EPM Flashcards
What are the causative agents of EPM?
(Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi)
What is the definitive host of the causative agents of EPM?
(Virginia opossum)
(T/F) Horses cannot transmit EPM to other horses.
(T, horses are dead end hosts for EPM)
What is thought to be the biggest factor related to only 1% of horses actually developing EPM when so many are serologically positive?
(Immune response, others are dose and strain differences)
What are the clinical signs associated with EPM dependent on?
(The part of the CNS that is affected, the protozoa can migrate anywhere in the CNS, most commonly see ataxia, asymmetry, and atrophy with slowly progressive dz but can be acute/severe)
How is EPM diagnosed?
(Make sure there are clinical signs present that are consistent with EPM, rule out other dzs, and then confirm intrathecal antibody production using serum and CSF)
(T/F) Horses with EPM will have a normal CBC/chem and almost always have a normal CSF cytology.
(T, note that having an abnormal cytology does not r/o EPM but does make other differentials more likely)
What are the pros and cons of serum testing for EPM?
(The cons are a very high prevalence of exposure, a very low prevalence of clinical dz, and the test has a low positive predictive value but at least it has a high negative predictive value (pro))
What are the most consistently expressed antigens across all isolates of EPM (making this test one of the more reliable ones)?
(SAG 2, 3 and 4 (test is an ELISA test through equine diagnostic solutions))
What is the minimum duration that horses should be treated with ReBalance (sulfadiazine plus pyrimethamine)?
(4 months, 60-70% efficacy after 90 days, has lots of complication possibilities and is $150 per month of tx)
Besides the folate inhibiting drug that is ReBalance, there are benzeneacetonitrile drugs, what are they (drug name and brand name)?
(Panzuril aka marquis and diclazuril aka protazil, both $800-1k/month)
