EQUITARIAN SESSION


trained veterinarians with the help of Nicaraguan veterinary students. At a minimum, the following information was collected: the horse’s age in years, body condition score (BCS) from 1–9 on the Henneke Scale, temperature (in Fahrenheit), pulse, respira- tion, mucous membrane color (MM), and estimated numbers of external parasites (ticks) were recorded. Whenever possible, photos of the horses were taken to help ensure that body condition scoring was con- sistent across the different veterinarians. Blood and fecal samples were taken to be pro- cessed or submitted for the following:


● Packed cell volume (PCV) ● Plasma total solids (TS) via refractometer ● Blood smear evaluation ● Quantitative fecal flotation via McMaster chamber


● Equine infectious anemia (EIA) via agar gel immuno-diffusion (AGID)


● Babesia caballi via cELISAa with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followup


● Theileria equi via cELISAa with PCR followup Samples were processed the same day they


were collected. Serum was separated and refriger- ated, and whole blood was used to make a blood smear and determine PCV and TS. All readings for PCV and TS were performed by the author. Blood smears were later stainedb and evaluated by the author for presence of hemoparasites. Differential counts were not performed. All serology was per- formed the following week, at the diagnostic labora- tory of the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica in Heredia, due to lack of diagnostic capabilities in Nicaragua and difficulty in obtaining permits to bring samples back to the United States. Fecal samples were refrigerated during storage and pro- cessed by the author using standard technique for quantitative fecal flotation using a McMaster count- ing chamber.


3. Results


The sample set of 35 horses included 10 mares, 10 stallions and 15 geldings (Table 1). Ages ranged from 1 to 19 years with an average of 8.4 years. Body condition ranged from 1.5 to 5 of 9 on the Henneke scale, with an average of 2.9/9. The aver- age body condition varied slightly by community: Granada averaged 2.9/9, Managua 3/9, La Paz Cen- tro 2.6/9, and Ometepe 3.1/9. The majority of horses (33/35 or 94%) were classi-


fied as anemic with a PCV less than 32%, and the average PCV was 26.6%. The average value of to- tal plasma solids was 7.0 g/dL with a range of 6.4 to 9.3 g/dL. No animals were found to be hypopro- teinemic. The subjective classification of mucous membrane color as “pink” or “pale” was a weak predictor of actual PCV. For the 20 horses classi- fied as “pink”, the PCV value ranged from 20 to 37% with an average of 26.8%. For the 13 horses clas-


338 2015  Vol. 61  AAEP PROCEEDINGS


sified as “pale”, the PCV ranged from 15–30% with an average of 26.1%. BCS did not correlate to PCV (Fig. 1). However, the three horses with the high- est PCV (all 30%) also had body condition scores of 4/9, which is higher than the average of 2.9/9. The AGID test for EIA was positive in four of 35 samples, for an overall prevalence rate of 11%. However, three of four positives were found in Granada (38% local prevalence rate) and no posi- tives were recorded in Managua or Ometepe. The average PCV for the four positive horses was 22%, lower than the overall average of 26.6% and the average BCS was also lower than average at 2.4/9. Evaluation of the blood smears did not reveal any hemoparasites, but various indicators of anemia were frequently observed, such as anisocytosis, marked rouleaux formation, and increased central pallor of red blood cells. Almost all horses (34/35, or 97%) were positive on


the cELISA screening test for one or both of the organisms that cause equine piroplasmosis; co- infections were common. The predominant organ- ism varied by community, as shown in Fig. 2. In Granada, 63% were positive for B. caballi and 100% were positive for T. equi; in Managua, 60% were positive for B. caballi and 80% were positive for T. equi; in La Paz Centro, 83% were positive for B. caballi and 58% were positive for T. equi; and in Ometepe, 100% were positive for B. caballi and 20% were positive for T. equi. When the horses were grouped by cELISA status, there were modest dif- ferences in body condition and PCV value. The six animals that tested positive for only T. equi showed a lower-than-average PCV (24.5%) but a higher- than-average BCS (3.1/9); the 13 animals positive for only B. caballi had a higher-than-average PCV (28.5%) and an average BCS (2.8/9); the 15 animals positive for both organisms were close to the general averages at 26.2% and 2.9/9, respectively. The one horse that was negative for both T. equi and B. caballi was also negative for EIA, and yet was still moderately anemic with a PCV of 23% and a BCS of 2.5/9. Due to financial limitations, only a subset of pos-


itive samples were selected for follow-up PCR to investigate what percentage of positive animals ei- ther had active piroplasmosis or were serving as reservoirs for the organism. For B. caballi, 13 sam- ples with positive cELISA were also submitted for follow-up PCR, and only one tested positive (7.7%). For T. equi, 12 samples with positive cELISA were submitted for follow-up PCR and seven were found to be positive (58.3%). Of the seven animals with positive cELISA and PCR results, the average BCS was 2.6/9; the average BCS for the five horses that were cELISA positive and PCR negative was 3.6/9. Fecal flotation revealed strongyle eggs in 24 of 29 samples (83%). Of the 24 samples with strongyles, five samples had less than 500 eggs per gram (EPG) and were classified as low shedders; 14 samples had from 500-1150 EPG and were classified as moderate


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