Veterinary research in horses encompasses the study of diseases, health management, and medical treatments specific to equine species. This field investigates various aspects of horse health, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and musculoskeletal conditions. Researchers focus on understanding the pathophysiology of equine ailments, developing diagnostic tools, and evaluating therapeutic interventions. The study of horse health also involves examining preventive measures such as vaccination protocols and nutritional management to promote overall well-being. This page collects peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse areas of veterinary science related to horses, providing insights into disease mechanisms, treatment strategies, and advancements in equine healthcare.
Saari H, Tulamo RM, Konttinen YT, Sorsa T.A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure suitable for the simultaneous determination of the molecular size and concentration of macromolecular hyaluronate and proteoglycans in synovial fluid has been developed. Irrigation of the equine tarsocrural joint with 20 ml physiological saline (PSS) caused a mild inflammation with an increase of proteoglycans in the synovial fluid over the baseline arthrocentesis control sample. Proteoglycan and hyaluronate in the synovial fluid did not interact to form hyaluronate-proteoglycan aggregates, but separated as distinct chromatographic peak...
Singh M, Chaudhry MA, Yadava JN, Sanyal SC.This study was undertaken to assess the spectrum of drug resistance prevalent in Escherichia coli isolates from human and animal populations in Northern India. Three hundred and two isolates of Escherichia coli isolated from various infections of humans (47 from diarrhoea; 101 from urinary tract infection) and veterinary animals (17 from poultry septicaemia; 75 from bovine diarrhoea; 14 from ovine diarrhoea and 48 from equine metritis) were studied for their susceptibility to ampicillin, cephaloridine, amoxycillin, cloxacillin, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, and tri...
Sams RA, Detra RL, Muir WW.The pharmacokinetics and metabolism of doxapram in horses administered intravenous (iv) doses of 0.275, 0.55 and 1.1 mg doxapram/kg bodyweight (bwt) were investigated. Plasma doxapram concentrations decreased rapidly after drug administration and the disappearance of doxapram from plasma was best described by a polyexponential equation. Median values of total body clearance were 10.9, 10.6 and 10.9 ml/min/kg bwt for the three doses and were independent of dose. The steady-state volume of distribution was approximately 1,200 ml/kg bwt and the median biological half-life ranged from 121 to 178 m...
Muir WW.The cardiovascular effects of serial increasing infusions of dopexamine HCl were investigated in six conscious (1, 2, 4, 6, 10 micrograms/kg bodyweight [bwt]/min) and eight (0.5, 1, 5, 10, 20 micrograms/kg bwt/min) halothane-anaesthetised horses. Dopexamine produced dose-dependent increases in heart rate, +dP/dtmax' -dP/dtmax and cardiac output, and a decrease in systemic vascular resistance in conscious and halothane-anaesthetised horses. Mean arterial blood pressure did not change in conscious horses but increased to a maximum value at 10 micrograms/kg bwt/min in halothane-anaesthetised hors...
Murray MJ, Grodinsky C.Gastric fluid pH was measured in five adult horses following nasogastric administration of famotidine, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/kg bodyweight (bwt); ranitidine, 4.4 and 6.6 mg/kg bwt and an antacid containing magnesium hydroxide (40 mg/ml) and aluminium hydroxide (45 mg/ml), 120 and 180 ml. Fluid was aspirated through a 16 French nasogastric feeding tube at 15 min intervals, and pH was measured using a pH meter. Basal gastric fluid pH was measured at 20 min intervals for 6 h in each horse and, with the exception of two measurements of 4.66 and 4.17, ranged from 1.42 to 2.41, with a mean pH of 1.88...
Hardt M, Teifke JP, Weiss E.Formalin-fixed and Paraplast-embedded tissue samples of 42 aborted equine fetuses were examined by polymerase chain reaction for the presence of equine herpesvirus DNA. The used set of primers was located in the glycoprotein 13 open reading frame and allowed the amplification of both EHV 1 und EHV 4. By cleaving pattern analysis after Hinf I digestion EHV 1 could be distinguished from EHV 4. In 9 of the cases investigated EHV 1-DNA was detected. This finding is in absolute context with the results of the virological investigations.
