Abstract
Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) remains an important neurologic disease of horses. There are no pathognomonic clinical signs for the disease. Affected horses can have focal or multifocal central nervous system (CNS) disease. EPM can be difficult to diagnose antemortem. It is caused by either of 2 parasites, Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi, with much less known about N. hughesi. Although risk factors such as transport stress and breed and age correlations have been identified, biologic factors such as genetic predispositions of individual animals, and parasite-specific factors such as strain differences in virulence, remain largely undetermined. This consensus statement update presents current published knowledge of the parasite biology, host immune response, disease pathogenesis, epidemiology, and risk factors. Importantly, the statement provides recommendations for EPM diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-18-2016
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.13834
Repository Citation
Reed, S. M.; Furr, M.; Howe, Daniel K.; Johnson, A. L.; MacKay, R. J.; Morrow, J. K.; Pusterla, N.; and Witonsky, S., "Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis: An Updated Consensus Statement with a Focus on Parasite Biology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention" (2016). Veterinary Science Faculty Publications. 33.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gluck_facpub/33
Included in
Large or Food Animal and Equine Medicine Commons, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, v. 30, issue 2, p. 491-502.
Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.