A method for reproducing fatal idiopathic colitis (colitis X) in ponies and isolation of a clostridium as a possible agent.
Abstract: Severe colitis was induced in two ponies after oral pretreatment with clindamycin and lincomycin, followed by intestinal content from two horses which had died from naturally-occurring idiopathic colitis. Two ponies treated with antibiotic alone, and two ponies treated with intestinal content alone, were unaffected. In a further study, three ponies treated on separate occasions with lincomycin, administered orally, died or were destroyed 67 to 72 h after initial treatment. No established salmonella, yersinia or campylobacter pathogens were isolated from these ponies, but a clostridium closely resembling Clostridium cadaveris was isolated as the predominant clostridium from them all and from the colonic content of one of six horses which died from naturally-occurring idiopathic colitis. It was not isolated from six horses with non-fatal diarrhoea. This clostridium is a candidate as an agent of some cases of fatal colitis in horses.
Publication Date: 1988-11-01 PubMed ID: 3215166DOI: 10.1111/j.2042-3306.1988.tb01563.xGoogle Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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This study explores a method of reproducing fatal idiopathic colitis in ponies and suggests a specific type of bacteria, Clostridium cadaveris, as a possible cause of the disease.
Introduction
The researchers hypothesized that a specific type of bacteria, known as Clostridium cadaveris, may be a possible cause of a severe intestinal disease in ponies known as idiopathic colitis. This disease is often fatal, and its exact cause is usually unknown, hence the term “idiopathic”.
Methodology
- In order to test their hypothesis, they treated two ponies with two specific antibiotics, clindamycin and lincomycin, and then exposed them to intestinal content from two horses that died from this disease.
- They also conducted control experiments where two ponies received only antibiotic treatment and two got only the intestinal content. These two groups didn’t show signs of colitis.
- In another experiment three ponies separately received lincomycin orally and were observed for between 67 and 72 hours.
Results
- What they found from these experiments is that the ponies that received both antibiotics and exposure to the diseased intestinal content developed severe colitis, indicating that the bacteria within the intestinal content, combined with the antibiotics, was causing the disease.
- The three ponies treated with lincomycin also developed the disease and either died or had to be euthanized.
- No common pathogens were isolated from these ponies. However, a clostridium that closely resembled Clostridium cadaveris was found in all of them and in the colon of one out of six horses that died from the naturally-occurring disease.
Conclusion
Based on this evidence, the researchers concluded that Clostridium cadaveris and possibly the effect of antibiotics could be a potential cause of some cases of fatal colitis in horses. This finding could have implications for treatment and prevention strategies of this disease in the future.
Cite This Article
APA
Prescott JF, Staempfli HR, Barker IK, Bettoni R, Delaney K.
(1988).
A method for reproducing fatal idiopathic colitis (colitis X) in ponies and isolation of a clostridium as a possible agent.
Equine Vet J, 20(6), 417-420.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2042-3306.1988.tb01563.x Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Clindamycin
- Clostridium / isolation & purification
- Clostridium Infections / etiology
- Clostridium Infections / pathology
- Clostridium Infections / veterinary
- Colitis / etiology
- Colitis / pathology
- Colitis / veterinary
- Horse Diseases / etiology
- Horse Diseases / pathology
- Horses
- Intestine, Large / microbiology
- Lincomycin
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