Volume 27, Issue 10 , Pages 423-427, October 2007
What's News
Article Outline
- 4th International Conference on Equine Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot
- North American Veterinary Conference
- 9th International Equine Colic Research Symposium
- 5th International Symposium on Stallion Reproduction
- Equine Leptospirosis
- Fetotomy: A Viable Option for Resolving Dystocia Caused by Nonviable Foals
- Study: Blood Test More Accurate Than Fecal Analysis for Detecting Equine Tapeworms
- The Barbaro Fund Supports Laminitis Research
- University of Kentucky Announces Expanded Equine Programs to Meet the Needs of Kentucky and its Horses
4th International Conference on Equine Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot
November 2-4, 2007
West Palm Beach, FL
The Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot will be held November 2−4, 2007 at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, FL. The conference is under the direction of James A. Orsini, DVM, DACVS, of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine. The goals of this 3-day conference are to better the understanding, prevention, and treatment of laminitis and other diseases of the equine foot.
The driving force and leadership behind this conference is Mr. and Mrs. John K. Castle, in loving memory and legacy of their beloved horse Spot. Spot, an Appaloosa whom the Castles adored, became afflicted with laminitis. Vowing to do whatever they could to encourage research into this disease, the Castles granted the seed money for the First Laminitis Conference in 2001 and have been profoundly involved ever since.
The Castles will be honored during the conference for their support and leadership through the years. They are among the major sponsors of the conference, which also includes Merial, Thoroughbred Charities of America, and Purina Mills. Also being honored at this event are Mr. and Mrs. Roy Jackson, owners of Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby champion who succumbed to this disease. Barbaro's trainer Michael Matz will be a featured speaker.
Prestigious awards being presented during the conference include The Spot Castle Courage Award for advancing clinical treatment and management of laminitis and The Spot Castle Awareness Award for promoting interest and support of the conference mission.
The conference is a joint effort of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. This year's conference offers something for everyone from veterinarian, owner, trainer, breeder, and anyone who loves horses. There will be topical sessions and workshops as well as the inaugural Foot Bowl—an intercollegiate game of education and fun that promises to provide enjoyment for all.
For more information or to register call 1-877-894-8411 or visit www.laminitisconference.com.
North American Veterinary Conference
January 19−23, 2008
Orlando, FL
For more information: http://www.tnavc.org/mynavc/
9th International Equine Colic Research Symposium
June 15−18, 2008
Liverpool, United Kingdom
The Ninth International Equine Colic Research Symposium will be hosted by the British Equine Veterinary Association between June 15 and 18, 2008. The meeting will be held in Liverpool, United Kingdom. The format of the meeting will be similar to that of previous symposia with 15-minute oral presentations and several poster sessions covering all areas of equine gastroenterology. A call for abstracts will be made in due course; the deadline for abstract submission will be January 10, 2008. Full details, on-line booking forms, and abstract submission forms will be available at beva.org.uk in due course.
Submitted abstracts will be reviewed by the Colic Research Symposium Committee with regard to their suitability for inclusion in the program as either oral presentations or posters. Abstracts will be published as proceedings for the meeting. Investigators also may submit full manuscripts to Equine Veterinary Journal, for inclusion in a Gastroenterology Special Issue that will be published to coincide with the meeting. Submissions to EVJ will be subject to the usual peer review process and must be received by January 10, 2008 to quality for the EVJ Special Issue. Further announcements about this and the requirements for abstract submission will follow.
For more information: beva.org.uk
5th International Symposium on Stallion Reproduction
September 18−20, 2008
Gramado, RS, Brazil
Topics:
Anatomy and physiology—including evaluation of stallion fertility
Sperm function and semen evaluation
Semen preservation and artificial insemination
Clinical research
For more information: http://www.ufrgs.br/issr/
Equine Leptospirosis
The last report of equine leptospiral−induced abortions was in the April 2004 issue of Equine Disease Quarterly. Since this report, additional cases of leptospiral-induced abortions have been diagnosed at the Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center at the University of Kentucky. For reporting purposes, a foaling year begins July 1 and ends June 30 of the subsequent year. Therefore, the following report includes cases diagnosed for the foaling years 2005, 2006, and most of 2007.
