continued from p. 21
conclusions that may help take aim at a disease that has staunchly remained a moving target.
STATISTICS SHOW... According to EPM expert Robert MacKay, BVSc, PhD, DACVIM, roughly 60% of horses who get an active infection will respond to drug treatment, with 10% recovering fully.
“Tat leaves 40% of cases in declining health, usually ending in death,” MacKay notes. “Te better news is that, if diagnosed and treated early, the statistics rise to 80% responding well to treatment, with many recovering fully. You, the owner, can make the difference in where your horse falls in the statistics by learning prevention and how to identify symptoms of EPM before it strikes.”
Because 30% to 60% of horses in North America have antibodies to the primary protozoal parasite responsible for EPM, S. neurona, UC Davis researchers call EPM inherently difficult to diagnose: “At present, definitive diagnosis of EPM relies on post-mortem examination of neural tissue. No test in the live horse is currently considered definitive.”
________
ONE OPINION SAYS IT’S THE OWNER’S RESPONSIBILITY
TO DIAGNOSE EPM EARLY; ANOTHER SAYS THE ONLY
WAY TO CONFIRM IT IS AFTER DEATH. WHAT’S A HORSE OWNER TO DO? ________
Plenty.
Until recently, the most common drugs used to treat EPM, all of which fall within a success rate of 57% to 61%, have been: • A Sulfadiazine/Trimethoprim/ Pyrimethamine combination that inhibits protozoa reproduction but can cause anemia in 22% of equine patients
• Diclazuril, an FDA-approved herbicide that attacks chloroplast function in the protozoa but can
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Michaela Young uses Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field (PEMF) Therapy by Magna Wave to stimulate cell metabolism (increases blood oxygen at the cellular level by as much as 200%). It also improves circulation, not by increasing heartbeat or blood pressure, but by opening and dilating arteries and capillaries. During a treatment the horse’s lymphatic system is stimulated to clean damaged areas and detoxify the body.
ACUPUNCTURE: GOOD VIBRATIONS Dianne Volz has dedicated more than 20 years to using acupuncture points, electric muscle stimulation, ultra- and infra- sound, and laser and photon therapy to listen to the equine immune system and respond accordingly. Her mentor has been Dr. Marvin Cain, founder of the Equine Acupuncture Society of America, who is credited with identifying acupuncture’s EPM immune points, and has suggested a link between suppression of the immune system and EPM.
“Eighty percent of horses we look at are in some stage of EPM,” she says. “Tose who don’t have a strong immune system are in greatest need of a defense against the protozoa.”
In Chinese acupuncture, diagnostic points are called “Au Shi” and are
only be obtained through veterinary compounding pharmacies
• The more readily available Ponasuril, an herbicide much like Diclazuril, whose minor side affects have appeared to be rash and blisters
• Nitazoxanide, no longer available, after 30% of equine patients had adverse reactions including laminitis, enterocolitis, and anorexia –Source:
epmhorse.org
sensitive during periods of illness, when the body’s electrical systems are disrupted. Blockages of energy or Qi (pronounced ‘Chi’) cause buildups in inappropriate places (much like a tree falling across a stream blocks the water, flooding areas nearby). When an aggravating condition in the body is resolved (the “tree” removed), Au Shi points ebb away, too.
Volz identifies EPM acupuncture points as located in a triangle over the rib cage, hip, hind leg, and shoulder. “When these points are reactive, we find soreness, hock tenderness, and a tendency to shift weight to the forehand. Terapeutically, we look at the whole body, but we tend to see EPM expressed in the right hind leg.”
Tis right-sided affliction is important, since EPM mirrors other neurological diseases including Wobbler Syndrome, Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1), or Lyme Disease. Dr. Cain has observed that soreness or lameness expressed in the left hind tends to lead to a diagnosis of EHV-1; signs in the right hind are more likely attributed to EPM.
Pocono Downs Race Track veterinarian, Dr. David Sachs, who uses acupuncture and acupressure on its racehorses, also sees problems in the right hind trace
Holistic Horse™ • October/November 2010 • Vol.16, Issue 69
Courtesy Camden Equine Rehab Center/Sydney Masters
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