EQUINE | Equine Disease Update
EQUINE | Equine Disease Update
learn and quite a bit of misinformation being disseminated , but cell-based therapies do indeed hold a lot of promise . Finally , we have entered the era of medical informatics .
Hardware , software , and data storage options in computer science have advanced rapidly to enable “ big data ” analyses that resolve biomedical relationships and patterns from “ -omic ” and population levels that would be very hard to appreciate by looking only at an individual gene or a single patient . By analogy , consider how difficult it would be to resolve crop circles and other patterns in a grain field while standing on the ground . They are much easier to appreciate while looking out the window of an airplane . It is not an “ either / or ” issue — broad and targeted analyses are both important and often complementary .
So , how can we facilitate further progress in addressing equine lameness challenges ? A very important part of the answer is quality scientific research to advance knowledge . At the University of Kentucky , we have established the Equestrian Sports Research Initiative to enable multidisciplinary research teams to work together collaboratively with industry groups , clinical veterinarians , and horse professionals . Health and welfare issues in equine sports medicine are being studied from basic to clinical levels by considering horse , rider , and surface issues concurrently .
As noted above , scientific and technological advances are driving progress in biomedical disciplines . Objective scientific research and the resulting new knowledge are absolutely key , and need to be a top priority .
Contact : James N . MacLeod , VMD , PhD jnmacleod @ uky . edu ( 859 ) 218-1099 Maxwell H . Gluck Equine Research Center University of Kentucky , Lexington , KY
I N T E R N ATIONAL
Third Quarter 2016
The International Collating Centre , Newmarket , United Kingdom and other sources reported the following disease outbreaks . Republic of South Africa reported outbreaks of African horse sickness in endemic areas of the country , but none in the Western Cape controlled zone . Equine influenza was recorded in Germany ( isolated case ), the U . K . ( case in an unvaccinated filly ), and the USA , in which the disease is endemic . Outbreaks of the disease were confirmed in California , Delaware , Florida , Kentucky , New Jersey , and New York . Strangles was reported by France , Germany , Ireland , Singapore , and the USA . The number of outbreaks varied from four in France , twelve in Germany ( all isolated cases ), nineteen cases on two premises in Ireland , a single case in an imported horse in Singapore , and multiple outbreaks involving seventeen states in the USA .
Outbreaks within the USA consisted of 99 cases confirmed on an estimated 36 premises , one of which represented co-infection with equine herpesvirus 4 . France and South Africa recorded outbreaks of equine herpesvirus 1 ( EHV-1 ) infection . In the case of the former , hyperthermia was the only clinical sign observed . Clinical details were not provided for the outbreak in South Africa . Outbreaks of EHV-1 abortion were reported by Ireland , South Africa and the UK , all involving isolated cases of the disease . EHV-1 related neurologic disease was confirmed in France , South Africa and the USA , each represented by single cases of the disease . Respiratory disease caused by EHV- 4 was recorded by France ( seven outbreaks ), South Africa and Switzerland ( single case of infection ), and the UK ( two outbreaks ; limited number of infected horses in each instance ). Germany reported a case of neurologic disease from which EHV-4 was detected from a nasal swab . Infection with EHV-2 and / or EHV-5 was confirmed in the USA , principally asso-
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