Preventing infection in foals
Preventing infection in foals How can you reduce the risk of infectious diseases among young foals? Is it a good idea to give new born foals antibiotics to prevent infections? A recent study carried out in Newmarket looked at factors affecting infectious diseases in young foals. Thirty six stud farms participated in the study which was carried out over one season. Nine hundred and ninety two foals that were healthy at birth were followed for the first thirty days of their lives. |  |
Some of the foals were routinely treated with antibacterial medication (usually potentiated sulphonamides) for 3 days. Others received no preventative antibacterial treatment.
The stud and the veterinary practice in charge determined the policy on preventive treatment. Either all foals on a stud were routinely treated or they received no prophylactic antibiotics and were only given antimicrobial drugs in rare cases of foals being considered at high risk of infection.
Overall, infectious disease occurred in 8.27% of the foals. The most common infectious condition was systemic disease with diarrhoea (5.85% of foals).
The study found no significant difference between treated and untreated foals in the incidence of infectious disease in the first 30 days.
So, giving preventative antibiotics (in this case mostly potentiated sulphonamide) for the first three days did not reduce the incidence of infectious disease in the first 30 days of life. However, it is mentioned by the authors that this study was not a randomised controlled trial and therefore does not provide the strongest possible evidence for this conclusion.
The authors recommend that antimicrobial drugs should only be given as a preventive measure to high risk foals - for example when the foal has not received adequate good quality colostrum or has experienced a difficult foaling.
The study also identified some other factors that were associated with an increase in infectious disease in foals, such as:
- Foals that experienced complications at birth - including premature separation of the placenta - had a higher risk of the two infectious disease categories "total infectious diseases" and "total infectious diseases excluding diarrhoea"
- Foals given colostrum by stomach tube (as opposed to by a bottle) were at an increased risk of severe diarrhoea and infectious disease.
Why should that be? Perhaps foals were already weak and had a poor suck reflex when they were given colostrum by stomach tube. The majority of foals that received colostrum by stomach tube were weak or "slow" (they did not drink on their own during the first 3-4 hours after birth). In most cases bottle feeding would have been tried but often this was not successful. So to make sure they received colostrum within the first 4 hours they were stomach tubed.
Maybe giving colostrum by stomach tube influences absorption in some way. Or perhaps the tube introduces bacteria into the gastrointestinal tract.
- Poor colostrum quality and low IgG levels in the day old foal were not associated with an increased risk of infectious disease. At first glance this is surprising. The explanation probably lies in the high standard of care given at Newmarket. Poor colostrum was supplemented with extra good quality colostrum, and foals that still had low IgG levels were given hyperimmune plasma transfusions.
For more details see:
Diseases in neonatal foals. Part 1: The 30 day incidence of disease and the effect of prophylactic antimicrobial drug treatment during the first three days post partum.
FD Wohlfender, FE Barrelet, MG Doherr, R Straub, HP Meier.
Equine Vet J (2009) 41, 179 0 185
FD Wohlfender, FE Barrelet, MG Doherr, R Straub, HP Meier.
Equine Vet J (2009) 41, 186 - 191
Reproduced with kind permission of Mark Andrews BVM&S CertEP MRCVS
© Copyright Mark Andrews - Equine Science Update 2009
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Added on: 09/03/09.
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