Vet Med - Czech, 2009, 54(9):444-450 | DOI: 10.17221/3/2009-VETMED

Endoscopic findings, microbiological and cytological evaluation of tracheal aspirates in a population of Standardbred horses with poor performances

F. Laus, A.R. Attili, M. Cerquetella, A. Spaterna, B. Tesei, V. Cuteri
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Camerino, Matelica, Italy

Sixty-two Standardbred horses housed at the same racetrack, with history of reduced exercise tolerance, cough lasting for at least two weeks and/or prolonged recovery time were clinically examined. An endoscopic examination of the nasopharynx, larynx and trachea to the level of the carina was performed, amount of mucus in trachea was registered and samples of tracheal wash for cytological and microbiological examinations was collected. A strong statistical association between amount of mucus in trachea and neutrophils percentage in tracheal wash was found. Bacteria isolated included Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (14 horses), Streptococcus pneumoniae (four horses), S. mutans (four horses), S. equinus (four horses) and Burkholderia cepacia (10 horses). S. zooepidemicus and S. pneumoniae were associated with elevated amount of mucus and increased neutrophilic percentage. B. cepacia was associated with cytological evidence of haemosiderophages but its role in racehorses needs further investigations. Mycoplasma spp. and Pasteurella spp. have not been isolated, suggesting that, as for the other putative causes of inflammatory airway diseases, infection could have a regional distribution among horse populations. This study shows that various types of airway inflammations exist in the examined population and that S. zooepidemicus and S. pneumoniae could play an important role in etiopathogenesis of airway inflammation in some horses. Particulate matter, pro-inflammatory agents or noxious gases present in the stables or on the track matter, could be the cause of inflammation in non infected horses.

Keywords: horse; tracheal wash; mucus; cytology; bacteriology; Streptococci

Published: September 30, 2009  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Laus F, Attili AR, Cerquetella M, Spaterna A, Tesei B, Cuteri V. Endoscopic findings, microbiological and cytological evaluation of tracheal aspirates in a population of Standardbred horses with poor performances. Vet Med - Czech. 2009;54(9):444-450. doi: 10.17221/3/2009-VETMED.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Burrell M.H., Wood J.L., Whitwell K.E., Chanter N., Mackintosh M.E., Munford J.A. (1996): Respiratory disease in thoroughbred horses in training: the relationships between disease and viruses, bacteria and environment. The Veterinary Record, 139, 308-313. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. Chapman P.S., Green C., Main J.P., Taylor P.M., Cunningham F.M., Cook A.J., Marr C.M. (2000): Retrospective study of the relationships between age, inflammation and the isolation of bacteria from the lower respiratory tract of thoroughbred horses. The Veterinary Record, 146, 91-95. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Christley R., Rush B.R. (2007): Inflammatory airway disease, 591-600. In: Mc Gorum B.C., Dixon P.M., Robinson N.E., Schumacher J. (eds.): Equine Respiratory Medicine and Surgery. Saunders, Philadelphia. 705 pp. Go to original source...
    4. Christley R.M., Hodgson D.R., Rose R.J., Wood J.L., Reids S.W., Whitear K.G., Hodgson J.L. (2001): A casecontrol study of respiratory disease in Thoroughbred racehorses in Sydney, Australia. Equine Veterinary Journal, 33, 256-264. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Couetil L.L., Ward M.P. (2003): Analysis of risk factors for recurrent airway obstruction in North American horses: 1 444 cases (1990-1999). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 223, 1645-1650. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Couetil L.L., Hoffman A.M., Hodgson J., BuechnerMaxwell V., Viel L., Wood J.L.N., Lavoie J.P. (2007): Inflammatory airway disease of horses. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 21, 356-361. Go to original source...
    7. Gerber V., Straub R., Marti E., Hauptman J., Herholz C., King M., Imhof A., Tahon L., Robinson N.E. (2004): Endoscopic scoring of mucus quantity and quality: observer and horse variance and relationship to inflammation, mucus viscoelasticity and volume. Equine Veterinary Journal, 36, 576-582. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Holcombe S.J., Jackson C., Gerber V., Jefcoat A., Berney C., Eberhardt S., Robinson N.E. (2001): Stabling is associated with airway inflammation in young Arabian horses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 33, 244-249. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. Holcombe S.J., Robinson N.E., Derksen F.J., Bertold B., Genovese R., Miller R., de Feiter Rupp H., Carr E.A., Eberhart S.W., Boruta D., Kaneene J.B. (2006): Effect of tracheal mucus and tracheal cytology on racing performance in Thoroughbred racehorses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 38, 300-304. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Hyde J., Humphreys H. (1997): Absence of Burkholderia cepacia from the respiratory tract of non-cystic fibrosis patients. European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases, 16, 253-254. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Laus F., Preziuso S., Spaterna A., Beribe F., Tesei B., Cuteri V. (2007): Clinical and epidemiological investigation of chronic upper respiratory diseases caused by beta-hemolytic Streptococci in horses. Comparative immunology, microbiology and infectious diseases, 30, 247-260. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. MacNamara B., Bauer S., Iafe J. (1990): Endoscopic evaluation of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in association with poor performance in racing Standardbreds. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 196, 443-445. Go to original source...
    13. Moore B.R., Krakowka S., Mcvey D.S., Cummins J.M., Robertson J.T. (1997): Inflammatory markers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of standardbred racehorses with inflammatory airway disease: response to interferonalpha. Equine Veterinary Journal, 29, 142-147. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    14. Newton J.R., Wood J.L., Chanter N. (2003): A case control study of factors and infections associated with clinically apparent respiratory disease in UK Thoroughbred racehorses. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 60, 107-132. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Newton J.R., Laxton R., Wood J.L., Chanter N. (2008): Molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus zooepidemicus infection in naturally occurring equine respiratory disease. Veterinary journal, 175, 338-345. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Preziuso S., Bastianini L., Laus F., Cuteri V. (2007): Preliminary evaluation of a PCR protocol to directly detect Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus in equine specimens. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 29, 398. Go to original source...
    17. Robinson N.E. (2003): Inflammatory airway diseases: defining the syndrome. Conclusion of the Havemeyer Workshop. Equine Veterinary Education, 15, 61-63. Go to original source...
    18. Robinson N.E., Derksen F.J., Olszewski M.A., BuechnerMaxwell V.A. (1996): The pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of horses. The British Veterinary Journal, 152, 283-306. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    19. Sweeney C.R., Beech J., Roby K.A. (1985): Bacterial isolates from tracheobronchial aspirates of healthy horses. American Journal of Veterinary Research, 46, 2562- 2565. Go to original source...
    20. Treerat P., Widmer F., Middleton P.G., Iredell J., George A.M. (2008): In vitro interactions of tobramycin with various nonantibiotics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cenocepacia. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 285, 40-50. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Whitby P.W., Vanwagoner T.M., Springer J.M., Morton D.J., Seale T.W., Stull T.L. (2006): Burkholderia cenocepacia utilizes ferritin as an iron source. Journal of medical microbiology, 55, 661-668. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Wood J.L., Newton J.R., Chanter N., Mumford J.A. (2005a): Association between respiratory disease and bacterial and viral infections in British racehorses. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 43, 120-126. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    23. Wood J.L., Newton J.R., Chanter N., Mumford J.A. (2005b): Inflammatory airway disease, nasal discharge and respiratory infections in young British racehorses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 37, 236-242. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content