Browning GF, Chalmers RM, Fitzgerald TA, Snodgrass DR.Ten cultivable equine rotavirus isolates, two of North American, six of British, and two of Irish origin, were compared with standard rotavirus strains and with each other by cross neutralization, neutralization with a panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), hybridization to a simian rotavirus (SA-11) VP7 gene probe, and reaction with rotavirus subgrouping and serotyping MAbs in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Six isolates, two of which had previously been serotyped as G3 by other workers, were found to be serotype G3; one was confirmed to be G5, and three were not related to serotypes G1 t...
May SA, Hooke RE, Lees P.Equine thymocytes, which respond to equine monocyte supernatants, do not respond to stimulation with recombinant human interleukin-1 alpha and beta, and equine synovial fibroblasts show a limited response in the form of prostaglandin E2 production without any evidence of neutral metalloproteinase production. Human interleukin-1 beta was about three to ten times as active on equine synovial cells as human interleukin-1 alpha in terms of prostaglandin E2 production. This preliminary evidence would suggest that there are qualitative and quantitative differences in the way recombinant human interl...
McCann JS, Caudle AB, Thompson FN, Stuedemann JA, Heusner GL, Thompson DL.Thirty mares in late gestation were used in a 3-yr study to assess effects of the tall fescue endophyte Acremonium coenophialum on serum prolactin (PRL) and progesterone. Two paddocks of each treatment, 0 or 100% infected 'Kentucky 31' tall fescue, were grazed by the mares for 21 d. Blood was collected three times per week until parturition. At 7-d intervals, mares were challenged with thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) while grazing and blood was collected postinjection. Mares grazing 100% infected tall fescue (E+) had decreased serum PRL compared with mares grazing the 0% infected tall fesc...
Roth TL, White KL, Thompson DL, Horohov DW.It has been proposed that PGE2 is an important immunosuppressant acting at the fetal-maternal interface during pregnancy. We have previously shown that horse conceptus-conditioned medium suppresses lymphocyte proliferation. This experiment was designed to determine if horse conceptus-derived immunosuppressive activity could be attributed to PGE2 production by the trophoblast tissue. Trophoblast tissue from 21-day-old conceptuses was cut into equal sections and cultured in the presence or absence of the prostaglandin inhibitor, indomethacin. Following culture, immunosuppressive activity and the...
Matassa LC, Woodard D, Leavitt RK, Firby P, Beaumier P.Glycopyrrolate (Robinul) is a quaternary ammonium salt which serves as a respiratory enhancing drug. It is reportedly used in horse racing to improve breathing. Extraction of glycopyrrolate from equine urine employing unique solid-phase extraction techniques gave a residue suitable for liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). LC-MS-MS analysis employed an extract derived from 5 ml of urine subjected to cation-exchange chromatography. The daughter ion of m/z 318 monitored in the positive-ion mode was m/z 116. Recovery of glycopy...
Petroski RJ, Powell RG, Clay K.Stipa robusta (= Stipa vaseyi) is a perennial grass found in certain areas of the southwestern United States. It is commonly known as sleepygrass, as horses that ingest this grass may become profoundly somnolent or stuporous for periods of time lasting up to several days. In an attempt to determine the active principle(s), fractionation of a methanolic extract of sleepygrass infected with an Acremonium endophyte has yielded lysergic acid amide (20 micrograms/g dry wt), isolysergic amide (8), 8-hydroxylsergic acid amide (0.3), ergonovine (7), chanoclavine-I (15), and N-formylloline (18). Relate...
