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AAEP Publishes Equine Parvovirus-Hepatitis Virus Guidelines

The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has published on its website comprehensive guidelines to educate practitioners about transmission, risk factors, clinical signs and other considerations pertaining to equine parvovirus-hepatitis virus (EqPV-H), a recently discovered virus capable of causing hepatitis in infected horses.

Two distinct etiologies of EqPV-H infection are recognized: biologic transmission and non-biologic transmission. Asymptomatic infection is common; only a small percentage of infected horses will develop clinical signs of liver disease.

“Drs. Thomas Divers and Bud Tennant of Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine discovered that this novel parvovirus was associated with the disease 'serum sickness' in horses who had recently been administered a parvovirus-infected biologic,” said guidelines co-author Dr. Piper Norton. “Because of their seminal research and active ongoing research, information will be learned about this virus that will assist in making biologics safer for use in horses and help with diagnosis and treatment of this disease.”

EqPV-H is a recently discovered virus and the focus of rapidly evolving research. These guidelines reflect knowledge at the time of writing. Practitioners are encouraged to seek further consultation for questions regarding clinical cases of EqPV-H.

The Equine Parvovirus-Hepatitis Virus Guidelines were authored by Linda Mittel, MSPH, DVM; Piper Norton, DVM, DACVIM; Joy Tomlinson, DVM, DACVIM; and Thomas Divers, DVM, DACVIM, DACVECC. The guidelines were reviewed and approved by the AAEP's Infectious Disease Committee and board of directors. View the guidelines or save them to your mobile device as a PDF file for future reference here.

In addition to EqPV-H, AAEP guidelines for 21 other equine infectious diseases are available here. In addition, two foreign animal disease guidelines — for African horse sickness and Glanders — are also available.

Steffanus: Blessed Be Dr. Phyllis Lose, Faithful Sage To Mare Owners

Every breeding and foaling season since 1978, countless mare owners have turned to their bookshelves for help from America's first woman equine veterinarian, Dr. M. Phyllis Lose. Her two indispensable manuals, Blessed Are the Broodmares and Blessed Are the Foals, inform and entertain first-time broodmare owners as well as experienced breeders. She presented important information interspersed with anecdotes of her experiences that enabled even the novice owner to grasp and implement the concepts she sought to explain.

In 1957, Dr. Lose obtained her V.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and she embarked on a lifelong adventure as the first woman to establish an equine-only practice in the United States, just outside the gates of then Philadelphia Park. Despite skepticism that a woman could excel at equine practice, Dr. Lose's medical expertise and her ability to read horses were so extraordinary that soon horsemen thought of her only as a “darn good vet,” and they entrusted her with their best horses.

Despite a lifetime of remarkable accomplishments, Dr. Lose passed away quietly on Sept. 30, 2019, at age 93, with only a meager obituary in the local Florida newspaper. She was the first woman member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the author of seven groundbreaking studies published in various veterinary journals. Her autobiography, No Job for a Lady, was honored by Readers' Digest, and in 2002, her alma mater bestowed on Dr. Lose its Alumni Award of Merit.

Among her early surgical achievements were development of a correction for club-foot in neonates; removal of ovarian tumors; removal of urinary bladder stones; and a refined technique to correct retained testicles.

Dr. Lose was the official veterinarian for the Devon Horse Show in Pennsylvania for 20 years, plus she cared for the horses of the Philadelphia Mounted Police. Occasionally, she answered calls from the Philadelphia Zoo and the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Working alone with her sister Norma as her manager, Dr. Lose often ventured into the night accompanied only by her little dog Oscar to respond to emergency calls, many of them for broodmares experiencing difficult foaling. Even in her 70s, Dr. Lose continued to make farm calls on her Harley-Davidson, but minus Oscar, whom she trained to win the national Purina trick-dog contest. In her later years while living in Haines City, Fla., Dr. Lose diligently pursued Oscar's career in the movies, producing The Oscar Lose Story in 2008, which earned the Dove Award for family entertainment.

In her personal life, Dr. Lose won nine gold medals (out of nine efforts) in the Senior Olympics for cycling. She also won competitions in snowmobiling, snow racing, and drag racing.

She owned and rode Pennsylvania State Champion jumping mare Cassadol, the national high-score winner in open jumping.

Dr. Lose never married or had children but had no regrets about it, telling me once, “I love men, but in very small doses.”

In 2012, while looking back at her career and the girls she had inspired to become equine veterinarians, she said, “It's a privilege just to be able to live our lives with horses.”

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Don’t Hesitate To Vaccinate For EHV With Other Core Vaccines

With the onset of the most serious EHV-1 outbreak Europe has seen in years, horse owners and caretakers are reminded of the necessity of vaccinating horses against the deadly disease. Questions have arisen regarding the best timing of vaccine administration — should the EHV vaccine be given concurrently with other AAEP-recommended core vaccines or should the vaccines be split into multiple doses?

Research suggests that vaccinations for equine influenza virus (EIV) and equine herpesvirus types 1 and 4 (EHV-1 and EHV-4) can safely be administered on the same day without compromising the horse's immune response.

Scientists from the Irish Equine Centre in Kildare divided 30 healthy horses into two groups to test the efficacy of the vaccines alone and used in tandem. The first group received the EIV vaccine and then a combination EHV-1 and EHV-4 vaccine two weeks apart. The second group was given both vaccines on the same day. Blood samples were taken from all horses before and after the vaccinations to measure antibody levels to EIV, EHV-1 and EHV-4.

Results showed that the horses vaccinated for both EHV and EIV on the same day had slightly higher antibody response to EIV vaccines than those horses that were vaccinated two weeks apart. There was no significant difference in EHV-1 and EHV-4 antibody response between the two groups.

The study team concludes that administering EIV and EHV-1 and -4 concurrently will not compromise the horse's immune system response.

AAEP Publishes Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis Guidelines

The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has published on its website comprehensive guidelines to assist practitioners with identification, diagnosis and control of Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM), a progressively debilitating disease of the central nervous system that affects horses that reside or once spent time in North or South America.

“EPM is widely considered the most important infectious neurologic disease of horses in North America,” said guidelines author Amy Johnson, DVM, DACVIM. “The variable clinical signs and widespread seroprevalence pose challenges to diagnosis. These guidelines aim to summarize essential information regarding this disease process, as well as highlight the three criteria for highest diagnostic accuracy in potentially affected horses.”

The EPM Guidelines, available as a PDF file, were reviewed and approved by the AAEP's Infectious Disease Committee and board of directors. View the EPM Guidelines here.

Besides EPM, AAEP guidelines for 20 other equine infectious diseases are available here. In addition, two foreign animal disease guidelines—for African horse sickness and Glanders—can be found here.

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