BACKGROUND Reports of the use of brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) as a diagnostic modality in foals have been limited. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES To describe BAER findings and associated causes of hearing loss in foals. ANIMALS Study group 18 foals (15 neonatal, 3 nonneonatal), control group (5 neonatal foals). METHODS Retrospective. BAER records from the Clinical Neurophysiology Labo...

BACKGROUND Current screening tests for Rhodococcus equi pneumonia in foals lack adequate accuracy for clinical use. Real-time, quantitative PCR (qPCR) for virulent R. equi in feces has not been systematically evaluated as a screening test. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of qPCR for vapA in serially collected fecal samples as a screening test for R. equi pne...

Equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) caused by Lawsonia intracellularis has recently been recognized as an emerging disease in foals. Whilst the clinical entity, diagnostic evaluation and treatment of affected foals have been well established and described, preventive measures for EPE have remained largely unaddressed. The objectives of this study were to investigate the humoral immune respon...

BACKGROUND Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is considered to be a diarrheic pathogen in foals. In central Kentucky in the United States, it has been shown that approximately 30 % of thoroughbred foals are infected with ECoV and thus it is considered widely prevalent. In contrast, the epidemiology of ECoV and its relationship to diarrhea in foals are poorly understood in Japan. We investigated ECoV in ...

Gallium is a trivalent semi-metal with anti-microbial effects because of its incorporation into crucial iron-dependent reproductive enzyme systems. Gallium maltolate (GaM) provides significant gallium bioavailability to people and mice following oral administration and to neonatal foals following intragastric administration. To study the prophylactic and therapeutic effects of GaM against Rhodo...

We predicted that the proportion of suckling attempts rejected and terminated by the mother would be greater for female foals than male foals, based on parent offspring conflict theory and on the assumption that throughout the study, all zebra mothers were in good condition because of captivity. We presumed that an increasing rate of suckling terminated or rejected by a mother would indicate a ...

Sepsis is the leading cause of mortality among foals less than one week of age. Previous studies indicate elevated oxytocin in response to sepsis associated stress and decreased concentration with neurological dysfunction in critically ill human neonates, but limited information exists in newborn foals. Neonatal maladjustment syndrome (NMS) occurs in foals during or shortly after parturition, i...

Quantitative aspects of fecal Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi in newborn foals for 12 weeks after birth were investigated on two horse breeding farms. R. equi was found in the feces of foals during week 1 of life. The greatest numbers of R. equi were present in the feces of foals during the first 8 weeks of their lives, which coincides with the age when foals are most liable to be exposed to...

Pneumonia caused by Rhodococcus equi is a common cause of disease and death in foals. Although agent and environmental factors contribute to the incidence of this disease, the genetic factors influencing the clinical outcomes of R. equi pneumonia are ill-defined. Here, we performed independent single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)- and copy number variant (CNV)-based genome-wide association stud...

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of sex, season and year of birth on growth rate of biometric measurements and body weight gain of Thoroughbred foals during first six months of life. 103 Thoroughbred foals (53 colts and 50 fillies) from Golejewko Stud born between 2006 and 2008, were used in this study. Thoroughbred foals born in winter months were characterized by significantly ...