Lear TL, Trembicki KA, Ennis RB.Giemsa-11 (G-11) staining and in situ hybridization were used to identify the equine chromosome complement of horse x mouse somatic cell hybrids. The presence of horse chromosomes in somatic cell hybrids was determined by differential G-11 staining. The slides were then destained and hybridized with biotinylated total horse (Equus caballus) genomic DNA without suppression. Fluorescence detection permitted rapid confirmation of horse chromosomal DNA in the hybrid cells.
Duncan ID.The left and right recurrent laryngeal nerves and peroneal nerves from two groups of foals, one less than 1 month of age and the other 6 months of age, were examined by light and electron microscopy. While there was no evidence of fiber loss on light microscopy, occasional onion bulbs, regenerating clusters and swollen axons were seen in the recurrent laryngeal nerves. To quantitate these changes, total counts of the main pathological structures were performed using the electron microscope. In all the foals the most common abnormality seen in the laryngeal nerves were Bungner bands, which were...
Fairley RA, Haines DM.This research study investigates the cause of aural plaques in horses and provides strong evidence that papillomaviruses are to blame. The study used various tools including electron microscopic examination, immunohistochemical […]
Valberg SJ, Cardinet GH, Carlson GP, DiMauro S.A polysaccharide storage myopathy is described in nine Quarterhorses, Quarterhorse crossbreds, American Paints and Appaloosa horses which had a history of recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis. Muscle biopsies were characterized by high muscle glycogen concentrations with up to 5% of type 2 muscle fibers containing inclusions which stained positively with the periodic acid Schiff (PAS) stain. The inclusions were classified as an acid mucopolysaccharide, based on their histochemical staining characteristics. Ultrastructural studies revealed that the inclusions were composed of beta glycogen parti...
Lyons ET, Drudge JH, Tolliver SC, Granstrom DE, Stamper S.A study for about a 30-month period was done to compare strongyle control programs, using per os treatments of ivermectin (IVE) paste exclusively or alternation of 4 antiparasitic paste compounds: IVE, oxfendazole (OFZ), oxibendazole (OBZ), or pyrantel pamoate (PRT). Every 8 weeks, 1 group of horses (barn C; n = 14 to 16) was given IVE paste exclusively, and a second group (barn E; n = 16) was given the 4 antiparasitic pastes on an alternating schedule. Worm eggs and larvae per gram of feces (epg and lpg, respectively) values were determined every 2 weeks during the investigation. This study i...
Rudolph JA, Spier SJ, Byrns G, Hoffman EP.A genetic disease observed in certain Quarter horses is hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis (HYPP). This disease causes attacks of paralysis which can be induced by ingestion of potassium. Recent studies have shown that HYPP in humans is due to single base changes within the adult skeletal muscle sodium channel gene. A large Quarter horse pedigree segregating dominant HYPP was studied to determine if mutations of the sodium channel gene are similarly responsible for HYPP in horses. We used cross-species, PCR-mediated, cDNA cloning and sequencing of the horse adult skeletal muscle sodium channel a...
Kooreman KM, Fessler JF, Voorhees C, Geddes LA, Latshaw HS, Voorhees WD.In this preliminary study, artificial respiration was produced in four anesthetized horses using trains of stimuli applied to long needle electrodes inserted bilaterally at the base of the neck. The needles were insulated to within 1 cm of the tips. The frequency of the stimuli (0.1 msec) was 35/sec and the train duration (duration of inspiration) was 1 sec. Inspired volume increased with increasing stimulus intensity. In two animals, inspired volumes of 6 liters were achieved. In another animal 4.5 liters was achieved and in another, 2.5 liters. This lower value probably represented less-than...
Lelong M, Castelain MC, Bras C, Drain JP, Léonard JC, Robberecht MN, Libessart Y, Thelliez P, Miersman R.Over the past 11 years, signs of allergy were observed in 56 children and adolescents in contact with horses. The cases consisted of 35 boys and 21 girls, 35 of them were under 10 years of age. The main clinical signs were ocular symptoms (36), asthma (30) and rhinopharyngitis (24). All the children had very positive cutaneous prick tests and specific IgE (class 3 and 4: 62%) and were polysensitized. In several children, the first manifestation occurred at the time of the first known contact with a horse or pony. No further contact was usually the only therapeutic solution. In disabled childre...
