Scottish Researchers on the Hunt for Cause of Equine Grass Sickness

Equine grass sickness (EGS) is an often fatal neurologic disease affecting primarily young grazing horses, and a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland are working to find its cause. Their findings regarding bacteria in the feces of affected horses compared to non-affected horses were recently published in the Equine Veterinary Journal.
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Equine grass sickness (EGS) is an often fatal neurologic disease affecting primarily young grazing horses, and a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland are working to find its cause. Their findings regarding bacteria in the feces of affected horses compared to non-affected horses were recently published in the Equine Veterinary Journal.

Since its first reported occurrence in Scotland, grass sickness has occurred in most northern European countries and in South America. Horses with more severe forms of the disease experience colic, difficulty swallowing, reflux of stomach contents, excessive salivation, high heart rate, impacted intestines, muscle tremors, and patchy sweating. Horses with the less severe form experience sudden and extreme weight loss, drying of the nasal membranes, and difficulty in swallowing. Only mild cases that receive intensive care survive.

The clinical signs of EGS are largely caused by degeneration of specific nerve cells responsible for controlling involuntary body functions. The poor prognosis associated with the disease is largely attributable to an impairment that prevents food from moving through the intestinal tract. Researchers have proposed that the nerve cell degeneration results from a neurotoxin and that toxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum might also be a cause.

Recently, researchers tested manure samples from horses with EGS and compared them with samples from healthy horses and those suffering from colic that did not have EGS

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