Sixty-five leptospiral-induced abortions have been diagnosed during the last 3 foaling years (July 1, 2005 through April 30, 2007). Breeds of horse and number of cases involved were Thoroughbred, 59; Standardbred, 5; and mixed breed, 1. Over the 3-year period, the number of leptospiral-induced abortions on farms varied, with 38 farms having a single leptospiral-induced abortion, two farms having two abortions each, three farms with three abortions each, one farm with four abortions, and a single farm with 10 abortions over the 3-year period.
Leptospirosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease with global distribution. Virtually all species of mammals are susceptible. The bacteria, called “spirochetes,” are 6 to 20 microns in length, 0.1 to 0.2 microns in width, motile, and helically coiled. The genus is divided into multiple species and is further divided into more than 250 serovars. The term “serovar” commonly is used to describe a specific strain of Leptospira spp. The serovars with antigens in common are placed in serogroups for diagnostic convenience. The predominant serovar affecting horses varies with country and region. In central Kentucky, serovars commonly affecting horses and causing infections include L. interrogans serogroup Pomona serovar kennewicki and L. kirschneri serogroup Grippotyphosa serovar grippotyphosa. Organisms from serogroup Hardjo rarely have been detected in horses in central Kentucky.
Serologic results indicated that serovar kennewicki of the Pomona serogroup was responsible for 50 (77%) of the abortions and grippotyphosa for nine (14%) of the leptospiral-induced abortions for the past three foaling seasons. The serovar was undetermined for six (9%) abortions. Eight (12%) of the leptospiral-induced aborted fetuses were serologically negative. Microscopic agglutination testing and the diagnoses were made via the identification of spirochetes by direct fluorescent antibody test, microscopic identification with the Warthin-Starry staining method, or maternal serology.
The Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center has diagnosed 315 cases of leptospiral-induced abortion in central Kentucky over the past 19 foaling seasons. Almost all cases were due to either kennewicki (260 cases, 83%) or gripptotyphosa (33 cases, 10%). Figure 1, Figure 2 detail, by foaling year and month, the number of confirmed cases of leptospiral-induced abortions or neonatal deaths for this period.
Figure 1
Confirmed Cases of Leptospira-Induced Abortion by Foaling Year July 1, 1989 to April 30, 2007.
Figure 2
Confirmed Cases of Leptospira-Induced Abortion by Month July 1, 1989 to April 30, 2007.
Prevention and Control of Leptospirosis
For additional information concerning leptospirosis in horses, see Donahue JM, Williams NM. Emergent causes of placentitis and abortion. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract 2000;16:443-455.
Contact:
Dr. David Newman, dcnewm2@uky.edu, or
Dr. Mike Donahue, (859) 253-0571
Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
Reprinted from: Equine Disease Quarterly, July 2007, Vol. 16, Number 3, Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky
Fetotomy: A Viable Option for Resolving Dystocia Caused by Nonviable Foals
by: Erin Ryder, TheHorse.com News Editor
August 6, 2007, Article #10142
Fetotomy (the vaginal removal from a mare of a dead fetus in two or more pieces) is a viable option for resolving severe dystocia (difficult birth), with better mare survival rates than those cases involving Cesarean section, according to researchers from the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at the University of Teramo in Teramo, Italy.
The goal of fetotomy is to reduce the size of the dead fetus' body so that it can be removed vaginally with minimal damage to the mare's reproductive tract. The researchers noted that one or two appropriately positioned cuts are typically sufficient to enable the veterinarian to remove the body quickly.
The researchers looked at records from 1991 to 2005 of 72 mares that presented with severe dystocia, and on which veterinarians performed fetotomies. Of these mares, 95.8% survived after a fetotomy was performed, compared with the 80% to 85% survival rate following Cesarean sections reported in two previous studies. Mares bred 2 to 3 months after a fetotomy had a mean pregnancy rate of 79.4% at 45 days after breeding. In a population of 124 control mares, 102 (83.3%) became pregnant. Researchers noted the difference in fertility between mares on which fetotomy was performed and control mares was not significant.
“Fetotomy performed by a skilled veterinarian on a nonviable fetus should be considered as a means of quick and safe correction of dystocia that does not necessarily impair short-term fertility in affected mares,” the researchers noted.