Baxter GM, Allen D, Farrell RL.LARYNGEAL haemiplegia is common in horses and most often
involves the left haemilarynx (Baker 1983; Haynes 1984).
Although specific processes have been incriminated in the
pathogenesis of laryngeal haemiplegia, most cases involve an
idiopathic distal axonopathy of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The
purpose of this report is to describe a case of laryngeal
haemiplegia associated with an anomalous respiratory cyst. A
description of the lesion, method of surgical repair of the
laryngeal collapse and a proposed term to describe the
abnormality based on pathological and functional consider...
Molento MB, Dall'Anese J, Pontarolo DV, Brandão YO, Yoshitani UY.Cyathostomins are the largest group of parasites in horses that can be controlled by ivermectin (IVM). This study aimed to run a four-dose titration trial of IVM in 28 naturally infected Thoroughbred yearlings. The local Strongyle population had been recorded to be resistant to IVM (200 µg/kg). The parasite fecal egg count (FEC) was performed to investigate the egg reappearance period (ERP) of two and five weeks (w2pt and w5pt) after IVM treatment. FEC was > 1000 on day zero for all groups. Although 100% FEC reduction was reported at w2pt for all concentrations, the FEC at w5pt revealed < 83%...
Grabatin M, Fux R, Zablotski Y, Goehring LS, Witte TS.Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is caused by Taylorella equigenitalis. It is a venereal disease that is detected in some breeds more than others and can cause temporary infertility with substantial costs for regular testing, sanitation and retesting. There was a perceived increase in T. equigenitalis-positive cases in Icelandic intact males where natural cover is common. Objective: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of T. equigenitalis in Icelandic intact males and compare to draught horse and Haflinger intact males. We hypothesised that prevalence of T. equigenitalis is higher in Iceland...
Carey KJ, Smith I, Barr J, Caruso S, Au GG, Hartley CA, Bailey KE, Perriam W, Broder CC, Gilkerson JR.Hendra virus (HeV) is lethal to horses and a zoonotic threat to humans in Australia, causing severe neurological and/or respiratory disease with high mortality. An equine vaccine has been available since 2012. Foals acquire antibodies from their dams by ingesting colostrum after parturition, therefore it is assumed that foals of mares vaccinated against HeV will have passive HeV antibodies circulating during the first several months of life until they are actively vaccinated. However, no studies have yet examined passive or active immunity against HeV in foals. Here, we investigated anti-HeV a...
Gonzalez-Obando J, Zuluaga-Cabrera A, Moreno I, Úsuga J, Ciuderis K, Forero JE, Diaz A, Rojas-Arbeláez C, Hernández-Ortiz JP, Ruiz-Saenz J.Equine influenza is a viral disease caused by the equine influenza virus (EIV), and according to the WOAH, it is mandatory to report these infections. In Latin America and Colombia, EIV risk factors have not been analyzed. The objective of this research is to perform an epidemiological and molecular analysis of the EIV in horses with respiratory symptoms from 2020 to 2023 in Colombia. Molecular EIV detection was performed using RT-qPCR and nanopore sequencing. A risk analysis was also performed via the GEE method. A total of 188 equines with EIV respiratory symptoms were recruited. The positiv...
Wagner B, Babasyan S, Wilford S, Robbin MG, de Mestre AM.CD25, the interleukin-2 receptor α-chain, is expressed on cell surfaces of different immune cells and is commonly used for phenotyping of regulatory T cells (Tregs). CD25 has essential roles in the maintenance of hemostasis and immune tolerance and Treg cell involvement has been shown in human diseases and murine models for allergy, autoimmunity, cancer, chronic inflammation, and many others. In horses, a cross-reactive anti-human CD25 antibody has previously been used for characterizing Tregs. Here, we developed monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to equine CD25 and compared their staining pattern ...
