Diarrhea, Laminitis & Survival

Researchers from Canada, Europe, United Kingdom, United States and Australia examined factors associated with survival and the development of laminitis among horses older than 1 year with acute diarrhea that presented to referral hospitals.

A total of 1,438 horses from 26 hospitals were included. Most (76%) of the horses survived to discharge with no geographic differences identified. Horses with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (a scoring system to categorize critically ill horses) were less likely to survive, particularly those with elevated creatinine concentrations (an indicator of compromised kidney function) and high L-lactate concentrations (an indicator of sepsis, cellular damage and poor tissue oxygenation).

Horses in Europe were less likely (4%) to develop laminitis compared with those in North America (8%), Australia (8%) and Latin America (11%). Horses were more likely to develop laminitis in the summer (46% of cases) than in the winter, spring or fall (each less than 20%). With laminitis as a complication, the odds of horses surviving diarrhea were almost four times lower. About 13% of the horses tested positive for salmonella, 13% Neorickettsia risticii (Potomac Horse Fever) and 9% equine coronavirus, and 5% tested positive for Clostridium difficile. N. risticii infections were associated with an increased risk of developing laminitis and C. diff. infections were associated with non-survival.

— Gomez DE et al. EVJ 2023:14032 and 14024

Disease, Injury & Death Among Foals & Yearlings

Two recently published papers described a study conducted in the United Kingdom to estimate the incidence of disease…