engleski

EQUINE RECCURENT UVEITIS PREVALENCE IN A GROUP OF 129 LIPIZZANER HORSES IN CROATIA

Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is the most frequent cause of blindness in horses worldwide. It has approximately 8% prevalence in horses in Europe and USA, with different studies reporting up to a 25% prevalence. ERU manifests as a recurrent acute, non-granulomatous inflammation of the uvea. The pathogenesis of the disease is explained by a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, with persistence of immunologically sensitized cells, causing recurrent cell-bound antibody formation that respond to systemic antigen reexposure. The purpose of this study was to determine a prevalence of ERU in a group of 129 lipizzaner horses in Croatia. A thorough history was obtained from the horse owners, including the information on husbandry, diet, vaccination, prophylactic treatments, previous diseases, behavior, changes in the eyes and vision. The standard ophthalmologic examination included visual examination of the eye and adnexa, palpation, ocular reflexes testing, vision testing, dark room focal light examination of the cornea and iris, direct ophthalmoscopy and when indicated flourescein testing. All examined eyes were photographically documented. The clinical diagnosis of ERU was based on a history of documented recurrent or persistant episodes of uveitis coupled with the characteristic clinical signs of the disease. Ophthalmologic examination was performed on 129 (12, 2% of the lipizzian population in Croatia) lipizzian horses of different gender, older than 12 months of age, in 7 different Counties of Croatia. Acute phase of the disease was diagnosed in 0, 75% of ERU horses and chronic phase ERU was in 1, 55 % of horses. Among horses not showing other specific signs of ERU, other ocular pathologies were detected, where aqueous flare was found in 3, 6%, scleral injection in 5, 5%, acute conjunctivitis in 6, 4%, and cornel ulceration in 0, 9% of the examined horses. The prevalence of ERU in examined group of 129 lipizzaner horses in Croatia was estimated to 2, 30 %, what led us to a conclusion they do not belong to the group of European warmblood breeds with a higher ERU prevalence.

ERU; prevalence; lipizzaner; Croatia

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