Chicago may seem a surprising choice for studying thoroughbred
racing, especially since it was originally a famous harness racing
town and did not get heavily into thoroughbred racing until the
...1880s. However, Chicago in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries was second only to New York as a center of both
thoroughbred racing and off-track gambling. Horse Racing the
Chicago Way shines a light on this fascinating, complicated
history, exploring the role of political influence and class in the
rise and fall of thoroughbred racing; the business of racing; the
cultural and social significance of racing; and the impact
widespread opposition to gambling in Illinois had on the sport.
Riess also draws attention to the nexus that existed between horse
racing, politics, and syndicate crime, as well as the emergence of
neighborhood bookmaking, and the role of the national racing wire
in Chicago. Taking readers from the grandstands of Chicago's finest
tracks to the underworld of crime syndicates and downtown
poolrooms, Riess brings to life this understudied era of sports
history.
African horse sickness (AHS) is a hemorrhagic viral fever of horses. It is the only equine disease for which the World Organization for Animal Health has introduced specific guidelines for member ...countries seeking official recognition of disease-free status. Since 1997, South Africa has maintained an AHS controlled area; however, sporadic outbreaks of AHS have occurred in this area. We compared the whole genome sequences of 39 AHS viruses (AHSVs) from field AHS cases to determine the source of 3 such outbreaks. Our analysis confirmed that individual outbreaks were caused by virulent revertants of AHSV type 1 live, attenuated vaccine (LAV) and reassortants with genome segments derived from AHSV types 1, 3, and 4 from a LAV used in South Africa. These findings show that despite effective protection of vaccinated horses, polyvalent LAV may, paradoxically, place susceptible horses at risk for AHS.
The risk of physical accident or injury to humans from horses is well understood. Now, there is increasing awareness of negative impacts on the physical and mental wellbeing of horses from living in ...fundamentally human environments and being subject to human management regimes. The 17 articles in this collection describe horse-related risks to humans and human-related risks to horses across a range of equestrian disciplines, sectors and activities. Not only do the authors take detailed approaches towards describing and calculating risk, they suggest solutions-focussed interventions for reducing the consequence and likelihood of harm to horses and humans in their relations with one another. Together, these important articles provide strategies for maximising the mutual benefits of humans and horses in each other’s lives. By considering human, animal and environmental aspects of horse-related risk, this collection provides a foundation for the development of an ‘Equestrian One Health’ framework to underpin future research into horse-related risks.
African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is a lethal arbovirus of equids that is transmitted between hosts primarily by biting midges of the genus
Culicoides
(Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). AHSV affects ...draft, thoroughbred, and companion horses and donkeys in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In this review, we examine the impact of AHSV critically and discuss entomological studies that have been conducted to improve understanding of its epidemiology and control. The transmission of AHSV remains a major research focus and we critically review studies that have implicated both
Culicoides
and other blood-feeding arthropods in this process. We explore AHSV both as an epidemic pathogen and within its endemic range as a barrier to development, an area of interest that has been underrepresented in studies of the virus to date. By discussing AHSV transmission in the African republics of South Africa and Senegal, we provide a more balanced view of the virus as a threat to equids in a diverse range of settings, thus leading to a discussion of key areas in which our knowledge of transmission could be improved. The use of entomological data to detect, predict and control AHSV is also examined, including reference to existing studies carried out during unprecedented outbreaks of bluetongue virus in Europe, an arbovirus of wild and domestic ruminants also transmitted by
Culicoides
.
This study aimed to document the effects of an eight hour journey on behavioural, clinical, haematological, environmental and respiratory parameters, and to identify possible associations between ...factors. Twelve horses underwent clinical examination, respiratory endoscopy with tracheal wash (TW) aspiration, and collection of venous and arterial blood before (BJ) and after the journey (AJ). TW were submitted for conventional quantitative bacteriological evaluation and genetic microbiome analyses. Behaviour was assessed in stables prior to transportation and throughout the journey. Transportation caused mild, but significant, effects on fluid and electrolyte balance and an acute phase response, characterized by neutrophilia, hyperfibrinogenaemia and hyperglobulinaemia. The proportion of neutrophils in TW, tracheal mucus and TW bacterial concentration was increased AJ, with preferential replication of Pasteurellaceae. Horse behaviour en route predicted clinical and respiratory outcomes. The frequency of stress related behaviours was greatest in the first hour of the journey, and balance-related behaviours were most common in the final hour of the journey. Horses which lowered their heads less frequently en route and showed more stress-related behaviours had higher physiological stress (serum cortisol and heart rate on arrival), increased tracheal mucus and inflammation scores, and higher TW bacterial concentration AJ (P<0.05). Six horses with abnormal lung auscultation AJ proved to have had higher tracheal inflammation scores at preloading (P = 0.017), an overall higher concentration of bacteria in their TW (P = 0.013), and an increased percentage of neutrophils in TW at five days AJ (P = 0.003) in comparison to the other horses. While transport-related health problems are multifactorial, clinical examination, including auscultation and endoscopic inspection of the lower respiratory tract before and after journey, and behavioural observation en route may identify animals at increased risk of transport associated respiratory disease.
