Leptospirosis Confirmed in Kentucky Weanling

Veterinarians from Hagyard Equine Medical Center have confirmed leptospirosis in a Thoroughbred weanling.
Share
Favorite
Please login to bookmarkClose
Please login

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Veterinarians from Hagyard Equine Medical Center, in Lexington, Ky., have confirmed leptospirosis in a Kentucky Thoroughbred weanling, according to an Aug. 10 post on the clinic’s Facebook page. Christopher Smith, DVM, and Nathan Slovis, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, confirmed the case.

"The weanling was noted to have fever, lethargy, inappetance, and mild elevation of the kidney values noted on blood work," the statement read. "Dr. Smith is currently treating the weanling with penicillin for its kidney disease associated with leptospirosis. Diagnosis was made by convalescent serum titer."

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease found worldwide that affects many species, including horses and people. Horses are infected when bacteria enter through the skin or mucosal membranes of the eye or mouth by contact with infected animals’ blood, urine, or tissues. The infection can also occur when horses splash infected urine into their eyes or by eating hay or feed contaminated by infected urine.

Once infected, horses can experience fever, become listless, and/or go off their feed. Owners often see eyes with squinting, blinking, cloudiness, tearing, and swelling. Pregnant mares can lose their foals late in gestation. Adult horses can die of liver and/or kidney failure and might show jaundice in the latter stages of the disease

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Does your horse get turned out with a herd?
418 votes · 418 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!