Equine proliferative enteropathy in weanling foals

Early diagnosis and treatment gives you a good / excellent prognosis for this serious disease of weanlings. Remarkable decreases in blood protein levels (albumin mostly) should be addressed with plasma infusions. For more see the article above.
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Equine proliferative enteropathy in weanling foals on a German breeding farm: clinical course, treatment and long-term outcome
J Equine Vet Sci. 2022 Jan 21;103873.

Authors
Jil Dohrmann 1 , Franziska Hildebrand 2 , Janine Straub 1 , Rica Wadephul 1 , Nicola Pusterla 3 , Fritjof Freise 4 , Monica Venner 5
Affiliations

1 Clinic for Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, Foundation, Hanover, Germany.
2 Clinic for Horses, Lewitz Stud, Neustadt-Glewe, Germany.
3 Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, USA.
4 Institute for Biometry, Epidemiology and Information Processing, University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, Foundation, Hanover, Germany.
5 Equine Clinic, Destedt, Germany. Electronic address: MVenner@gmx.de.

Abstract

The goal of the current report was to describe the clinical signs, therapy and outcome of foals with suspected equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) due to an infection with Lawsonia intracellularis. Forty foals, born on the same breeding farm, were diagnosed with suspected clinical EPE between September 2019 and January 2020. Data of these cases were analyzed retrospectively regarding the course of the disease, treatment, outcome and long-term prognosis. All horses, including randomly selected control horses, were reassessed about nine months after the suspicion of EPE. The horses affected were between 5 and 10 months of age. Fever was the most common clinical sign. Hypoproteinemia was shown consistently in all cases. Seroconversion was detected in all horses affected, while fecal shedding of Lawsonia intracellularis via qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was only found in 21 cases. Treatment was based on tetracyclines and the administration of equine plasma IV. A total of 39/40 foals survived EPE. No long-term effects in terms of poor body condition or abnormal blood values were observed. If diagnosed and treated early, EPE can generally be described as a disease with a good prognosis and no long-term effects in Warmblood horses.

Keywords: Lawsonia intracellularis; equine plasma; horse; hypoproteinemia.