As with many infectious diseases, it’s preferable to prevent equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) rather than treat it. This emerging disease, which is caused by the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis and infects foals and weanlings worldwide, has placed significant financial burden on parts of the equine industry, but horse owners and managers can prevent its spread. Nicola Pusterla, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, shared some important prevention tactics to this end.

An EPE-affected foal (above), and the same foal after recovery (below).

Equine proliferative enteropathy causes the mucosal lining in a weanling’s small and large intestine to thicken, resulting in reduced absorption of nutrients and a loss of protein from the body (via the gastrointestinal system). Clinical signs can be indefinite but might include slow growth, weight loss, fever, depression, poor appetite, edema (fluid swelling), and/or occasional diarrhea and colic. The disease generally isn’t fatal