Summary This case report describes the death of a yearling Thoroughbred colt due to segmental severe necrotising tracheitis with stenosis of the tracheal lumen, 19 days after endotracheal intubation for elective endoscopic surgery. The stenosis of the trachea leading to asphyxiation was caused by an inflammatory process accompanied by massive accumulation of necrotic material, fibrinous inflammatory exudate, oedema and granulation tissue. The cause of this inflammation was likely to be a bacterial infection secondary to traumatic damage of the tracheal mucosa. Given the clinical history and location of the lesion, the endotracheal tube used for general anaesthesia was hypothesised to be responsible for this damage. Delayed tracheal necrosis as a fatal complication of endotracheal intubation has not previously been described in the horse and should be considered as a potential catastrophic consequence following relatively innocuous clinical signs.

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An outbreak of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) abortions on a UK Thoroughbred stud farm between February 23 and April 2, 2016, is described. The outbreak resulted in the loss of 10 Thoroughbred foals, confirmed pathologically and virologically as EHV-1 infection at postmortem. All aborting mares were vaccinated against EHV-1 according to manufacturer’s recommendations, but had contact with the index aborting mare, either as field companions or housed in the American barn at the time she and subsequent mares aborted. Control measures were implemented in accordance with the Thoroughbred Industry’s Code of Practice on recognising the index case and were maintained until the outbreak had resolved. The report illustrates that prompt investigation and management of this disease outbreak can optimise the safe return of the stud farm to normal breeding operations and highlights EHV-1’s continued potential for multiple late gestation pregnancy losses in mares, despite vaccination.

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