Equine Diseases 1 Flashcards
Salmonellosis
o Horses may have Salmonella spp. As normal gut flora
o Can be very contagious to other horses
o Can be zoonotic!
o Can be very contagious to other horses.
o Easily spread by fomites
Causes of Salmonellosis
o Stressful situations o Sudden changes in feed. o Antibiotic use. o Illness. o Surgery o Immunosuppression. o Nosocomial origin.
Clinical Signs of Salmonellosis
Signs similar to colitis. Acute, profuse, watery, foul-smelling diarrhea. Fever Anorexia Often neutropenia
o Management of Salmonellosis
Isolation is very important!!!!!
Horse should be assigned to one tech.
Protective clothing: gown, gloves, boots.
Disinfect feet and wash well after handling the horse.
I.V. fluid therapy: balanced electrolyte solutions such as LRS
Maybe a probiotic
Maybe fecal transfers
Plasma transfusion if hypoprotienemia is present.
Monitor vital signs.
Antibiotics will make it worse!
Vaccine
Preparations of killed or attenuated microbes administered to activate the immune system against those microbes
Toxoid
A toxin that has been treated to destroy it’s toxic properties but allow an immune response to form antibodies against the toxin.
Titers
o a measurement of the amount of antibodies produced from antigenic stimulation, such as a vaccination
o Initial vaccinations may not produced sufficient titers to protect the patient, so more, or “booster” vaccination are needle for adequate titers
Core vaccines
o Vaccines to protect against the most prevalent equine diseases
o AAEP recommends
Tetanus
Easter/Western Equine Encephalitis
West Nile
Rabies- not as common/ don’t always give
Common Equine Vaccines
Equine 5 way • Encephalomyelitis: Eastern, Western, Venezualan • Influenza • Rhinopneumonitis TetanusToxoid Tetanus Antitoxin West Nile Virus Rabies Equine Influenza
Spread of Equine Influenza
o Direct contact between horses.
o Air borne particles (aerosols)
Management of Equine Influenza
o Isolate infected animals.
o Keep horse warm in well ventilated stall.
o Avoid stressful situations.
o Rest until full recovery is important to prevent relapses.
Will recover, it just takes awhile
Clinical Signs of Influenza:
o Lethargy and depression. o Fever. o Severe, dry cough. o Increased lung sounds (in some cases). o Watery nasal discharge. o Anorexia. Constipation. Constipation- flowed by colic laminitis o Some muscle soreness.
Infection of Equine Influenza is more frequent in the winter and spring because of:
o Low temperatures
o High humidity
o It can occur year – round
Equine Influenza virus
o Respiratory disease
o Most common in horses age 1-3
o Found most common where there is a high movement of horses
o Passed through direct contact (air borne)
o All normal flu symptoms
o Need to re vaccinate in high risk horses
Seen at stables and horse shows
Viral strains
Equine Influenza Vaccines
o Viral Strains in U.S. are A/1 & A/2.
o Vaccines are available in both injections and intranasal forms.
o Intranasal vaccines provides immunity at the point of infection.
o Immunity is short-lived, revaccination required every 2 to 3 months for horses at risk for infection.
Have an intranasal version for horse- short lived
Equine Encephalomyelitis or Sleeping sickness
- Carried by biting insects such as mosquitos.
- Birds are the natural host of the virus- intermediate host
- Horse and people are “dead-end” hosts.
- Causes severe disease and death in horses and people.
- Can’t spread from the birds- Humans and horses can’t spread the disease- dead end
- Not transmissible horse to horse, or people to people, or horse to people.
Clinical Signs of Equine Encephalomyelitis or Sleeping sickness
o Severe depression – “sleeping”.
o Anorexia.
o Convulsions.
o Death: death rate is 19% to 90%.
Three strains of Equine Encephalomyelitis or Sleeping sickness cause disease in horse
o Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis (EEE)
o Western Equine Encephalomyelitis (WEE)
o Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis (VEE)
o EEE and WEE are in the U.S., but not VEE due to vaccination (vaccines have all 3).
Rhinopneumonitis or Equine Herpes Virus (EHV)
- Pregnant mares are vaccinated at the 5th, 7th and 9th month of gestation.
- It’s a good idea to vaccinate all the horses if there are breeding mares on the farm.
- Common vaccination is called Flu/Rhino.
- Can cause abortion storms and /or respiratory signs depending on the strain
- Vaccinate pregnant mares at 5th, 7th, and 9th month
- Isolate
Management of EHV-4
o Isolate infect animals
Can’t kills a virus- only support
o Avoid stressful situations (ie. trailering)
o Exercise for brief periods to keep blood and lymph circulation
o Keep warm in well ventilated stall.
Clinical signs of EVH-4:
o Usual signs of respiratory disease as well as:
Increased lung sounds.
Possibly swollen lymph nodes.
Four strains of EVHcause disease in horses, two are important and contained in the vaccine:
o EHV-1 : Causes abortion storms in mares and neurologic disease.
o EHV-4: Causes respiratory disease in young horses and rarely abortion.
West Nile Virus
• Clinical signs variable: usually neurologic (weakness, tremors).
• Mortality rate in horses 30% to 40%.
o Carried by biting insects
o Birds are the natural host- kills birds
• Foreign disease before 1999.
• Prevalent throughout the U.S.
• Caused by a virus that infects some birds and mosquitos and Culicoides flies.
• Crows, Jays, Humans and Horses are dead end hosts.
West Nile Virus Vaccine
- Vaccinate before mosquito season.
- Requires two vaccines 30 days apart, then given once yearly.
- Vaccinate before mosquito season- if they are not year round
- New vaccine may require booster even in previously vaccinated horses- because they are that different