Local anaesthetics (LAs) can have detrimental effects on rat, bovine, canine, and human tendon tissues and cells. Currently, there has been no available data on the impact of these drugs on equine tenocytes. Even if LA injection for managing painful tendon conditions in horses is limited, it is usually used via intra-articular, intrasynovial, perineural, and intrathecal as well as for lameness examinations. In this in vitro study, the cytotoxic effects of LAs, including lidocaine, mepivacaine, and bupivacaine on equine tenocytes, in the presence and absence of platelet rich plasma (PRP), were ...
Onzere CK, Bastos RG, Bishop RP, Suarez CE, Fry LM. () is an apicomplexan parasite that causes severe hemolytic anemia in equids. Presently, there is inadequate knowledge of the immune responses induced by in equid hosts impeding understanding of the host parasite relationship and development of potent vaccines for control of infections. The objective of this study was to evaluate the host-parasite dynamics between merozoites and infected horses by assessing cytokine expression during primary and secondary parasite exposure, and to determine whether the pattern of expression correlated with clinical indicators of disease. Our findings showe...
Li C, Mellbin Y, Krogager J, Polikovsky S, Holmberg M, Ghorbani N, Black MJ, Kjellström H, Zuffi S, Hernlund E.Studies of quadruped animal motion help us to identify diseases, understand behavior and unravel the mechanics behind gaits in animals. The horse is likely the best-studied animal in this aspect, but data capture is challenging and time-consuming. Computer vision techniques improve animal motion extraction, but the development relies on reference datasets, which are scarce, not open-access and often provide data from only a few anatomical landmarks. Addressing this data gap, we introduce PFERD, a video and 3D marker motion dataset from horses using a full-body set-up of densely placed over 100...
Chagoya-Fuentes JL, Gaona-López J, Hernández-Carbajal GR, Torres-Guerrero H, Lammoglia-Villagómez MA, Huerta-Peña J, Pérez-Brígido CD....A clinical case of an adult horse with invasive, ulcerative, proliferative, pyogranulomatous disease of the skin (tumor) in the shoulder region is presented. The mass had a granulomatous and crater-shaped appearance, with serosanguinous discharge and the presence of fistulas with caseous material. The tumor was removed by surgery and sent to the laboratory for diagnosis. Histopathology was performed using Grocott-Gomori methenamine silver stain. The presence of necrotic material, fibrosis, infiltrated cells, and brown-colored hyphae, characteristic of members of the genus Pythium, were observe...
Köhne M, Diel E, Packeiser EM, Böttcher D, Tönissen A, Unruh C, Goericke-Pesch S, Ulrich R, Sieme H.In the past, most research in equine reproduction has been performed in vivo but the use of in vitro and ex vivo models has recently increased. This study aimed to evaluate the functional stability of an ex vivo hemoperfused model for equine uteri with molecular characterization of marker genes and their proteins. In addition, the study validated the respective protein expression and the aptness of the software QuPath for identifying and scoring immunohistochemically stained equine endometrium. After collection, uteri (n = 12) were flushed with preservation solution, transported to the labor...
Kleij L, Bruder E, Raoux-Barbot D, Lejal N, Nevers Q, Deloizy C, Da Costa B, Legrand L, Barrey E, Chenal A, Pronost S, Delmas B, Dhorne-Pollet S.Equine influenza virus (EIV) remains a threat to horses, despite the availability of vaccines. Strategies to monitor the virus and prevent potential vaccine failure revolve around serological assays, RT-qPCR amplification, and sequencing the viral hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes. These approaches overlook the contribution of other viral proteins in driving virulence. This study assesses the potential of long-read nanopore sequencing for fast and precise sequencing of circulating equine influenza viruses. Therefore, two French Florida Clade 1 strains, including the one circulati...
