Lawsonia intracellularis proliferative enteropathy in a weanling foal in Australia.

This research is about a case study of a 6-month-old Quarter Horse filly in Australia who was diagnosed with Proliferative enteropathy, a gut illness caused by Lawsonia intracellularis, and made a full recovery after a 4-week treatment with oral erythromycin and rifampicin.

Case Study: Quarter Horse Weanling Filly with Proliferative Enteropathy

The study begins by presenting the case of a 6-month-old Quarter Horse weanling filly, suffering from symptoms of lethargy, weight loss, mild diarrhea, inappetance (a lack of desire to eat), marked ventral oedema (swelling of the lower abdomen), and severe panhypoproteinaemia, a condition characterized by reduced levels of all types of proteins in the blood.

• Given this collection of symptoms, a diagnosis of Proliferative enteropathy was determined.
• This is a condition which involves the thickening of the intestines due to excessive growth of cells in the gut lining, often resulting in malabsorption of food and hence, weight loss and poor growth.
• Proliferative enteropathy is often triggered by infection with the bacteria Lawsonia intracellularis, found to have a high serum antibody titre (a measurement suggesting past or present infection) in this foal’s blood.
• While the PCR tests, polymerase chain reaction tests that amplify traces of DNA in a sample to detect particular diseases or disorders, were negative for faecal shedding of the organism, this could be due to timing or non-continuous shedding of the bacterium.

Treatment and Recovery of the Filly

• To treat this, the filly was prescribed a mixture of oral erythromycin, an antibiotic used to fight bacteria in the body, and rifampicin, another antibiotic that interferes with the bacteria’s protein production.
• The foal underwent these treatments for a period of 4 weeks.
• Following this regimented treatment, the filly made a full recovery from the condition. This shows the effectiveness of such treatment methods on horses affected by this bacteria-induced disease, and adds evidence to similar recovery cases previously recorded.