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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 The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
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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