McCrae P, Spong H, Mahnam A, Bashura Y, Pearson W.Several skin preparation techniques are used in electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring of horses. The objective of this study was to determine which methods produce the greatest signal quality using textile electrodes and standard silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes. Electrocardiogram data were collected using textile and Ag/AgCl electrodes simultaneously for 4 skin preparation techniques in 6 horses. The effects of skin preparation (cleansing with isopropyl alcohol, with or without shaving the hair) and the effects of the application of a conductive gel were assessed using metrics of sign...
Tong P, Yang E, Liu B, Tian S, Suo Y, Pan J, Dang Y, Palidan N, Jia C, Kuang L, Xie J.Varicellovirus equidalpha1 (formerly Equid alphaherpesvirus 1, EqAHV-1) is among the most important viruses responsible for respiratory disease outbreaks among horses throughout the world. No reports to date have detailed the association between EqAHV-1 and respiratory disease among horses in China. This study described one such outbreak among a population of horses in north Xinjiang that occurred from April 2021 - May 2023. Results: qPCR revealed that EqAHV-1 was detectable in all samples and this virus was identified as a possible source of respiratory disease, although a limited subset of t...
Müller-Klein A, Braun MN, Ferreira de Sá DS, Michael T, Link-Dorner U, Lass-Hennemann J.Equine-assisted therapies are becoming increasingly popular for addressing physical and psychological disabilities in clients. The role of the horse's welfare in equine-assisted service receives increasing attention in research. Several studies have shown that horses are able to perceive human emotions and respond to human stress responses. However, no research has yet looked at the other side of the coin-whether and how humans perceive and react to equine stress levels during equine-assisted services. To fill this gap in the research, we employed a within-subjects design, in which horse-naïv...
Higgins C, Cohen ND, Slovis N, Boersma M, Gaonkar PP, Golden DR, Huber L.Antimicrobial residues excreted in the environment following antimicrobial treatment enhance resistant microbial communities in the environment and have long-term effects on the selection and maintenance of antimicrobial resistance genes (AMRGs). In this study, we focused on understanding the impact of antimicrobial use on antimicrobial residue pollution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment of horse-breeding farms. is an ideal microbe to study these associations because it lives naturally in the soil, exchanges AMRGs with other bacteria in the environment, and can cause disea...
Tuomisto L, Virtanen J, Kegler K, Levanov L, Sukura A, Sironen T, Kareskoski M.Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common genital, ocular and gastric tumour in horses. Equus caballus papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) DNA has been detected in several studies in equine penile squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and precursor lesions providing evidence of a causal role of EcPV2 in equine genital SCCs. Recently, EcPV2 E6/E7 nucleic acids were also detected in equine gastric SCCs, but further studies are required to determine the role of EcPV2 infection in the pathogenesis of gastric SCC. EcPV2 nucleic acids have been rarely described in ocular SCCs and precursor lesions. To investig...
Palmisano M, Kulp J, Bender S, Stefanovski D, Robinson M, Johnson A.Eight-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a biomarker of oxidative damage evaluated in human neurodegenerative disease, has potential to correlate with postmortem diagnosis of neuroaxonal dystrophy/degenerative myeloencephalopathy (NAD/DM) in horses. Objective: We hypothesized that 8-OHdG will be higher in CSF and serum from NAD/DM horses compared with horses with other neurologic diseases (CVSM, EPM) and a control group of neurologically normal horses. We also hypothesized that 8-OHdG will be higher in CSF compared with serum from NAD/DM horses. Methods: Fifty client-owned horses with postmor...
