Taylorella equigenitalis in Icelandic intact males compared with other horse breeds using natural cover.

BACKGROUND: Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is caused by Taylorella equigenitalis. It is a venereal disease that is detected in some breeds more than others and can cause temporary infertility with substantial costs for regular testing, sanitation and retesting. There was a perceived increase in T. equigenitalis-positive cases in Icelandic intact males where natural cover is common. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of T. equigenitalis in Icelandic intact males and compare to draught horse and Haflinger intact males. We hypothesised that prevalence of T. equigenitalis is higher in Icelandic compared with draught and Haflinger intact males. STUDY DESIGN: Cross sectional. METHODS: Swabs from 76 Icelandic, 35 Haflinger, and 51 draught horse intact males were collected on 38 different farms and analysed by qPCR. Animals were further stratified into active breeding and non-breeding animals and age groups (1.5-7.0 and 8.0-26.0 years). Fisher's exact tests and mixed effect logistic regression with 'farm' as random effect were used to estimate differences in odds for T. equigenitalis-positive test results. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of T. equigenitalis in included intact males was 16.7% (27/162). The odds for T. equigenitalis-positive intact males were significantly higher in Icelandic compared with draught and Haflinger intact males (Odds ratio [OR] = 6.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.43-28.8, p = 0.02). Odds for T. equigenitalis-positive intact males were significantly lower in active breeding compared with non-breeding animals (OR = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.01-0.54, p = 0.009). Age had no significant influence on test results. MAIN LIMITATIONS: Convenience sampling with regional restrictions to Southern Germany and Austria, small sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Significantly higher odds for T. equigenitalis-positive intact males were found within Icelandic over draught and Haflinger and within non-breeding animals compared with active breeding animals. Findings suggest that non-breeding animals could be a reservoir for T. equigenitalis. Testing for CEM should therefore be routinely performed in Icelandic horses prior to breeding and investigations into epidemiology and reservoirs on affected farms should be initiated.

Evaluation of Non-Invasive Sampling Techniques for the Molecular Surveillance of Equid Herpesviruses in Yearling Horses.

BACKGROUND: Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) is a highly contagious respiratory tract pathogen of horses, and infection may be followed by myeloencephalopathy or abortion. Surveillance and early detection have focused on PCR assays using less tolerated nasal swabs. Here, we assess non-invasive non-contact sampling techniques as surveillance tools in naturally equid gammaherpesvirus 2-shedding horses as surrogates for EHV-1. METHODS: Horses were individually housed for 10 h periods on 2 consecutive days. Sampling included nasal swabs, nostril wipes, environmental swabs, droplet-catching devices, and air sampling. The latter was completed via two strategies: a combined air sample collected while going from horse to horse and a collective air sample collected at a stationary central point for 6 h. Samples were screened through quantitative PCR and digital PCR. RESULTS: Nine horses on day 1 and 11 horses on day 2 were positive for EHV-1; overall, 90.9% of the nostril wipes, 81.8% of the environmental surfaces, and 90.9% of the droplet-catching devices were found to be positive. Quantitative analysis showed that the mean DNA copies detection per cm2 of nostril wipe sampled concentration (4.3 × 105 per day) was significantly (p < 0.05) comparable to that of nasal swabs (3.6 × 105 per day) followed by environmental swabs (4.3 × 105 per day) and droplet catchers (3.5 × 103 per day), respectively. Overall, 100% of the air samples collected were positive on both qPCR and dPCR. In individual air samples, a mean concentration of 1.0 × 104 copies of DNA were detected in per m3 air sampled per day, while in the collective air samples, the mean concentration was 1.1 × 103. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental samples look promising in replacing direct contact sampling. Environmental and air sampling could become efficient surveillance tools at equestrian events; however, it needs threshold calculations for minimum detection levels.

Updated ACVIM consensus statement on equine herpesvirus-1.

Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is a highly prevalent and frequently pathogenic infection of equids. The most serious clinical consequences of infection are abortion and equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM). The previous consensus statement was published in 2009 and considered pathogenesis, strain variation, epidemiology, diagnostic testing, vaccination, outbreak prevention and control, and treatment. A recent survey of American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine large animal diplomates identified the need for a revision to this original consensus statement. This updated consensus statement is underpinned by 4 systematic reviews that addressed key questions concerning vaccination, pharmaceutical treatment, pathogenesis, and diagnostic testing. Evidence for successful vaccination against, or effective treatment of EHV-1 infection was limited, and improvements in experimental design and reporting of results are needed in future studies of this important disease. This consensus statement also updates the topics considered previously in 2009.

Vaccination for the prevention of equine herpesvirus-1 disease in domesticated horses: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Equine herpes virus type 1 (EHV-1) infection in horses is associated with respiratory and neurologic disease, abortion, and neonatal death. HYPOTHESIS: Vaccines decrease the occurrence of clinical disease in EHV-1-infected horses. METHODS: A systematic review was performed searching multiple databases to identify relevant studies. Selection criteria were original peer-reviewed research reports that investigated the in vivo use of vaccines for the prevention of disease caused by EHV-1 in domesticated horses. Main outcomes of interest included pyrexia, abortion, neurologic disease, viremia, and nasal shedding. We evaluated risk of bias, conducted exploratory meta-analyses of incidence data for the main outcomes, and performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for each vaccine subtype. RESULTS: A total of 1018 unique studies were identified, of which 35 met the inclusion criteria. Experimental studies accounted for 31/35 studies, with the remainder being observational studies. Eight vaccine subclasses were identified including commercial (modified-live, inactivated, mixed) and experimental (modified-live, inactivated, deletion mutant, DNA, recombinant). Risk of bias was generally moderate, often because of underreporting of research methods, and sample sizes were small leading to imprecision in the estimate of the effect size. Several studies reported either no benefit or minimal vaccine efficacy for the primary outcomes of interest. Meta-analyses revealed significant heterogeneity was present, and our confidence in the quality of evidence for most outcomes was low to moderate. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Our review indicates that commercial and experimental vaccines minimally reduce the incidence of clinical disease associated with EHV-1 infection.

