The prevalence of recent exposure to Streptococcus equi var equi infec3on in Thoroughbred horses in Ireland Alex Shirlow, Dr Vivienne Duggan UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belﬁeld, Dublin 4, Ireland Background and Objec3ves •  Thoroughbred horses move very frequently for races, sales and breeding causing huge poten9al for spread of contagious disease. •  One such disease is “Strangles” or Streptococcus equi var equi infec9on •  Strangles prevalence in the unregulated sector is es3mated at 42%, and at 39.5% in the par3ally regulated horse popula3on as found in previous World Horse Welfare Bursary funded studies. •  Clinical Signs of Strangles infec3on-‐ acute high fever; abscesses form in the sub-‐mandibular and/or retro-‐pharyngeal lymph nodes and there is also a nasal discharge seen; this is ini9ally serous but changes to muco-‐purulent throughout the course of the disease . •  One of the most challenging problems with Strangles infec9on is that of the chronic carrier state which develops in up to 10% of aﬀected animals aGer retro-‐pharyngeal lymph nodes rupture into the guHural pouches, resul9ng in sporadic shedding Image showing involvement of the Lymph nodes of the head (yellow), guHeral pouch (red) and the nares, nasal discharge (green) Materials and Methods Map showing the premises visited •  I visited 4 agricultural shows as shown on the map to discuss infec9ous disease and welfare with equine owners in the general horse popula9on in Ireland •  I selected 162 random blood samples from Thoroughbred horses (83 Broodmares, and 79 Thoroughbreds in Training) that had been submiHed to the Irish Equine Centre in County Kildare for other tests. •  ELISA tes9ng was used to iden9fy recent exposure to Strep. equi var equi by iden9fying two an9gens (A and C) that are speciﬁc to the bacteria. •  These samples were processed anonymously by the Animal Health Trust •  Posi9ve results indicate that the horse was exposed within six months of the blood sample. ELISA serology test for Strangles an9gens Results •  •  •  •  •  •  Horse, pony and donkey owners at the agricultural events had mostly heard of Strangles; there was mixing of horses, ponies and donkeys at many, and ample opportunity for spread of disease through fomites and nose to nose contact. One event didn’t check passports or have a vet on site. The overall sero-‐posi9ve rate in Thoroughbreds was 9.89% which is similar to the level found in the general horse popula9on in the UK (10%). The sero-‐posi9vity rate was similar in both Thoroughbred popula9ons. However this ﬁgure is s9ll signiﬁcantly lower than that seen in the previous two horse popula9ons studied, the unregulated and par9ally regulated popula9ons of horses. The borderline samples may have been yet to seroconvert In the UK they have implemented a “Breaking the Strangles Hold” programme Thoroughbred Number popula3on sampled Broodmares 83 % Seroposi3ve % Borderline 9.64 16.87 Throughbreds 79 10.13 3.80 in Training The results will be available in the website I have developed as part of my research, along with the previous strangles projects It will be a hub for equine health and welfare research carried out by the group in UCD. It can be accessed at www.ucd.ie/horsehealthandwelfare 90 Percentage (%) •  Graph showing percentage Thoroughbreds tes9ng posi9ve to Strep equi var equi on ELISA tes9ng 80 70 60 50 40 Broodmares 30 Throughbreds in Training 20 10 0 Number sampled % Seroposi9ve % Borderline Result and popula3on Conclusions •  This was a small pilot study •  The results of posi9ve horses are similar to that seen in the general horse popula9on in the UK •  It shows that further research would be useful in the area •  However it does show the need for improved biosecurity and strategic isola9on and vaccina9on. •  At some of the shows that involved Thoroughbreds, minature horses, donkeys and ponies there was mixing and no passport contol; this leads to higher chances of infec9ous disease spread and poor traceability. Acknowledgements •  •  •  •  Dr Vivienne Duggan Mark Carty Dr Des Leadon and the Irish Equine Centre This work was generously sponsored by World Horse Welfare Nasal discharge seen at one of the shows