The treatment of pneumonia in foals caused by Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi.

The research paper focuses on evaluating the efficacy of treating pneumonia in foals caused by the bacteria Rhodococcus equi using a primary therapy of benzylpenicillin.

Background and selection

• There is ongoing debate over the effectiveness of treatments for pneumonia in foals caused by Rhodococcus equi, as it is generally considered unresponsive to most treatments. Furthermore, there are concerns about the future racing potential of horses that recover from this disease.
• The researchers have treated several foals with Rhodococcus equi pneumonia in their clinic over the past 12 years. This study analyzes the subsequent health and performance of 11 foals that were treated and survived.
• The selected foals were from two different groups where Rhodococcus equi pneumonia was endemic, meaning the disease was prevalent in foal crops over several years.

Diagnosis

• Diagnosis of Rhodococcus equi pneumonia was made through clinical evaluations and epidemiological studies, together with postmortem examinations and culture results of foals that had died from the disease during outbreaks in the respective groups.
• The resultant sample of 11 horses were those who had experienced significant, and even life-threatening, pulmonary disease. The extent of the disease has been illustrated through the presentation of thoracic radiographs of two of these selected foals.

Treatment

• The primary treatment for all foals was the antibiotic benzylpenicillin. Specifically, a dosage of five million units of sodium benzylpenicillin was administered intravenously every eight hours for the first three weeks of therapy. In conjunction with this, a sustaining dose of procaine benzylpenicillin was given daily.
• After the initial three weeks, the foals were maintained for another three weeks on repository penicillin, which was administered intramuscularly every fourth day.