From nature to industry: Harnessing enzymes for biocatalysis.

Biocatalysis harnesses enzymes to make valuable products. This green technology is used in countless applications from bench scale to industrial production and allows practitioners to access complex organic molecules, often with fewer synthetic steps and reduced waste. The last decade has seen an explosion in the development of experimental and computational tools to tailor enzymatic properties, equipping enzyme engineers with the ability to create biocatalysts that perform reactions not present in nature. By using (chemo)-enzymatic synthesis routes or orchestrating intricate enzyme cascades, scientists can synthesize elaborate targets ranging from DNA and complex pharmaceuticals to starch made in vitro from CO2-derived methanol. In addition, new chemistries have emerged through the combination of biocatalysis with transition metal catalysis, photocatalysis, and electrocatalysis. This review highlights recent key developments, identifies current limitations, and provides a future prospect for this rapidly developing technology.

[Pain reduction by radiosynoviorthesis in rheumatism-induced synovitis of the elbow : Results of a retrospective multicenter data analysis]. / Schmerzreduktion durch Radiosynoviorthese bei rheumatisch bedingter Synovialitis des Ellenbogens : Ergebnisse einer retrospektiven, multizentrischen Datenanalyse.

BACKGROUND: Radiosynoviorthesis (RSO) is a nuclear medical local treatment modality for inflammatory joint diseases. It is indicated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in joints with persistent synovitis despite adequate pharmacotherapy. Arthritis of the elbow joint occurs in up to 2/3 of patients with RA. Intra-articular radiotherapy using the beta emitter [186Re] rhenium sulfide leads to sclerosis of the inflamed synovial membrane with subsequent pain alleviation. The clinical efficacy in cubital arthritis, however, has so far only been described in small monocentric studies. OBJECTIVE: The degree of pain alleviation by RSO was analyzed in patients with rheumatoid cubital arthritis, treated in several nuclear medical practices specialized in RSO. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The subjective pain intensity before and after RSO was documented in a total of 107 patients with rheumatic cubital arthritis using a 10-step numeric rating scale (NRS). A difference of ≥ -2 is rated as a significant improvement. Follow-up examinations were done after a mean interval of 14 months after RSO (at least 3 months, maximum 50 months). RESULTS: The mean NRS value was 7.3 ± 2.1 before RSO and 2.8 ± 2.2 after RSO. A significant pain alleviation was seen in 78.5% of all patients treated. The subgroup analysis also showed a significant improvement in the pain symptoms in all groups depending on the time interval between the RSO and the control examination. A significant pain progression was not observed. The degree of pain relief was independent of the time of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Using RSO for local treatment of rheumatoid cubital arthritis leads to a significant and long-lasting pain relief in more than ¾ of the treated patients.

Epidemiological Aspects of Equid Herpesvirus-Associated Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) Outbreaks.

Equid Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a multifactorial disease following an EHV-1 infection in Equidae. We investigated a total of 589 horses on 13 premises in Europe in search of risk factors for the development of EHM. We found that fever (p < 0.001), increasing age (p = 0.032), and female sex (p = 0.042) were risk factors for EHM in a logistic mixed model. Some breeds had a decreased risk to develop EHM compared to others (Shetland and Welsh ponies; p = 0.017; p = 0.031), and fewer EHV-1-vaccinated horses were affected by EHM compared to unvaccinated horses (p = 0.02). Data evaluation was complex due to high variability between outbreaks with regards to construction and environment; viral characteristics and the virus's transmissibility were affected by operational management. This study confirms earlier suspected host-specific risk factors, and our data support the benefit of high vaccine coverage at high-traffic boarding facilities.

Intra-articular Treatment of Digital Osteoarthritis by Radiosynoviorthesis-Clinical Outcome in Long-term Follow-up.

PURPOSE: This retrospective study analyzed the long-term effects of radiosynoviorthesis (RSO) with special emphasis to local joint pain in patients from 4 different RSO centers in Germany and Austria. METHODS: A total of 168 finger joints in 147 patients with digital joint OA were investigated. The indication for RSO was based on both clinical complaints and a proven synovitis, despite anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapy and previous intra-articular corticosteroid injections. Radiosynoviorthesis was performed according to international guidelines. A numeric visual analog scale (VAS) before and after treatment was used to measure the outcome. Follow-up was done for at least 2 years after treatment, in some patients even over 10 years. RESULTS: Radiosynoviorthesis resulted in a significant reduction of VAS values in most of the patients, lasting for the whole period of follow-up. Two-thirds of the treated joints showed clinically relevant improvement, if a reduction of 30% in VAS values was defined as a reasonable cutoff. The best results were achieved in thumb base joints. CONCLUSIONS: This article confirms that RSO is a suitable treatment option for digital joint OA with a proven synovitis. The analgesic effect is long-lasting and comparable to the success of RSO in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Equine Herpesvirus-1 Myeloencephalopathy.

Although equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a relatively uncommon manifestation of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection, it can cause devastating losses during outbreaks. Antemortem diagnosis of EHM relies mainly on the molecular detection of EHV-1 in nasal secretions and blood. Management of horses affected by EHM is aimed at supportive nursing and nutritional care, at reducing central nervous system inflammation and preventing thromboembolic sequelae. Horses exhibiting sudden and severe neurologic signs consistent with a diagnosis of EHM pose a definite risk to the surrounding horse population. Consequently, early intervention to prevent the spread of infection is required.