The study, “Survival rate and short-term fertility rate associated with the use of fetotomy for resolution of dystocia in mares: 72 cases (1991−2005),” was published in the May 15, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Researchers on the study included Augusto Carluccio, DVM, PhD; Alberto Contri, DVM, PhD; Umberto Tosi, DVM, PhD; Ippolito De Amicis, DVM; and Claudio De Fanti, DVM.
Reprinted with permission of The Horse; visit www.TheHorse.com for more horse health news.
Study: Blood Test More Accurate Than Fecal Analysis for Detecting Equine Tapeworms
by: Stacey Oke, TheHorse.com News Editor
August 9, 2007, Article #10157
Researchers identified higher serum antibody levels against the equine tapeworm, Anoplocephala perfoliata, in horses with colic compared with horses without colic in a study conducted by Maarten Boswinkel, DVM, Specialist KNMvD Equine Internal Medicine, and Marianne M. Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan, DVM, PhD, Dipl ECEIM, Specialist KNMvD Equine Internal Medicine, from the faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
In this study, 139 horses with colic and 139 control horses were evaluated for the presence of tapeworm antibodies. Results indicated that horses with colic and with ileocecal disorders (ailments affecting the junction of the small intestine and cecum) had significantly elevated antibody levels compared with their non-colicky counterparts. Furthermore, fecal analysis failed to detect tapeworms in infected horses.
How do these results impact North American horses? According to veterinary parasitologist Craig R. Reinemeyer, DVM, PhD, president of East Tennessee Clinical Research Inc., although serum antibody tests are better able to detect the presence of tapeworm infections compared with fecal analysis, antibody tests are not commonly used in day-to-day practice.
According to Reinemeyer, the only facility in the United States that currently performs the A. perfoliata antibody test is the University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine. The assay costs $20 per sample.
“This antibody test is often not practical for individual horses in terms of both price and sensitivity,” Reinemeyer said. “First, it is frequently more practical and economical to simply have the veterinarian deworm horses suspected of having tapeworm infections and second, there are still many horses with tapeworms that this test does not identify.”
Nonetheless, when used in combination with efficacious deworming products and facility management strategies, this antibody test could be used to virtually eradicate tapeworms from many of the larger horse farms, Reinemeyer said. Furthermore, this test lays the foundation for further research into A. perfoliata−associated colic and encourages the development of more practical and sensitive tests.
The abstract of the study “Correlation between colic and antibody levels against Anaplocephala perfoliata in horses in the Netherlands,” published in July 2007 by Boswinkel and van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan, is available on PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez). The full study is available in Tijdschrift Voor Diergeneeskunde.
Reprinted with permission of The Horse; visit www.TheHorse.com for more horse health news.
The Barbaro Fund Supports Laminitis Research
Alex Waldrop, president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), presented a check for $100,000 to Dell Hancock, chairman of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, in the winner's circle at Belmont Park on June 9, the day of the Belmont Stakes. The funds represent part of the major initiative of the NTRA to raise money from racing fans, race tracks, and other industry participants in memory of Barbaro. The 2007 Kentucky Derby winner inspired millions and focused public attention on the excellence of his care after his injury in the Preakness Stakes. Despite the heroic and successful efforts to repair his badly injured hind leg, laminitis in the opposing limb eventually confounded efforts to save him. The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation was selected to manage the $100,000 for research on laminitis and has issued an invitation for proposals to researchers in the field. It is anticipated that assignment of these funds, and any forthcoming additions, will be made to specific projects by late summer, so that the research can get underway in a timely manner.
Reprinted with permission of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation from Grayson-Jockey Club Research Today, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2007.
University of Kentucky Announces Expanded Equine Programs to Meet the Needs of Kentucky and its Horses
by: Holly Wiemers
Amid a crowd gathered in one of the University of Kentucky's equine research barns, UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. and College of Agriculture Dean Scott Smith announced a new equine undergraduate program and significant improvements to UK's Maine Chance Farm on Newtown Pike north of Lexington. The new equine undergraduate major will undergo the approval process by the University Senate and the UK Board of Trustees.
The expansion of its equine programs was orchestrated through the university's Equine Initiative. The mission of the initiative, launched in May 2005, is to discover, share, and apply new knowledge to enhance the health, performance, and management of horses commensurate with the signature status of Kentucky's equine industry.
