Many horse owners have seen reports on the current outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in Europe and wondered about its impact on horses and the equine industry. To date, the disease is not in the United States, and has not been present here since the 1929.

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by a spore forming bacteria. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild & domestic vertebrate, herbivore animals. But it can occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals.

Equine Lyme Disease: A Review of Experimental Disease Production, Treatment Efficacy, and Vaccine Protection. Lyme disease (LD) is the most important arthropod-borne bacterial infection in the United States. Affecting horses, people, dogs, and cats, LD is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi [1-6].

Eastern equine encephalitis is a rare but serious disease caused by the Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus, a member of the family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus. EEE is a mosquito borne infection of wild birds that can be transmitted to other birds, humans, horses and other animals by mosquitoes.

EPM is an infectious, degenerative protozoal disease of the central nervous system of the horse. The causative agent of EPM has been identified as Sarcocystis neurona. The disease is not transmitted from horse to horse. Rather, the protozoa are spread by the definitive host, opossums, which acquire the organism from infected birds.

Equine Infectious Anemia is a viral disease for which there is no vaccine and no cure. Though most horses succumb rapidly to EIA a percentage of infected horses appear to recover. However they still harbor the virus and during times of stress may become ill again. It is because of these healthy appearing carriers that we test horses. It insures that we do not put their pasture mates at risk.

Botulism is caused by botulinum toxin, a potent neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum and a few strains of C. baratii and C. butyricum. Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic, Gram-positive, spore-forming rod.

Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU), the most common cause of blindness in horses and mules, is an immune-mediated disease. ERU is also called moon blindness because historically its recurrence was thought to be related with the phases of the moon. It is believed to have many different causes, such as bacterial, parasitic, trauma, viral, or immune disorders.

Known as the leading cause of blindness in horses, equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is characterized by several attacks of intra-ocular inflammation alternated with variable periods of clinical quiescence. Authors: Antonio Cezar de Oliveira Dearo, Mirian Siliane Batista de Souza.

Influenza in horses is similar to "flu" in humans. The first symptoms are often that the horse or pony seems lethargic, depressed and develops a harsh cough which usually lasts around 10 days. Other symptoms include a high temperature and the horse or pony suffers from a lack of appetite and some nasal discharge.