Smith found imported horses had greater increases in SAA at 72, 96, and 168 hours compared to native horses. | Photo: Kevin Thompson/The Horse

Meagan Smith, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, assistant professor of clinical equine field science at the University of Pennsylvania, compared blood parameters between recently vaccinated imported and U.S. native horses to find out. She presented her findings at the 65th Annual American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Dec. 7-11 in Denver.

Specifically, Smith looked at the acute phase proteins (APP) fibrinogen and serum amyloid A (SAA), which rise in response to inflammation and infection. The body also produces them in response to any type of tissue damage.

She recruited 30 horses for her study: 21 routinely vaccinated native horses and nine recently imported horses on a quarantine farm that hadn’t been exposed to U.S. vaccination protocols. Researchers administered three different vaccines intramuscularly to all horses, drew blood, and assessed rectal temperature, attitude, appetite, and APP levels at 0, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 168 hours after vaccination