Additional cases of pericarditis are occurring in Kentucky and possibly other states (including Ohio), with the problem now claiming lives.


Pericarditis is an inflammation of, and fluid in, the sac that surrounds the heart. Dr. Doug Byars, head of the internal medicine unit at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee (HDM) veterinary firm in Lexington, Ky., said veterinarians at his clinic and those at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital are starting to see horses previously treated for pericarditis returning to the clinics with more heart problems.


“This is becoming clinically significant,” said Byars, “and some of the horses are starting to wind up in necropsy.”


Byars added that some equine practitioners are starting to define this syndrome as an “epicarditis,” which describes inflammation in a layer on the outside of the heart, not necessarily in the pericardial sac around the heart. “These can have a bleak prognosis,” he added

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