What’s new and hot in veterinary medicine? What if you could get two of the world’s foremost equine veterinarians to dig through the mountain of research that is published each year and tell you what is really significant for your and your horses or your practice? That describes the annual Kester News Hour at the American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Dec. 3-7 this year in Seattle, Wash. Orthopedic surgery specialist Larry Bramlage, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., and internal medicine specialist John Madigan, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, professor of medicine and epidemiology and section chief of equine medicine at the University of California, Davis, host this popular section each year to a full house.


No Added Benefit from Higher Bute Dosages
Bramlage began with an Oklahoma State paper on Bute dosages. He said, “Horsemen are fond of using the freshman chemistry formula–if a little is good, a lot is better. This paper proved that 4g of Bute was no better than 2g (in treating chronic lameness). We want to get the message to horsemen there’s not an additive or a benefit when you keep upping the dose.” (www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=5769, J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2005 Feb 1;226(3):414-7.)


West Nile Virus
Madigan gave his usual West Nile virus (WNV) rundown, which he’s done every year since 1999, when the disease first showed up in the Western Hemisphere. In this year’s report, he reviewed the research study that showed infected mosquitoes can infect uninfected mosquitoes as they co-feed on an uninfected mouse (www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=5955). He reviewed the spread of WNV across the United States and said most of the horses that died of WNV w