Przewalski's Horses in Eurasia explores how pluralism in species reintroduction provides insights into the experiences, relationships, and knowledge required for future international collaborations ...to better capture the complexity of both nature and society in scientific practice.
African horse sickness (AHS) is a disease of equids that results in a non-tariff barrier to the trade of live equids from affected countries. AHS is endemic in South Africa except for a controlled ...area in the Western Cape Province (WCP) where sporadic outbreaks have occurred in the past 2 decades. There is potential that the presence of zebra populations, thought to be the natural reservoir hosts for AHS, in the WCP could maintain AHS virus circulation in the area and act as a year-round source of infection for horses. However, it remains unclear whether the epidemiology or the ecological conditions present in the WCP would enable persistent circulation of AHS in the local zebra populations. Here we developed a hybrid deterministic-stochastic vector-host compartmental model of AHS transmission in plains zebra (Equus quagga), where host populations are age- and sex-structured and for which population and AHS transmission dynamics are modulated by rainfall and temperature conditions. Using this model, we showed that populations of plains zebra present in the WCP are not sufficiently large for AHS introduction events to become endemic and that coastal populations of zebra need to be >2500 individuals for AHS to persist >2 years, even if zebras are infectious for more than 50 days. AHS cannot become endemic in the coastal population of the WCP unless the zebra population involves at least 50,000 individuals. Finally, inland populations of plains zebra in the WCP may represent a risk for AHS to persist but would require populations of at least 500 zebras or show unrealistic duration of infectiousness for AHS introduction events to become endemic. Our results provide evidence that the risk of AHS persistence from a single introduction event in a given plains zebra population in the WCP is extremely low and it is unlikely to represent a long-term source of infection for local horses.
African horse sickness (AHS) is a highly infectious and often fatal disease caused by 9 serotypes of the orbivirus African horse sickness virus (AHSV). In March 2020, an AHS outbreak was reported in ...Thailand in which AHSV serotype 1 was identified as the causative agent. Trivalent live attenuated vaccines serotype 1, 3, and 4 were used in a targeted vaccination campaign within a 50-km radius surrounding the infected cases, which promptly controlled the spread of the disease. However, AHS-like symptoms in vaccinated horses required laboratory diagnostic methods to differentiate infected horses from vaccinated horses, especially for postvaccination surveillance. We describe a real-time reverse transcription PCR-based assay for rapid characterization of the affecting field strain. The development and validation of this assay should imbue confidence in differentiating AHS-vaccinated horses from nonvaccinated horses. This method should be applied to determining the epidemiology of AHSV in future outbreaks.
Bluetongue virus (BTV) and African horse sickness virus (AHSV) are vector-borne viruses belonging to the
genus, which are transmitted between hosts primarily by biting midges of the genus
. With ...recent BTV and AHSV outbreaks causing epidemics and important economy losses, there is a pressing need for efficacious drugs to treat and control the spread of these infections. The polyanionic aromatic compound aurintricarboxylic acid (ATA) has been shown to have a broad-spectrum antiviral activity. Here, we evaluated ATA as a potential antiviral compound against
infections in both mammalian and insect cells. Notably, ATA was able to prevent the replication of BTV and AHSV in both cell types in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. In addition, we evaluated the effect of ATA in vivo using a mouse model of infection. ATA did not protect mice against a lethal challenge with BTV or AHSV, most probably due to the in vivo effect of ATA on immune system regulation. Overall, these results demonstrate that ATA has inhibitory activity against
replication in vitro, but further in vivo analysis will be required before considering it as a potential therapy for future clinical evaluation.
In 1968 the residents of Lovell, Wyoming, began the work of saving the Pryor Mountain Mustang, a breed of horse with a genetic link dating back to the sixteenth-century Spanish conquistadores' ...horses. In this moving case study, Christine Reed shows how, through a grassroots campaign, these residents championed the creation of the first federal public wild horse range. Crucial to this provocative analysis of local-federal cooperation is the relationship that grew between the Lovell advocates, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service. Long before there were federal laws passed to protect wild horse herds across the western states, the Pryor Mountain Mustang was preserved through the cooperative efforts of local residents and federal officials.Saving the Pryor Mountain Mustang explores the unique and ongoing relationship between locals and the federal government, highlighting the Lovell citizens' philosophy of cooperation instead of the typical mistrust that exists between wild horse advocates and federal agencies. The book provides a rich analysis of how a determined group of people saved an endangered wild horse herd. The book will have wide appeal to wild horse activists, scholars of local and federal governance, and western history enthusiasts.
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