The Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine, in Stillwater, is looking for equine donations for two equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) studies currently being conducted by Martin Furr, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, PhD, MA Ed, head of the Department of Physiological Sciences. Furr is accepting donations of horses of any breed, gender, type, or age. He will collect blood samples and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and then humanely euthanize each horse.

One study will evaluate whether collecting CSF from two different sites will affect the results of EPM testing. Horses diagnosed with EPM by veterinarians are needed to collect CSF samples from the junction between the head and neck (atlanto-occipital joint) and the lumbosacral joint near the tailhead. Those EPM-positive horses will also be examined postmortem. Samples will be collected to further our understanding of the horse’s immune response to the causative protozoan organisms, S. neurona and N. hughesi. Furr anticipates this data will provide valuable insight into which horses develop disease after exposure to the parasites and which ones can fight off infection.

For more information, please contact Furr at martin.furr@okstate.edu.