Elliott S, Olufemi OT, Daly JM.Vaccines against equine influenza have been available since the late 1960s, but outbreaks continue to occur periodically, affecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated animals. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the efficacy of vaccines against influenza A virus in horses (equine IAV). For this, PubMed, CAB abstracts, and Web of Science were searched for controlled trials of equine IAV vaccines published up to December 2020. Forty-three articles reporting equine IAV vaccination and challenge studies in previously naïve equids using an appropriate comparison group were included ...
Hickman E, Carberry V, Carberry C, Cooper B, Mordant AL, Mills A, Sokolsky M, Herring LE, Alexis NE, Rebuli ME, Jaspers I, Sheats K, Rager JE.Growing evidence supports the importance of extracellular vesicle (EV) as mediators of communication in pathological processes, including those underlying respiratory disease. However, establishing methods for isolating and characterizing EVs remains challenging, particularly for respiratory samples. This study set out to address this challenge by comparing different EV isolation methods and evaluating their impacts on EV yield, markers of purity, and proteomic signatures, utilizing equine/horse bronchoalveolar lavage samples. Horses can serve as effective translational animal models for respi...
Nakase M, Thapa J, Batbaatar V, Khurtsbaatar O, Enkhtuul B, Unenbat J, Lkham B, Fujita S, Koshikawa A, Tuanyok A, Saechan V, Higashi H, Hayashida K....Glanders and melioidosis are contagious zoonotic diseases caused by Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei, respectively. Bacterial isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been used to detect these bacteria in animals suspected of infection; however, both methods require skilled experimental techniques and expensive equipment. These obstacles make it difficult to diagnose B. mallei and B. pseudomallei infections in areas where reagents and equipment are difficult to procure. To solve this problem, we developed an easy and ready-to-use dried-format diagnostic tool based on loop-medi...
Molini U, Franzo G, de Villiers L, van Zyl L, de Villiers M, Khaiseb S, Busch F, Knauf S, Dietze K, Eiden M.The present study investigated the seropositivity rate of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) in domestic and working animals in Namibia, which included dogs, cats, horses, and donkeys. HEV poses a growing threat as a significant cause of human hepatitis globally and has several genotypes of varying zoonotic potential. As epidemiological data on the seroprevalence of HEV in Namibia is scarce, a serosurvey was conducted on archived serum samples of 374 dogs, 238 cats, 98 horses, and 60 donkeys collected between 2018 and 2022 from different regions, to assess the potential of these animals as sources of HEV...
Pradhan SS, Balena V, Bera BC, Anand T, Khetmalis R, Madhwal A, Kandasamy S, Pavulraj S, Bernela M, Mor P, Tripathi BN, Virmani N.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV1) is a ubiquitous viral pathogen infecting the equine population worldwide. EHV1 infection causes respiratory illness, abortion, neonatal foal mortality, and myeloencephalopathy. The currently available modified live EHV1 vaccines have safety and efficacy limitations. The two mutant EHV1 viruses (vToH-DMV (∆IR6/gE) and vToH-QMV (∆IR6/UL43/gE/UL56)), generated by the deletion of genes responsible for virulence (gE and IR6) and immunosuppression (uL43 and uL56), have been previously characterized by our group and found to generate good immune responses. The pre...
Yuen NKY, Harrison JJ, Wang ASW, McMahon IE, Habarugira G, Coyle MP, Bielefeldt-Ohmann H.An incursion and outbreak of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) was reported in Australia in 2021 and 2022, respectively. There was speculation that JEV may have been circulating in Australia unknowingly prior to the detection. In this study, we determined sero-prevalence and transmission of West Nile virus (WNV), Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) and JEV, prior to and post JEV incursion in a sentinel equine population in south-east Queensland (SEQ), Australia, using blocking ELISAs (screening test) and virus neutralisation test (confirmatory). Serum samples collected between 2018 and 202...
