Amanda M. House, DVM, DACVIM

Vaccination is a critical component of an equine health maintenance program. Veterinarians play a crucial role in client education, risk assessment, and herd evaluation to determine which vaccination program is best suited for an individual horse or herd. Selection of vaccinations must take into account the horse's age, sex, geographic location, use of the horse, pregnancy status, risk for developing disease, and associated costs of immunization to the client.

Equine infectious diseases continue to emerge and re-emerge, infecting horses across the US and beyond. For the purpose of this discussion, we will discuss equine piroplasmosis (EP), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Lyme Disease in the horse.

Diagnosis and treatment of horses with colic have certainly improved in the last 20 years. However, horses with recurrent colic continue to be a diagnostic and often management challenge for both owners and veterinarians.

Equine colitis can be a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for both practitioners and owners alike. The presenting clinical signs can be identical regardless of the etiology.

Strangles is a result of bacterial infection with Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (referred to as S. equi). The disease has been in the equine population for centuries and was first reported in 1251 (Sweeney et al, 2005i). The infection is highly contagious in horse populations and can become endemic on farms with previous outbreaks of the disease.

Recurrent airway obstruction (also known as heaves, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, broken wind, and chronic airway reactivity) is a common respiratory disease of horses characterized by periods of reversible airway obstruction caused by neutrophil accumulation, mucus production, and bronchospasm.