Equine asthma Flashcards
What do areas of dullness within the lung fields suggest?
Suggesting pleural effusion or pulmonary consolidation/abscessation/masses
What could abnormal lung sounds suggest?
- Large airway sounds suggesting consolidation
- Wheezes and crackles suggesting airway narrowing, or discharges in airways
What does a tracheal rattle suggest?
Suggesting discharge pooling at the thoracic inlet
Causes of asthsma in foals?
- Infectious causes (usually bacterial)
- Congenital abnormality
- Sepsis, trauma, other
Causes of asthsma in weanlings?
Infectious causes (often bacterial but also parasites) & contagious
Causes of asthsma in adults?
- Disease of young adults
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EQUINE ASTHMA SYNDROME
- Infectious causes (bacterial and viral and mycoplasma)
- Young racehorses 4-5 years where they will develop equine asthma
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EQUINE ASTHMA SYNDROME
- Disease of old horses
- EQUINE ASTHMA SYNDROME
- Mature horse will suffer from an infectious form of equine asthma too
Clinical signs of equine asthma?
- Chronic cough
- Excess respiratory mucus production
- Poor performance
- Systemically healthy
How can you tell between Equine Asthma Syndrome and equine flu?
- Equine asthma horses will be otherwise systemically healthy
- With equine flu will be generally unwell
Which horses tend to get Recurrent Airway Obstruction?
Older horse (typically 8+)
Signs of Recurrent Airway Obstruction?
- Chronic (don’t recover and need long term environmental management)
- poor performance to overt signs of respiratory dysfunction
- expiratory effort
- with/without coughing
- Nasal discharge
- hypertrophy of the abdominal muscles (heave line in the abdominal muscles)
- Previous episodes, worsening over the years
Which horses tend to get inflammatory airway disease?
Any age, but typically younger horses
Clinical signs of inflammatory airway disease?
- Recover
- Rarely have snotty nose, don’t cough as much, typically present just with exercise intolerance
- A non-specific response to dust etc. in the environment, not infection or hypersensitivity
- Often subclinical – poor performance
What is equine asthma an umbrella term for?
- Recurrent airway obstruction
- Inflammatory airway disease
Indications for cytology?
- Horses that relapse
- Do not respond to therapy
- Check you have the right diagnosis
- Do not respond to management change
How would you sample for cytology?
- Tracheal wash (endoscopic)
- Trans-tracheal wash
- Bronchoalvealor lavage