Utility of serum amyloid A in monitoring clinical response to antimicrobial treatment in horses with bacterial pneumonia.
Abstract: Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute phase protein in horses which could be a useful tool for assessing clinical response to treatment of bacterial pneumonia in adult horses.
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Publication Date: 2023-07-31 PubMed ID: 37522636DOI: 10.1111/jvim.16818Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
Summary
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This study is about the utility of measuring Serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations in horses with bacterial pneumonia.
Background:
- Serum amyloid A (SAA): This is a major acute phase protein in horses. An acute phase protein is a type of protein whose plasma concentration increases (or decreases) in response to inflammation.
- Purpose of the Study: The researchers wanted to explore if SAA could be helpful in tracking how well adult horses with bacterial pneumonia respond to treatment.
Objectives:
- The study aimed to:
- Track the SAA levels in horses as they underwent treatment for bacterial pneumonia.
- Check if there’s a relationship between SAA levels and other indicators like White Blood Cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count (a type of white blood cell), and fibrinogen (a protein involved in clotting).
Animals:
- The study involved 18 adult horses diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia.
Methods:
- This was a prospective clinical study, meaning they started measuring after the horses were diagnosed.
- After being hospitalized, each horse’s SAA levels and vital signs were checked daily using a handheld meter.
- Blood tests to measure Complete Blood Count (CBC) and plasma fibrinogen were done initially and then at specified intervals.
- Since the data wasn’t distributed normally, they used a mathematical approach (log transformation) to make it suitable for statistical analysis.
Results:
- The average SAA level at the start was 537 μg/mL.
- The SAA levels went up, peaking on day 2, and then decreased gradually as the horses were treated.
- This drop in SAA over time was statistically significant.
- However, other measurements like fibrinogen, neutrophil count, and WBC count didn’t show any significant change throughout the treatment.
Conclusions:
- The SAA concentration in the horses decreased notably as they underwent treatment for pneumonia. This drop in SAA was in line with the clinical improvement seen in the horses.
- In contrast, other parameters like fibrinogen, neutrophil, and WBC counts didn’t show consistent trends.
In simpler terms: The study found that tracking the levels of SAA in horses with bacterial pneumonia could be a useful way to see how well they’re responding to treatment. This is especially helpful since other common measures didn’t show consistent results.
Cite This Article
APA
Hepworth-Warren KL, Estell K, Cowles B, Amodie D, Crisman M.
(2023).
Utility of serum amyloid A in monitoring clinical response to antimicrobial treatment in horses with bacterial pneumonia.
J Vet Intern Med.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.16818 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
- Virginia Tech's Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, Leesburg, Virginia, USA.
- Zoetis, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA.
- Zoetis, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA.
- Zoetis, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA.
References
This article includes 17 references
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Citations
This article has been cited 3 times.- Zhang X, Zhou D, Chu J. Expression and clinical significance of IL-17 and its receptor in bacterial pneumonia before and after treatment. Am J Transl Res 2025;17(12):9715-9726.
- Hepworth-Warren KL, Love K. Survey of the approach to the diagnosis and management of bacterial pneumonia in adult horses by equine veterinarians. Front Vet Sci 2024;11:1484970.
- Hallowell KL, Hepworth-Warren KL, Dembek K. An updated description of bacterial pneumonia in adult horses and factors associated with death. J Vet Intern Med 2024 Sep-Oct;38(5):2766-2775.
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