Equine Health Update EHU Vol 20 Issue 01 | Page 12

EQUINE | Disease

EQUINE | Disease

• Imidiocarb 12 % m / v dosage = 2ml / 100 kg body mass applied by intramuscular injection once , is considered to be the most effective . If necessary , lower doses can be repeated at 24 to 72 hour intervals for 2 to 3 treatments .
• Diminazene 0.07g / ml dosage = 3.5 mg / kg body mass applied by intramuscular injection . Repeated treatments may be required to control Theileria equi infections and significant injection site muscle damage has been reported in some cases .
Figure 6 . Equine fetal liver demonstrating yellow discoloration due to cholestasis
clinical cases where blood smears are inconclusive and as a means of identifying carriers . Various serological ( compliment fixation , IFA , competitive Elisa ) and immunoblotting ( Western blotting ) techniques can be used to try and identify infected animals . IFA and Western blotting procedures are able to distinguish between Theileria equi and Babesia caballi infections . The IFA and competitive Elisa serological assays are the prescribed tests for international trade .
Treatment and Control .
Effective treatment of clinical cases usually involves a combination of anti-protozoal drugs ( imidiocarb , diminazine ) in conjunction with tick control and supportive therapy ( fluid therapy , antipyretic ’ s , blood tonics and enterics ). Anti-protozoal agents only temporarily clear Theileria equi from carrier animals . However , clearance of organisms in endemic regions such as South Africa serves no purpose , as lifelong immunity ( pre-immunity ) is believed to be conferred by chronic inapparent infection .
• Oxytetracyclines are only effective against Theileria equi when administered intravenously ( IV ) at a dose rate of 5 - 6 mg / kg body mass once daily for 7 days , but not Babesia caballi .
Prevention of infection in endemic areas such as South Africa is virtually impossible . The pre-immunity conferred with initial infection serves to protect the horse from recurrent disease on subsequent exposures .
REFERENCES 1 . De Waal D . T . & Van Heerden J . 2004 . Equine Piroplasmosis . In : Infectious Diseases of Livestock 2nd edn . Oxford , Cape Town . 425- 434 . 2 . Salib F . A . et al . 2013 . Epidemiology , diagnosis and therapy of Theileria equi infection in Giza , Egypt . Vet World 6:76-82 . 3 . Motloang M . Y . et al . 2008 . Prevalence of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi infections in horses belonging to resource-poor farmers in the north-eastern Free State Province , South Africa . Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 75:141-146 . 4 . O . I . E . 2012 . Equine Piroplasmosis . In : OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals . OIE , Paris . 5 . Wise L . N . et al . 2013 . Review of Equine Piroplasmosis . Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 27:1334-1346 .
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