Heart disease isn’t just for the aging or overworked horse. Recent research in Belgium has shown that vegetative endocarditis, a bacterial infection of the heart, is actually much more likely to occur in younger horses than their older counterparts. Relatively rare in horses, endocarditis develops from bacteria circulating in the blood secondary to a primary infection elsewhere in the body.

 

Heart of cow with endocarditis

Bovine heart with visible vegetative endocarditis lesions

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