New Type Of Equine Wart Discovered

News — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 16:35:59 +0000

A new type of equine wart has been identified by a New Zealand researcher. Equine warts are caused by the equine papillomavirus, which may contribute to the development of some types of skin cancer.

A 10-year-old Warmblood had two round, thick masses nearly 1 inch in diameter on the back of his left front fetlock; his treating veterinarian biopsied them, thinking they were sarcoids, which would have been difficult to treat in that area.

The biopsy results showed that the growths were actually warts, which typically go away by themselves. There are multiple types of papillomaviruses; they are divided into categories based on what type of lesion they cause. The papillomavirus that caused these warts, however, was new. The type of papillomavirus it is most similar to causes self-resolving warts.

The horse was treated with a topical chemotherapy drug and the lesions disappeared within a month. The veterinarians on the case noted that the cream may not have been the cure for the warts and that they may have gone away on their own.

Though not every lesion caused by the equine papillomavirus needs to be biopsied, in this case it was the correct approach as the masses were not recognized as warts. It's important for vets to remember that warts can sometimes present with an unusual appearance, the treating vet noted.

NZ Horse Diagnosed With Novel Papilloma Virus

News — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 13:11:26 +0000

A 10-year-old Warmblood gelding in New Zealand was referred to a veterinary clinic with two masses on his left fetlock. The masses were each over an inch in diameter and had hard, rough surfaces. They grew rapidly in the three weeks since the horse's owner had discovered them. A piece of one of the masses was sent for microscopic evaluation and Drs. John Munday, Michael Hardcastle and Melissa Sim determined that a novel papillomavirus caused the lesions.

Papillomaviruses are double-stranded DNA viruses that tend to be host specific. There are nine equine papillomaviruses that have been sequenced; the first to be sequenced was Equus caballus type 1 (EcPV1), which causes papillomas in horses.

The masses the gelding had were most similar to EcPV1, but they didn't present in the same way: EcPV1 generally causes small masses around the face. Veterinarians treated the masses with imiquimod ad the lesions resolved in 14 weeks.

The study team noted that papillomas only develop when a host is infected by a papillomavirus for the first time, which is why warts (papillomas) typically develop in young horses. This is an additional indication that the virus that caused the lesions in the older horse is new.

Read the full study here.

papilloma virus | Horse Racing Free Tips

New Type Of Equine Wart Discovered

NZ Horse Diagnosed With Novel Papilloma Virus