie CE, Newton JR, Verheyen KLP.Euthanasia is a complex topic, with animal owners using multiple factors to shape their decision-making process. Previous epidemiological studies have described causes of equine mortality in specific populations, but there is limited evidence regarding factors contributing specifically to equine euthanasia in Great Britain (GB). This observational study used a prospective cohort design: the objectives were to describe owner-reported reasons for euthanasia, estimate the rate of euthanasia and identify associated factors in horses/ponies enrolled in a web-based epidemiological study of laminitis...
Swift LA, Christensen BW, Samocha MB, le Jeune SS, Millares-Ramirez EM, Dujovne GA.Although exercise and acupuncture are frequently used therapies to treat persistent postbreeding endometritis, their efficacy to date is unproven. The objective of this study was to determine if exercise and acupuncture are effective methods to reduce intrauterine fluid and compare the effectiveness of these treatments to the use of uterine ecbolics. Twelve mares susceptible to postbreeding endometritis were enrolled in the study with a randomized cross-over design using both positive and negative controls. During each estrous cycle, mares were randomized into one of six treatment groups, incl...
Mei M, Chen R, Gao X, Cao Y, Weng W, Duan Y, Tan X, Liu Z.Meat fraud and adulteration incidents occur frequently in almost all regions of the globe, especially with the increase in the world's population. To ensure the authenticity of meat products, we developed a 10-plex xMAP assay to simultaneously detect ten animal materials: bovine, caprine, poultry, swine, donkey, deer, horse, dog, fox and mink. Results: This method was investigated by analyzing DNA extracts from raw muscle, muscle mixtures, meat products and animal feeds. Our results indicated that the species of interest can be identified, differentiated and detected down to 1 g kg in bina...
Barbosa Costa G, Marinho PES, Vilela APP, Saraiva-Silva AT, Crispim APC, Borges IA, Dutra AGS, Lobato ZIP, Dos Reis JKP, de Oliveira DB, Drumond BP....Saint Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that occurs throughout the Americas, and is considered a public health threat. In Brazil, SLEV has been detected from human cases associated with dengue-like disease, but no neurological symptoms were reported. Furthermore, the epidemiology of SLEV in human populations is still poorly explored in the country. We reported serological and molecular detection of SLEV in a healthy population of equids and humans from rural areas in Southeast Brazil. A plaque reduction neutralization test was applied, and neutralizing antibodies w...
Balendra G, Turner M, McCrory P.It has been previously shown that professional jump and flat racing jockeys suffer a high incidence of injury as a consequence of their profession. This paper specifically examines career-ending injuries to professional jockeys in Great Britain. Objective: To investigate career-ending injuries in professional jockeys. Methods: Analysis of prospectively collected injury database on professional jockeys. Results: The majority of injuries in this study occurred to the head, shoulder or torso. Fractures were the most common type of injury that led to a decision to end a career, followed by neurolo...
Borji H, Moosavi Z, Ahmadi F.Arteritis due to Strongylus vulgaris is a well-known cause of colic in horses and donkeys. The current report describes a fatal incidence of arterial obstruction in cranial mesenteric artery caused by S. vulgaris infection in an adult donkey in which anthelmintic treatment was not regularly administered. Necropsy findings of the abdominal cavity revealed a complete cranial mesenteric arterial obstruction due to larvae of S. vulgaris, causing severe colic. To the authors' knowledge, a complete cranial mesenteric arterial obstruction due to verminous arteritis has rarely been described in horses...
Hammond RA, Hannon R, Frean SP, Armstrong SJ, Flower RJ, Bryant CE.To determine the amount of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) enzymes induced in vitro in equine alveolar macrophages in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Sample Population-Alveolar macrophages obtained from 12 horses. Methods: Alveolar macrophages were collected by bronchoalveolar lavage from 12 horses and incubated for 6 hours with LPS (0.001 to 10 microg/ml) or vehicle. Total RNA was extracted and purified. After first-strand cDNA synthesis, mRNA induction was measured, using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for COX-2, iNOS, and glyceraldehyde...
