Vegetative Endocarditis in Equids (1994–2006)

Abstract

Background: Endocarditis is a rare heart condition with variable clinical expressions in equids. Risk factors for this disease are incompletely understood.Objective: Describe risk factors for endocarditis in equids. Animals: One hundred and fifty-three equids admitted to Lie`ge University, 9 diagnosed with endocarditis and 144 free from endocarditis but admitted to the hospital with a differential diagnosis including this disease.Methods: Retrospective case-control study.Results: Equids with endocarditis were significantly younger (mean age 5 4.84 AE 5.74 years) than control equids (mean age 5 10.8 AE 7.73 years) (P 5 .01). No sex or breed predisposition was observed. Animals with hyperthermia (odds ratio [OR] 5 24.4; confidence interval [CI] 5 1.40-428), synovial distension (OR 5 13.4; CI 5 3.00-59.8), lameness (OR 5 6.52; CI 5 1.63-26.1), hyperglobulinemia (OR 5 26.4; CI 5 3.03-229), hypoalbuminemia (OR 5 11.4; CI 5 1.34-96.8), hyperfibrinogenemia (OR 5 9.81; CI 5 1.16-82.7), or leukocytosis (OR 5 7.12; CI 5 1.40-36.4) presented a significantly higher risk of having endocarditis than control horses. The presence of two of the clinical signs mentioned above significantly increased the probability of a diagnosis of endocarditis (P .05).Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Age is associated with equine endocarditis. The diagnostic value of certain clinical signs and abnormalities in blood parameters in this disease are described.

Bacterial Endocarditis in Two Spanish Foals After Neonatal Septicemia

“…The most common bacteria has been Streptococcus spp. and Actinobacillus equuli, although other species such as Staphylococcus, Pasteurella spp., Erysipelothrix rhusiopathie, meningococci and, Rhodococcus equi have also been reported [10,22,23,27]. When colt F1 and filly F2 were hospitalized because of neonatal septicemia, Salmonella and Escherichia coli were isolated in both of them and Actinobacillus spp.…”

“…It occurs predominantly in young animals [21,22], and no breed predisposition was obvious in a study of 10 cases [23]. In adult horses, two clinical forms have been described.…”

“…In our study, both foals presented increased MVT, and one of them (F2) also had an increased TVT. Tricuspid valve endocarditis has been reported in a horse after tooth extraction [25], septic jugular vein thrombophlebitis [22], and ventricular septal defect, causing a high degree of turbulence and jet lesions [26]. This type of lesion has been associated with the so-called Venturi effect with a high incidence of endocarditis [26].…”

“…The valves of the left side of the heart are often more affected than the tricuspid or pulmonic valve in humans and most domestic species, including horses [9,22,23]. This high prevalence of the left-sided bacterial endocarditis has been attributed to more favorable conditions for bacterial adherence and colonization of the valves, because of the high left-sided intraluminal pressure, and high blood content in the left side.…”

“…The acute form is characterized by fever, depression, reluctance to move due to thoracic discomfort and/or lameness, and a rapid development of signs of heart insufficiency, with edema and increased jugular filling. The subacute or chronic form commonly appears with fever, BW loss, shifting lameness, poor performance, lethargy/depression, heart murmur, or a combination of these signs for weeks or even months [9,22]. There are four predisposing factors: endocardial damage, formation of a platelet-fibrin thrombus on the injured endothelium, bacteremia, and high agglutination antibody titers toward the infective organism [9].…”