“The Equine Initiative is a prime example of how UK's Top 20 pursuit serves to better the entire Commonwealth,” said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. “The Initiative's bold plans to enhance our teaching, research, and outreach capabilities will help to create better opportunities for Kentucky's horse industry, cementing Kentucky's status as ‘horse capital of the world.’”
“This new program perfectly illustrates the important relationship between education and the economy. It also demonstrates why it is so important for us to support the University of Kentucky in its quest for Top 20 status,” said Mayor Jim Newberry. “We need to build on the ‘horses, health care and high tech’ cornerstones of our economy. This program in equine science and management will support our signature industry in important new ways, generating good jobs through teaching, research, and entrepreneurial initiatives.”
Strong input from College of Agriculture faculty and key Kentucky equine industry stakeholders was a central component of the Equine Initiative's planning efforts. As part of the Equine Initiative, UK subsequently created a new equine-based undergraduate curriculum, enhanced existing and established new equine research and outreach programs, and established new partnerships with other equine organizations and universities.
“The college endeavors to become the world's leading institution in equine education and research and these program enhancements are a positive first step in that direction,” said College of Agriculture Dean Scott Smith. “Beginning with our new undergraduate program this fall, we will be providing an exceptional educational experience for students while continuing to conduct high-quality research for the benefit of the state and equine industry.”
When the new undergraduate curriculum launches this fall, it will be, the first time UK has offered an undergraduate degree in equine studies rather than the handful of horse-related courses students have been able to take in the past. This step was determined to be a critical need in a state whose number one agricultural commodity is horses.
The new Equine Science and Management undergraduate degree program comprises two tracks—an equine management option that focuses on management of the horse and farm enterprise and an equine business option that focuses on business and organizational management within the industry.
Educating the students who will contribute to the horse industry in the long term is something that is important to Dan Rosenberg, president and chief operating officer of Three Chimneys Farm and the College of Agriculture's executive-in-residence. As executive-in-residence, Rosenberg has had a contributing role in the new curriculum.
“The equine industry is a major economic engine, not only for Kentucky, but worldwide,” Rosenberg said. “Like many other businesses, ours is becoming increasingly competitive and sophisticated. It is imperative that we educate and properly prepare those who will lead the industry in the coming decades.”
UK has not stopped at enhancing its undergraduate offerings. The future of equine programs at UK is inherently tied to the facilities available for superior teaching, research, and outreach offerings. UK's vision is one of unparalleled excellence and a push is under way to build the facilities to match this vision.
The university has announced three distinct areas of enhancement on its Maine Chance Equine Campus: an equine education and research cluster, an equine health research cluster, and infrastructure and aesthetic improvements aligning with horse farm best management practices.
The equine education and research cluster will be the home of UK's new Equine Science and Management undergraduate degree program as well as the continued location for the Department of Animal and Food Science's research in equine nutrition and feeding management. Some of the buildings planned for the near term include a teaching pavilion and the renovation of a foaling barn. Future enhancements include a learning center and the construction of additional animal science research barns.
The equine health research cluster, current location for the Department of Veterinary Sciences and prestigious Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, will continue to be the site for leading equine health research. Some of the immediate building plans include a strangles research facility and the completion of a 24-stall animal containment facility. Future plans include construction of an additional 24-stall animal containment facility.
Enhancements on UK's Maine Chance Equine Campus will not be limited to the construction and renovation of facilities but also will include significant upgrades to the farm's infrastructure.
Infrastructure and aesthetic improvements are part of an endeavor to become a recognized asset for Fayette County and part of the visually appealing landscape of horse farms surrounding the Kentucky Horse Park, especially important as the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games approach, and with them, national and international attention. In addition, UK is planning the implementation of multiple water quality protection practices at Maine Chance Farm and nearby areas in the Cane Run watershed.
For more information about the Equine Initiative, please visit http://www.ca.uky.edu/equine
UK College of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across the commonwealth with teaching, research, and extension to enhance the lives of Kentuckians.
Reprinted with permission from the University of Kentucky Equine Initiative web site: http://www.ca.uky.edu/equine/press_releases_EquinePrograms.html.
PII: S0737-0806(07)00301-2
doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2007.08.007
Volume 27, Issue 10 , Pages 423-427, October 2007