Rodrigues VDS, Garcia MV, Cruz BC, Maciel WG, Zimmermann NP, Koller WW, Barros JC, Andreotti R.The objective of this study was to evaluate the life cycle and parasitic competence of Dermacentor nitens (Neumann, 1897) on different animal species. Experimental infestations were induced in five specimens each of seven species of possible hosts: rabbits, horses, sheep, cows, guinea pigs, birds and dogs. Rabbits were infested in the ear using artificial feeding chambers, and the horses, sheep, cows and dogs were infested in the ear without feeding chambers. For the infestation of guinea pigs, artificial feeding chambers were fixed on the back. Birds were infested by placing larvae on the bac...
Taylor PM, Crosignani N, Lopes C, Rosa AC, Luna SP, Puoli Filho JN.To examine the relationship between probe tip size and force readings of mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MTs) to identify appropriate probes for horses. Methods: Randomized, crossover study. Methods: Eight adult, mixed-breed horses aged 5-10 years, weighing 268-460 kg. Methods: Four probe configurations (PCs) were used in random sequence: 1.0 mm diameter (SHARP); 3.2 mm (BLUNT); spring-mounted 1.0 mm (SPRING), and 3 × 2.5 mm (3PIN). A remote-controlled unit on the horse increased force (1.2 N second(-1)) in a pneumatic actuator on the metacarpus. Mean MT for each PC was calculated from 10 ...
Hudson NP, Pearson GT, Kitamura N, Mayhew IG.The interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are c-kit immunoreactive cells of the gastrointestinal tract which are suggested to have a role in the control of intestinal motility. Cells with c-kit immunoreactivity have not been previously described in the gastrointestinal tract of the horse. Immunoreactivity for c-kit was revealed using immunohistochemical labelling with an anti-c-kit polyclonal antibody. Sections of normal gastrointestinal tissue were examined from 13 anatomically defined sites from stomach to small colon taken from horses free from gastrointestinal disease. Three types of c-kit imm...
Townsend HG, Leach DH, Doige CE, Kirkaldy-Willis WH.The relationship between spinal biomechanics and pathological changes occurring in functionally normal equine thoracolumbar spines was studied in 23 horses. Ventrolateral vertebral body osteophytes occurred in 36 per cent of the spines. The majority occurred between the 10th and 17th thoracic vertebrae with the largest being found between the 11th and 13th thoracic vertebrae, the region of the thoracic spine where the greatest amount of lateral bending and axial rotation occurs. Impingement of the dorsal spinous processes was detected in 86 per cent of the spines with most lesions occurring be...
van Loon JP, Menke ES, L'ami JJ, Jonckheer-Sheehy VS, Back W, René van Weeren P.Epidural morphine is widely used in veterinary medicine, but there is no information about the anti-hyperalgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in acute inflammatory joint disease in horses. The analgesic, anti-hyperalgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of epidural morphine (100mg/animal or 0.17 ± 0.02 mg/kg) were therefore investigated in horses with acute synovitis. In a cross-over study, synovitis was induced in the talocrural joint by intra-articular lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The effect of epidural morphine was evaluated using physiological, kinematic and behavioural variables. Ranges of m...
Vahlenkamp TW, Enbergs HK, Müller H.Cells of the peripheral blood of experimentally and naturally borna disease virus (BDV)-infected animals and of human psychiatric patients and healthy individuals were analyzed for the presence of viral RNA using a BDV-p40-specific nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The assay proved to be highly sensitive as 10 RNA molecules were reproducibly amplified. BDV RNA was detected in blood cells of experimentally infected immunocompetent mice and rats. Mice were persistently infected without showing clinical signs of borna disease (BD), whereas the rats suffered from acu...
Jellyman JK, Valenzuela OA, Fowden AL.Adrenal glucocorticoids, such as cortisol, are essential for normal fetal development and for maintaining homeostasis in adults. Developmental studies in humans and other animals have shown that exposure to excess glucocorticoids during critical windows of perinatal development can program permanent changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and metabolic function, with adverse implications for the long-term health of the exposed offspring. The current review compares the programming of postnatal HPA axis function and glucose homeostasis among different species overexposed p...
Bukhari SSUH, Parkes RSV.About 112 million working equids are the source of income for 600 million people globally. Many equids are used for pulling loads (up to 15,000 kg per day) to transport goods. Most of them are associated with brick kilns, mining, and agriculture industries in developing countries. They may suffer from welfare issues such as overloading, being beaten, and being forced to work for long periods. These issues may occur due to a poor understanding of load-pulling equids. Understanding their capabilities and the elements that influence them is critical for efficient performance and welfare. The me...
