EPM Incidence in Horses: Holding Steady (AAEP 2010)

Some say the incidence of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is increasing, while others say it’s decreasing. Who’s right? At the 2010 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 4-8 in Baltimore, Md., one presenter sought to answer that question. Frank Andrews, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, director of the Louisiana State University Equine Health Studies Program, discussed a
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Some say the incidence of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is increasing, while others say it's decreasing. Who's right? At the 2010 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 4-8 in Baltimore, Md., one presenter sought to answer that question. Frank Andrews, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, director of the Louisiana State University Equine Health Studies Program, discussed a retrospective evaluation of 17 years' worth of horses' records from 15 university equine hospitals, coupled with an online survey of veterinarians.

The research team found that the incidence of EPM diagnosis (confirmed by positive test results for the protozoa) in those university hospitals' populations has not increased from 1990 to 2007 (despite a spike from 1995 to 1997, when the Western blot test first came into use). The proportional EPM morbidity rate, or rate of EPM cases within the hospital population, was found to be 0.88% over the study period.

The rate of EPM diagnosis "peaked in 1997 with a 1.95% incidence," commented Andrews. "This is very common in epidemiology, when the number of cases goes way up when a new test is found. Also, at least two pharmaceutical companies were working on products to treat EPM at that time, so more horses were potentially being enrolled in university studies of the disease.

"The actual incidence could be higher if you consider nonclinical or subclinical infection, or horses that have the disease but are not diagnosed," he added

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Christy West has a BS in Equine Science from the University of Kentucky, and an MS in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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