Use of metronidazole in equine acute idiopathic toxaemic colitis.

This research article studies the use of metronidazole in treating cases of acute idiopathic toxaemic colitis in horses. The study concludes that horses treated with metronidazole had higher survival rates compared to those that received other treatments.

Study Context and Method

• The study was carried out in a veterinary hospital where sixteen cases of acute idiopathic toxaemic colitis developed over a period of three years.
• The common factors observed among these horses before the onset of colitis were: use of antibiotics in 15 cases, 11 cases where the horses had undergone general anaesthesia and various surgical procedures, and 10 cases where non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were used.

Observations and Symptoms

• The common symptoms in all the horses were acute onset, profuse watery diarrhea, deep depression, mild to moderate abdominal pain, reduced intestinal sounds (borborygmi), increased heart rate (tachycardia), dehydration, and endotoxic shock.
• Common early indicators of impending colitis were leucopenia (a decrease in the number of white blood cells), neutropenia (a decrease in the number of neutrophils), and a fever (pyrexia).

Findings

• Metronidazole appeared to be an effective treatment for this condition. Out of eight horses treated with metronidazole, all survived. In contrast, out of seven horses that received other treatments without metronidazole, five either died or had to be euthanized.
• The root cause (aetiology) of colitis in these cases could not be determined. However, the clinical and pathological characteristics resembled those of colitis caused by an excess of Clostridium perfringens type A bacteria in the intestine.
• No species of Salmonella bacteria were found in 52 samples of faeces, colonic contents, and colonic mucosa collected from the horses both before death and after death (antemortem and postmortem).