R. van den Hoven

Duration of immunity induced by an adjuvanted and inactivated equine influenza, tetanus and equine herpesvirus 1 and 4 combination vaccine.

Summary An adjuvanted vaccine containing inactivated equine influenza, herpesvirus antigens, and tetanus toxoid was administered to young seronegative foals of 8 months of age by deep intramuscular injection in the neck (Group A). The first two vaccinations were given 4 weeks apart. The third was administered 6 months later. Another group of foals (Group B) was vaccinated according to the same scheme at the same time with monovalent equine herpes virus (EHV) vaccine (EHV1.4) vaccine. Antibody responses to the equine influenza (single radial haemolysis; SRH) and tetanus (ToBi ELISA) components of the vaccines were examined from first vaccination until 1 year after the third vaccination. The influenza components of the combination vaccine induced high antibody titres at two weeks after the second vaccination whereafter titres declined until the time of the third vactination. After the third vaccination, the titres rose rapidly again to remain high for at least 1 year. Antibody titres against tetanus peaked only after the third vaccination but remained high enough to offer protective immunity for at least 1 year. Foals vaccinated with monovalent EHV1.4 remained seronegative for influenza and tetanus throughout the study. Four and a half months after the third vaccination of groups A and B, a third group of animals was vaccinated twice with monovalent EHV1.4 vaccine 4 weeks apart (Group C). Two weeks after the administration of the second dose in the later group, all groups (A, B, C and an unvaccinated control group D) were challenged with EHV‐4. Vaccinated foals (Group A, B, C) showed a clear reduction of clinical symptoms and virus excretion after EHV‐4 challenge compared with the unvaccinated control foals. No difference could be demonstrated among the vaccinated groups, suggesting that the combination vaccine protects as well as the monovalent vaccine. In EHV1.4‐vaccinated foals both antigenic fractions induced clear protection up to 6 months after vaccination (9). It can therefore be anticipated that the efficacy of the combination vaccine against EHV‐1 challenge is similar to the efficacy against EHV‐I induced by EHV1.4 vaccination.

Diagnostic and Predictive Capability of Routine Laboratory Tests for the Diagnosis and Staging of Equine Inflammatory Disease

Background A wide spectrum of laboratory tests is available to aid diagnosis and classification of equine inflammatory disease. Objectives To compare diagnostic efficacy and combined predictive capability of the myeloperoxidase index (MPXI), and plasma fibrinogen, iron and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations for the diagnosis of inflammation. Animals Twenty‐six hospitalized horses with systemic inflammation (SI), 114 with local inflammation (LI) and 61 healthy horses or those with noninflammatory disease (NI) were included. Methods A retrospective study was performed; clinicopathologic data from horses were compared between groups. Receiver‐operator characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate diagnostic efficacy; classification and regression tree analysis (CART) and logistic regression analysis were used to generate diagnostic algorithms. Results Horses with SI had significantly higher SAA than horses with LI (P = .007) and NI (P < .001) and lower iron concentrations than horses with LI (P < .001) and NI (P < .001). Fibrinogen concentration was higher in horses with inflammation than in those without inflammation (P = .002). There was no difference between the SI and LI groups. White blood cell count, neutrophil count and MPXI were similar between groups. SAA had the highest accuracy for diagnosing inflammation (area under ROC curve [AUC], 0.83 ± 0.06) and iron and SAA concentration had the highest accuracy for differentiating SI from LI (AUC, 0.80 ± 0.09 and 0.73 ± 0.10 respectively). Predictive modeling failed to generate useful algorithms and classification of cases was moderate. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Very high SAA and low iron concentrations may reflect SI, but diagnostic guidelines based on quantitative results of inflammatory markers could not be formulated.

Outbreaks of equine grass sickness in Hungary

Equine grass sickness (EGS) occurs mainly in Great Britain, but has once been reported in Hungary. The stud which was affected by EGS in 2001 had no new cases until 2009/10, when 11 of 60 and five of 12 one- to three-year-old colts died or were euthanased due to EGS. Following a few hours in the high-risk field during the winter of 2010/11 further four cases of acute EGS were noted among these horses. The affected horses showed somewhat different clinical signs compared with the cases reported in Great Britain. Histopathological findings in these horses were consistent with EGS. In most examined cases carbofuran, a carbamate was found in the liver by toxicological examination, and it is postulated that carbofuran may influence the immune system and therefore predispose the horses to develop EGS. Carbamates are thought to cause a delayed neurotoxicity in human beings. Further studies are needed to clarify the potential role of carbamates in EGS.

Improvement of the lung function of horses with heaves by treatment with a botanical preparation for 14 days

The effects of an oral preparation containing a mixture of extracts from yellow gentian, garden sorrel, cowslip, verbena and common elder on the lung function of nine horses suffering from heaves were determined in a longitudinal crossover study. The horses were divided at random into a group of five (group 1) and a group of four (group 2). The horses in group 1 were each given 15 tablets of the preparation twice daily, while the horses in group 2 were left untreated. Fourteen days later, the horses in group 2 were given the same course of treatment while the horses in group 1 were left untreated. On being subjected to a histamine inhalation provocation test, five of eight horses tested appeared to be hyperresponsive to histamine. The treatment decreased the histamine sensitivity of three of them; it also caused a significant decrease in maximal intrapleural pressure difference of all the horses. The treatment had no significant effects on the clinical signs, the mucociliary activity or the cytology of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of the horses.

Antimicrobial prescribing practices by Swiss, German and Austrian equine practitioners

ANTIMICROBIAL use contributes to the emerging concern of antimicrobial resistance (Traub-Dargatz and Dargatz 2009, Guardabassi 2012). In equine medicine, antimicrobials are prescribed for the treatment of diseases with an unlikely bacterial aetiology (Weese and Sabino 2005, Hughes and others 2013). Recent data from a European-wide survey indicated that veterinarians prescribe critically important antimicrobials (CIAs) in 13–30 per cent of cases depending on species, country and disease (De Briyne and others 2013). Less than 1 per cent of veterinarians from Austria and Switzerland responded in the above survey; therefore, there are currently little data for these countries. Veterinarians are encouraged to use antimicrobial products according to the product license; however, originally licensed dosages are often no longer adequate (Burton and others 2013, Weese and others 2015). Subtherapeutic doses of antimicrobials could contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance, and it is currently unknown whether veterinarians rather adhere to licensing regulations or scientifically published data. The objective of this study was to survey the antimicrobial prescribing practices of equine practitioners in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Target audiences of the online cross-sectional survey were the members of the Swiss Equine Veterinary Association (n=252), Association of German Equine Practitioners (n=740) and the Association of Austrian Equine Practitioners (n=235). The questionnaire used was similar to the one of a previous study in England (Hughes and others 2013). It was distributed to the practitioners via the software www.surveymonkey.com (see online Supplementary Item 1). Aside from demographic questions and resources on antimicrobials, six hypothetical clinical scenarios were presented. Respondents were asked to state if and which antimicrobial class they would use, as well as brand name, dose and duration of therapy. Licensed dosages for antimicrobials were retrieved from each countrys licensing body (Swissmedic—Switzerland, Federal ministry for Health—Germany, and Austrian Agency for Health …