b'YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2017 AAEP CONVENTION SPONSORED BYThere was a significant difference in SAA levels between healthy and sick horses, said Oertly, adding that SAA has a much higher sensitivity than rectal temperature.At 24 hours after horses arrival, SAA had 86.7% sensitivity (ability to identify a sick horse correctly) and 91.9% specificity (ability to identify a healthy horse cor-rectly), compared to 3.2% sensitivity and 100% specificity with rectal temperature.SAA should be added to the physical exam as standard protocol to evaluate health in high-risk horses, said Oertly. If I detect a horse as early as possible, I perform at the highest level.He said SAA is a more reliable indicator of inflammation than rectal temperature Getting Ahead ofmight have time to treat the horse to still to perform an SAA reading is 24 hours post-arrival, using a 35 g/mL threshold. Infectious Diseases in traveling horses, and the ideal time Of course, additional diagnostics are war-COURTESY FEI/GABRIEL NASCIMENTO ranted if a horses SAA levels rise.ALEXANDRA BECKSTETT; followed 121 high-level Warmblood showUncovering Coronavirus Risk FactorsCLAIR THUNES, PHD jumpers, ages 8 to 17, along three stops ofEquine coronavirus is newer on the the Longines Global Champions Tour. scene than most equine diseases we SAA Detects Early Inflammation inAll horses first flew to Miami, Florida,hear about, with vets reporting the first Frequent Flyers and vets ran a stall-side SAA reading andoutbreaks among adult horses just a few world are at a particularly high riskrival to quarantine, 24 hours after arrival,fever, anorexia, diarrhea, and colic in af-E lite sport horses that fly around thehealth check prior to the flight, upon ar- years ago. Practitioners know it causes of exposure to infectious disease and 48 hours after arrival. Veterinary stafffected horses. To prevent it, however, they due to comingling with other horsestook rectal temperatures twice daily. Thenneed to better understand what increases and increased stress on their immunehorses flew to Mexico City and Shanghai,a horses chances of infection. systemsand contracting one couldwhere Oertly repeated this process. Nicola Pusterla, DVM, PhD, Dipl.sideline them indefinitely. The sooner vet- Of these horses, 31 developed clinicalACVIM, professor of medicine and epi-erinarians can identify and begin treatingsigns of a problem (e.g., coughing). All 31demiology at the University of California, a sick horse, the better for all involved. had elevated SAA levels, but only one hadDavis, School of Veterinary Medicine, So Marc Oertly, DVM, of the Swiss In- a high temperature. The sick horses SAAlooked at data on thousands of horses stitute of Equine Medicine, in Berne, setlevels were above 35 g/mL 24 to 48 hoursfrom all over the U.S. to find risk factors. out to determine whether serum amyloidbefore they started showing clinical signs.He explained that theres been a steady A (SAA) concentrations could suggestincreasefrom 4% to about 9%in inflammation sooner than a rectal ther- laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases mometer in traveling horses.in adult horses since 2010 (when scien-Serum amyloid A is a protein presenttists introduced the qPCR diagnostic test in undetectable to low levels in healthyfor coronavirus to the U.S.). horses. The liver releases SAA into theAbout one in 10 horses in the United bloodstream in response to inflammation,AAEP States will test positive for coronavirus, causing levels to rise 1,000-fold or more.@AAEPHorseDocsbut fewer than 20% of those will show Vets can measure these levels to detectFlu can spread furthersigns, he said.infection and monitor treatment response. based off coughing. If yourThe disease is widespread and occurs In a study funded by StableLab, ahorse shares airspace withmore frequently in colder months, he said, company that developed a stall-side blooda flu-stricken horse, theylikely due to husbandry changes and an test to measure SAA in horses, Oertlyare exposed.Dr. Josieincrease in young stock on the ground evaluated the optimum time point forTraub-Dargatz on outbreak(the virus is commonly found in foals).measuring SAA after horses travel. Hecontrol and biosecurity.Explosive outbreaks of this highly A38 TheHorse.com/AAEP2017 AAEP Wrap-Up THE HORSEMarch 2018'