Quinn PJ, Baker KP, Morrow AN.In a study of the skin reactivity of horses with lesions of sweet itch, six clinically normal horses and seven affected horses were challenged intradermally with extracts of Culicoides, Stomoxys, Tabanidae and Culex species. All the affected horses and three of the normal horses responded strongly to the culicoides extract. The skin reactions in the affected horses reached their maxima within 4 h in the majority of animals. Skin reactivity to culicoides was transferred to normal horses with serum from affected animals confirming that the reaction was an immediate hypersensitivity reaction. Thr...
Vannucci FA, Kelley MR, Gebhart CJ.Lawsonia intracellularis is an obligate intracellular bacterium and the causative agent of proliferative enteropathy (PE). The disease is endemic in pigs, emerging in horses and has also been reported in a variety of other animal species, including nonhuman primates. Comparing the whole genome sequences of a homologous porcine L. intracellularis isolate cultivated for 10 and 60 passages in vitro, we identified a 18-kb prophage-associated genomic island in the passage 10 (pathogenic variant) that was lost in the passage 60 (non-pathogenic variant). This chromosomal island comprises 15 genes dow...
Karatepe B, Babür C, Karatepe M, Kiliç S.The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii specific antibodies in local horses from four districts of Niğde in the middle of Turkey, between April-June 2004. Serum samples were obtained a total of 125 horses which consisted of 81 (50 female, 31 male) 1-10 years old and 44 (25 female, 19 male) 11-20 years old and tested for antibodies to T. gondii using the Sabin Feldman Dye Test (SFDT). According to the results of the SFDT, antibodies to T. gondii were found by the SFDT in 9 (7.2%) of 125 sera with the titers of 1:16 (8 horses) and 1:64 (1 horse). Antib...
Lightbody KL, Matthews JB, Kemp-Symonds JG, Lambert PA, Austin CJ.Anthelmintic resistance combined with limited chemotherapeutic options has prompted a change in approaches to control of equine helminth infections. Targeted selective treatment strategies use diagnostics to reduce anthelmintic use by treating individuals with worm burdens or egg shedding levels above a set threshold. While faecal egg count analysis has limitations for informing tapeworm treatment, a commercially available saliva-based diagnostic test accurately diagnoses horses with tapeworm infection. Objective: Evaluation of a saliva-based diagnostic test to identify horses naturally infect...
Lefrançois T, Blitvich BJ, Pradel J, Molia S, Vachiéry N, Martinez D.In July 2002, a surveillance system was implemented on Guadeloupe to detect for the potential introduction and monitor the spread of West Nile virus (WNV). From 2002 to 2004, equines and chickens were serologically assayed for antibodies to WNV by IgG and IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), epitope-blocking ELISA, and plaque reduction neutralization tests. After introduction, probably through migratory birds at the end of 2001, many seroconversions occurred between July and October 2002 resulting in a high seroprevalence (19.3%) in equines in 2003. WNV circulation levels decreased d...
Velineni S, Timoney JF.Streptococcus zooepidemicus is an important opportunistic pathogen of the equine respiratory and reproductive tracts. A normal tonsillar and mucosal commensal, it becomes invasive under conditions of stress such as virus infection, weaning, high temperature, prolonged transportation and failure of uterine involution. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccine potential of several surface exposed and secreted proteins of a novel mucoid clone of SzNC78 (ST-307) from an epizootic of equine respiratory disease. Methods: An expression gene library of SzNC78 was probed with a pool of convales...
Pérez R, Cabezas I, García M, Rubilar L, Sutra JF, Galtier P, Alvinerie M.A study was undertaken in order to evaluate and compare plasma disposition kinetic parameters of moxidectin and ivermectin after oral administration of their commercially available preparations in horses. Ten clinically healthy adult horses, weighing 390-446 kg body weight (b.w.), were allocated to two experimental groups of five horses. Group I was treated with an oral gel formulation of moxidectin (MXD) at the manufacturers recommended therapeutic dose of 0.4 mg/kg bw. Group II was treated with an oral paste formulation of ivermectin (IVM) at the manufacturers recommended dose of 0.2 mg/kg b...