Zoccante L, Sabaini S, Bonatti SM, Rigotti E, Lintas C, Marconi M, Zaffanello M.Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition requiring personalised therapeutic approaches. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAATs) in 86 children with varying ASD severity levels (levels 1-3). Methods: Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales and the Parenting Stress Index were used. Between May 2022 and October 2023, participants completed 20 weekly sessions of 45 min each, tailored to their individual needs. Results: Children with level 3 ASD demonstrated greater challenges in communication (level 1: 67.1 ± 29.0 vs. l...
Cutarelli A, De Falco F, Serpe F, Izzo S, Fusco G, Catoi C, Roperto S.BPV1, BPV2, BPV13, and BPV14 are all genotypes of bovine delta papillomaviruses (δPV), of which the first three cause infections in horses and are associated with equine sarcoids. However, BPV14 infection has never been reported in equine species. In this study, we examined 58 fresh and thawed commercial semen samples from healthy stallions. In 34 (58.6%), bovine δPV DNA was detected and quantified using droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR). Real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was able to identify bovine δPV DNA in 5 samples (8.6%). Of the BPV-infected semen samples, 15 were posi...
Hrala M, Andrla P, Bosák J, Fedrová P, Mugutdinov A, Karpíšková R, Nedbalcová K, Raichová J, Faldyna M, Hořín P, Šmajs D.Taylorella equigenitalis is the causative agent of sexually transmitted contagious equine metritis. Infections manifest as cervicitis, vaginitis and endometritis and cause temporary infertility and miscarriages of mares. While previous studies have analyzed this organism for various parameters, the evolutionary dynamics of this pathogen, including the emergence of antibiotic resistance, remains unresolved. The aim of this study was to isolate contemporary strains, determine their genome sequences, evaluate their antibiotic resistance and compare them with other strains. We determined nine comp...
Villa RE, Azimonti G, Bonos E, Christensen H, Durjava M, Dusemund B, Gehring R, Glandorf B, Kouba M, López-Alonso M, Marcon F, Nebbia C, Pechová A....Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of an essential oil from the flowering aerial parts of Spenn. (rosemary oil) when used as a sensory additive in feed and in water for drinking for all animal species. Methyleugenol (< 0.039%) and estragole (< 0.027%) were detected in some batches of the additive. The EFSA Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) concluded that the use of rosemary oil is very unlikely to induce adverse effects in long-living and reproductive ani...
Borges ALdSB, Aymée L, Lilenbaum W, Di Azevedo MIN.Leptospirosis, caused by spp. infection, is a globally significant zoonotic disease that affects a wide range of animals. Although renal colonization is well-documented, genital infection by leptospires remained less explored for decades, despite its impact on reproduction. Evidence suggests that genital infection occurs as a primary condition rather than secondary to renal colonization, particularly in cattle suffering from bovine genital leptospirosis (BGL), linked to chronic infections by strains of the Sejroe serogroup. In horses, a similar condition is suggested to be associated with str...
Arias-Esquivel AM, Moscoso E, Umaña D, Arguedas M, Solano D, Durán G, Gómez A, Gutiérrez JM, León G.The immunization and industrial bleeding of horses are essential stages for producing snake antivenoms. In Costa Rica, the traditional method involves stimulating the antibody response of horses by periodically injecting venoms, collecting hyperimmune plasma over three consecutive bleeding days, and repeating this process every eight weeks. While this method does not cause major physical or hematological issues in horses, the associated stress has not been evaluated. We compared this traditional method with an alternative method that involves injecting venoms, collecting hyperimmune plasma in ...
Mizuguchi Y, Tsuzuki N, Ebana MD, Suzuki Y, Kakuda T. is an intracellular bacterium that causes suppurative pneumonia in foals. T-helper (Th) 1 cells play an important role in the protective response against . In mice and humans, the directionality of IgG switching reflects the polarization of Th-cell responses, but this has not been fully elucidated in horses. In this 4-year study, we classified -infected foals into surviving and non-surviving group and investigated differences in IgG subclass response to virulence-associated protein A, the main virulence factor of , between the groups. IgGa, IgGb, and IgG(T) titers were significantly higher in...
