Pigeon Fever Prevalence Evaluated

Researchers have confirmed what many veterinarians have feared in recent years: The number of cases of Cornyebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection—more commonly known as “pigeon fever”—in U.S. horses has risen dramatically over the past 10 years, and the affliction now affects horses in most areas of the country.

Pigeon fever is an equine disease that can cause external or internal abscesses and/or an infection or ulcerative lymphangitis in the limbs. While not often deadly, it can pass from horse to horse and generally requires veterinary treatment.

University of California, Davis, (UC Davis) researchers worked with 15 laboratories across the United States that provided data on 2,237 culture-positive samples from horses in 23 states from 2003 through 2012.

They determined that the number of pigeon fever cases rose dramatically in 2011 and 2012, with cases from those years comprising approximately one half of the total reported. And, although there were no significant associations between the number of occurrences and breed or sex, the clinical signs observed in infected animals differed significantly by both sex and geographic area.

Internal abscesses, which only developed in 2% of the total cases examined, were most frequently seen in mares, with the majority of such cases reported in California. The researchers suggested that this could be due to the state’s veterinarians' familiarity with pigeon fever's signs. Also, although the researchers observed ulcerative lymphangitis in only 1% of cases, all but one were reported in Texas. This, they said, could be due to a unique population of organisms spreading the disease in that state.

Source: TheHorse