Comparison of the bacterial and fungal flora in the pharynx of normal horses and horses affected with pharyngitis.
Abstract: A total of 43 horses were used for the study of the pharyngeal bacterial flora. The median value of the number of bacteria in the group of 19 normal horses was 3.8 x 10(4) cfu/g of secretions. This value was 6.4 x 10(4)cfu/g in horses with grade I pharyngitis, 1.3 x 10(5) cfu/g in horses with grade II pharyngitis and 3.5 x 10(6) cfu/g in horses affected with grades III and IV pharyngitis. Corynebacterium spp, coagulase-negative staphylococci, Nocardia spp, Moraxella spp and Enterobacter spp were the most frequently encountered bacteria in the normal animals as well as in horses affected with pharyngitis of grades I or II. Moraxella spp were isolated in 87.5% of the horses with pharyngitis of grades III and IV, followed by Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, coagulase-negative staphylococci and Enterobacter spp. No fastidious bacteria, nor strict anaerobes were isolated from any of the 43 horses. None of the microorganisms were found in 100% of the animals and the majority of the isolates were opportunistic bacteria. These results demonstrate that the isolation of Moraxella spp and S. zooepidemicus in large numbers is frequent in horses with lymphoid follicular hyperplasia grades III and IV. Fungi were isolated in small numbers from two or three horses in each group.
Publication Date: 1985-11-01 PubMed ID: 17422588PubMed Central: PMC1680136
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- Journal Article
Summary
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The research article compares the types and amounts of bacteria and fungi found in the throats of healthy horses and those with varying degrees of throat inflammation, called pharyngitis. It concludes that certain bacteria were more frequently found in horses with severe pharyngitis.
Study Participants and Sample Collection
- The study involved 43 horses, examining the types of organisms present in their pharyngeal (throat) region.
- They divided the horses into differing groups depending upon their health condition: 19 normal horses and those with varying degrees of pharyngitis.
Bacterial Findings in Horses
- From the study, it was observed that bacteria numbers increased as the pharyngitis became more severe.
- For the healthy horses, median bacteria count was 3.8 x 104 cfu/g of secretions whereas for horses with the most severe form of pharyngitis (grades III and IV), the bacteria count went up to 3.5 x 106 cfu/g.
- Common bacteria found in both healthy horses and those with mild pharyngitis included Corynebacterium spp, coagulase-negative staphylococci, Nocardia spp, Moraxella spp and Enterobacter spp.
- In horses with severe pharyngitis, the most common bacterium was Moraxella spp (found in 87.5% of cases), followed by Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, coagulase-negative staphylococci, and Enterobacter spp.
- None of the horses had fastidious bacteria (those requiring very specific conditions to grow) or strict anaerobes (those that can only survive in the absence of oxygen).
- Most of the isolated bacteria are considered opportunistic, meaning they don’t usually cause disease unless the host’s immune system is compromised or they are in an appropriate area of the body.
Fungal Findings in Horses
- Fungi were only found in small numbers in two to three horses in each group.
Conclusion
- The research revealed that the presence of larger quantities of Moraxella spp and Streptococcus zooepidemicus was common in horses with severe pharyngitis, which might indicate these organisms contribute to the development or progression of the disease.
Cite This Article
APA
Hoquet F, Higgins R, Lessard P, Vrins A, Marcoux M.
(1985).
Comparison of the bacterial and fungal flora in the pharynx of normal horses and horses affected with pharyngitis.
Can Vet J, 26(11), 342-346.
Publication
Researcher Affiliations
References
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Citations
This article has been cited 9 times.- Migliorisi A, Barger A, Austin S, Foreman JH, Wilkins P. Hyponatremia in horses with septic pneumopathy. J Vet Intern Med 2022 Sep;36(5):1820-1826.
- Das L, Das SK. Moraxella tetraodonis sp. nov., isolated from freshwater pufferfish (Tetraodon cutcutia) skin. Arch Microbiol 2022 Jun 14;204(7):389.
- Lo Feudo CM, Stucchi L, Alberti E, Stancari G, Conturba B, Zucca E, Ferrucci F. The Role of Thoracic Ultrasonography and Airway Endoscopy in the Diagnosis of Equine Asthma and Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage. Vet Sci 2021 Nov 15;8(11).
- Rodríguez N, Whitfield-Cargile CM, Chamoun-Emanuelli AM, Hildreth E, Jordan W, Coleman MC. Nasopharyngeal bacterial and fungal microbiota in normal horses and horses with nasopharyngeal cicatrix syndrome. J Vet Intern Med 2021 Nov;35(6):2897-2911.
- Gomez DE, Arroyo LG, Lillie B, Weese JS. Nasal bacterial microbiota during an outbreak of equine herpesvirus 1 at a farm in southern Ontario. Can J Vet Res 2021 Jan;85(1):3-11.
- Kinoshita Y, Cloutier AK, Rozak DA, Khan MSR, Niwa H, Uchida-Fujii E, Katayama Y, Tuanyok A. A novel selective medium for the isolation of Burkholderia mallei from equine specimens. BMC Vet Res 2019 May 7;15(1):133.
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