Leading researchers in the quest for the solution to equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) lectured to a packed room at the North American Veterinary Conference. While the protocol didn’t allow for debate among the speakers, debate underscored the sessions anyway. Several “givens” about EPM were questioned. Diagnostics and treatment protocols were bandied back and forth. And the unknowns of the life cycle of the causative protozoal agent, Sarcocystis neurona, were brought to the forefront.

Lectures were honestly revealing of on-going research, and they were followed by a lively question-and-answer time. After the end of the sessions, and a prolonged period of answering questions one-on-one with members of the audience, the speakers agreed to an informal discussion of EPM. Those giving lectures and involved in the round table were Robert MacKay, BVSc, PhD, Diplomate ACVIM, of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine; Frank Andrews, DVM, University of Tennessee, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences; Steve Reed, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM, of The Ohio State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital; and Martin Furr, DVM, of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Marion duPont Scott Equine Center