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Cardiac troponin I concentrations in ponies challenged with equine influenza virus.
Abstract: Myocarditis is thought to occur secondary to equine influenza virus (EIV) infections in horses, but there is a lack of published evidence. Objective: We proposed that EIV challenge infection in ponies would cause myocardial damage, detectable by increases in plasma cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentrations. Methods: Twenty-nine influenza-naïve yearling ponies: 23 were part of an influenza vaccine study (11 unvaccinated and 12 vaccinated), and were challenged with 10⁸ EID₅₀ EIV A/eq/Kentucky/91 6 months after vaccination. Six age-matched healthy and unvaccinated ponies concurrently housed in a separate facility not exposed to influenza served as controls. Methods: Heparinized blood was collected before and over 28 days after infection and cTnI determined. Repeated measures analysis of variance, chi-square, or clustered regression analyses were used to identify relationships between each group and cTnI. Results: All EIV-infected ponies developed clinical signs and viral shedding, with the unvaccinated group displaying severe signs. One vaccinated pony and 2 unvaccinated ponies had cTnI greater than the reference range at 1 time point. At all other times, cTnI was < 0.05 ng/mL. All control ponies had normal cTnI. There were no significant associations between cTnI and either clinical signs or experimental groups. When separated into abnormal versus normal cTnI, there were no significant differences among groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrated no evidence of severe myocardial necrosis secondary to EIV challenge with 10⁸ EID₅₀ EIV A/eq/Kentucky/91 in these sedentary ponies, but transient increases in cTnI suggest that mild myocardial damage may occur.
Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Publication Date: 2011-02-11 PubMed ID: 21314723DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.0680.xGoogle Scholar: Lookup The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
The research focuses on examining any potential damage to the heart (myocardium) in horses (ponies, specifically), infected with the equine influenza virus (EIV). The researchers use increases in plasma cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentrations as an indication of such damage. The results from this research show no evidence of serious myocardial damage due to EIV, but suggest that there might be occurrences of minor myocardial harm.
Methodology
The research involved 29 ponies (all yearlings), which were tabulated as:
- 23 as part of an influenza vaccine study (of which 11 were unvaccinated and 12 were vaccinated).
- 6 healthy ponies, unvaccinated, and kept separately from those exposed to influenza, to serve as controls.
Six months after vaccination, the ponies were subjected to an EIV challenge with a specific variant of the virus. To monitor their heart health, heparinized blood was taken before the challenge and for 28 days post-exposure, and cTnI concentrations determined. Statistical analyses were implemented to find relationships between each group and cTnI.
Results
- All ponies that were exposed to EIV developed clinical signs and viral shedding. The unvaccinated group showed more severe signs.
- Only three ponies had cTnI greater than the reference range at a single point of time. These included one vaccinated and two unvaccinated ponies.
- cTnI was less than 0.05 ng/mL for the rest of the time in all the ponies.
- Control ponies (those not exposed to influenza) had normal cTnI at all times.
- No significant associations were found between cTnI and clinical signs appearance or the specific study groups (vaccinated, unvaccinated, controls).
Conclusions
This research concludes that there isn’t any evidence of severe myocardial necrosis (heart muscle death) due to EIV infection. However, the occasional increase in cTnI reflects the possibility of minor myocardial damage whether a pony is in the vaccine study or a member of the control group. Subsequent studies on larger sample sizes and different demographics could provide additional insights on these observations.
Cite This Article
APA
Durando MM, Birks EK, Hussey SB, Lunn DP.
(2011).
Cardiac troponin I concentrations in ponies challenged with equine influenza virus.
J Vet Intern Med, 25(2), 339-344.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.0680.x Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Studies, New Bolton Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA. mdurando2004@yahoo.com
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Female
- Heart Diseases / blood
- Heart Diseases / diagnosis
- Heart Diseases / veterinary
- Heart Diseases / virology
- Horse Diseases / blood
- Horse Diseases / diagnosis
- Horse Diseases / virology
- Horses
- Influenza A Virus, H3N8 Subtype
- Influenza Vaccines / administration & dosage
- Male
- Orthomyxoviridae Infections / blood
- Orthomyxoviridae Infections / diagnosis
- Orthomyxoviridae Infections / veterinary
- Troponin I / blood
- Virus Shedding
Citations
This article has been cited 2 times.- Pankuweit S, Klingel K. Viral myocarditis: from experimental models to molecular diagnosis in patients. Heart Fail Rev 2013 Nov;18(6):683-702.
- Foreman JH, Tennent-Brown BS, Oyama MA, Sisson DD. Plasma Cardiac Troponin-I Concentration in Normal Horses and in Horses with Cardiac Abnormalities. Animals (Basel) 2025 Jan 3;15(1).
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