Marenzoni ML, De Waure C, Timoney PJ.Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) infection can cause a range of disease syndromes of variable severity that can result in a lethal outcome and restriction of horse movements, especially in the case of outbreaks involving neurological disease. Vaccination is one of the tools used to control the infection. It is widely known that vaccination is not completely effective in ensuring protection against disease caused by this virus. In fact, the real efficacy of vaccination against EHV-1 related disease has not been measured and no systematic reviews exist on this topic. Objective: To perform a syst...
Iqbal J, Bird JL, Hollander AP, Bayliss MT.This study was carried out to investigate the effect of two enzymes (collagenase and chondroitinase) and two cytokines/metabolites (interleukin-1beta and retinoic acid) of known catabolic activity on the expression of cartilage metabolism/phenotype in equine articular cartilage. Articular cartilage explants from 11 horses (5-13 years old) were treated for 48 h and assayed for total sulphated glycosaminoglycan (GAG), the incorporation of 35S-sulphate, collagen degradation and mRNA expression of the proteoglycans collagen II, collagen IIA, collagen III, collagen IX, collagen X, collagen XI and g...
Crafford JE, Lourens CW, Smit TK, Gardner IA, MacLachlan NJ, Guthrie AJ.African horse sickness (AHS) is typically a highly fatal disease in susceptible horses and vaccination is currently used to prevent the occurrence of disease in endemic areas. Similarly, vaccination has been central to the control of incursions of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) into previously unaffected areas and will likely play a significant role in any future incursions. Horses in the AHSV-infected area in South Africa are vaccinated annually with a live-attenuated (modified-live virus [MLV]) vaccine, which includes a cocktail of serotypes 1, 3, 4 (bottle 1) and 2, 6-8 (bottle 2) deli...
El-Bahr SM, El-Deeb WM.New biomarkers are essential for diagnosis of pyometra in mares. In this context, 12 subfertile Arabian mares suffered from pyometra were admitted to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The basis for diagnosis of pyometra was positive findings of clinical examination and rectal palpation. Blood samples were collected from diseased animals and from five Arabian healthy mares, which were considered as control group. Acute-phase proteins (APP), oxidative stress biomarkers, proinflammatory cytokines, and cardiac troponin I were estimated in the harvested sera of both groups. Clinical examination rev...
Gibbs C, Lane JG.The radiographic findings in 167 horses subjected to radiography of the facial area, nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses are recorded. Cases were grouped according to clinical diagnosis and the common and disparate radiographic features between and within groups are discussed. Dental disease occurred most frequently and accounted for about 30 per cent of cases, most of which had periapical infection. This disorder presented as two distinct clinical entities in almost equal numbers affected teeth with roots rostral to the maxillary sinus usually produced facial swelling, whereas those with roots...
Ye C, Yan W, McDonough PL, McDonough SP, Mohamed H, Divers TJ, Chang YF, Yang Z.Leptospirosis, caused by Leptospira spp., is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in the world. We tested four recombinant proteins of Leptospira interrogans, namely, rLipL21, rLoa22, rLipL32, and rLigACon4-8, to evaluate their potential for use as antigens for the diagnosis of equine leptospirosis. We employed equine sera (n = 130) that were microscopic agglutination test (MAT) negative and sera (n = 176) that were MAT positive for the 5 serovars that most commonly cause equine leptospirosis. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA compared to MAT were 82.39% and 86.15%, respectively, fo...
Laus F, Gialletti R, Bazzano M, Laghi L, Dini F, Marchegiani A.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of lameness in sport horses with a significant economic impact. The prevention of OA is crucial since no effective treatment is available. This study aimed to apply untargeted metabolomic analysis to investigate the differences in synovial fluid (SF) composition between healthy and OA-affected joints in horses. SF collected from healthy (n.8) and OA (n.11) horses was analyzed using H-NMR analysis. Metabolomic analysis allowed 55 different metabolites to be identified and quantified in SF samples. Nineteen metabolites were found to be differently concentrat...
Hatrisse C, Macaire C, Sapone M, Hebert C, Hanne-Poujade S, De Azevedo E, Marin F, Martin P, Chateau H.The development of on-board technologies has enabled the development of quantification systems to monitor equine locomotion parameters. Their relevance among others relies on their ability to determine specific locomotor events such as foot-on and heel-off events. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of different methods for an automatic gait events detection from inertial measurement units (IMUs). IMUs were positioned on the cannon bone, hooves, and withers of seven horses trotting on hard and soft straight lines and circles. Longitudinal acceleration and angular velocity a...
