Prevalence of equine proliferative enteropathy in Hidaka district, Hokkaido, over five seasons

Hidekazu Niwa; Toru Higuchi; Seiichi Fujii; Yuta Kinoshita; Eri Uchida-Fujii; Masuo Sueyoshi; Toshio Nukada; Takanori Ueno

doi:10.1294/jes.33.71

Prevalence of equine proliferative enteropathy in Hidaka district, Hokkaido, over five seasons

J Equine Sci. 2022 Dec;33(4):71-74. doi: 10.1294/jes.33.71. Epub 2022 Dec 28.

Authors

Hidekazu Niwa¹, Toru Higuchi², Seiichi Fujii³, Yuta Kinoshita¹, Eri Uchida-Fujii¹, Masuo Sueyoshi⁴, Toshio Nukada⁵, Takanori Ueno¹

Affiliations

¹ Microbiology Division, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, Tochigi 329-0412, Japan.
² Mitsuishi Animal Medical Center, Hokkaido South Agricultural Mutual Aid Association, Hokkaido 053-0021, Japan.
³ Hokkaido Hidaka Livestock Hygiene Service Centre, Hokkaido 056-0003, Japan.
⁴ Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan.
⁵ Ritto Training Center, Japan Racing Association, Shiga, 520-3005, Japan.

Abstract

Equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) is an equine infectious disease that can lead to severe weight loss and hyperplasia of the intestinal mucosa due to infection with Lawsonia intracellularis. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of EPE in a major Thoroughbred breeding area: Hidaka district, Hokkaido, Japan. Of the 252 symptomatic horses that we tested, 192 EPE cases (76.2%), including 8 fatal cases, were confirmed from April 2015 to March 2020 by etiological and/or serological investigation. Most of the EPE cases were observed in foals (88.5%), with fewer cases in yearlings (7.3%) and adults (4.2%). Asymptomatic infection was observed in 62.9% of the horses kept with affected horses. These results suggest that EPE is an enzootic disease in Hidaka district.

Keywords: Hidaka; Lawsonia intracellularis; asymptomatic infection; equine proliferative enteropathy.