Prevention of Infection in the Equine Neonate

PREVENTION OF INFECTION IN THE EQUINE NEONATE

Early on in foal medicine, the umbilicus was considered the route of infection for most foals with septicemia and septic arthritis. Numerous studies have shown the umbilicus is not involved in the majority of foal septicemia cases. We developed the hypothesis that delayed gut closure and exposure to bacteria during udder seeking or due to delayed feeding or nursing and subsequent environmental licking or ingestion of bacteria by the newborn foal is the risk factor and source of bacteria for most septicemias in foals. Early administration or ingestion of colostrum may be associated with reduced illness in foals because of early (rapid) gut closure preventing absorption of bacteria across the gut wall. Thus a foal with high IgG could be a marker for wellbeing based on rapid and early feeding prior to bacterial access across the open gut. Additionally, this would explain healthy foals that stood and nursed vigorously but did not become ill despite low serum IgG. […]