Long‐term prospects for horses with grass sickness (dysautonomia)

Abstract

Responses to questionnaires were received from 31 owners of horses or ponies treated for chronic grass sickness (dysautonomia). Contrary to previous opinions the respondents indicated that the majority of the animals were capable of strenuous work, had regained the weight they had lost and, apart from a few residual problems such as difficulty in coping with dry fibrous food, had returned to a normal life. They had recovered slowly and had involved the owners in considerable extra work, but all the owners indicated that they considered the effort to have been worthwhile.

Bodyweight change aids prediction of survival in chronic equine grass sickness

“…In the present study chronic grass sickness was presumptively diagnosed after considering the nature and progression of clinical signs, history, case background, epidemiological factors and elimination of alternative diagnoses [7]. Diagnosing chronic grass sickness by clinical examination, by clinicians familiar with the disease, has a reported accuracy of 100% [3]. Consistent with these data, all 79 nonsurvivors that had a post mortem examination including histopathological examination of neural tissue were confirmed to have chronic grass sickness.…”

“…This is the largest study to report the outcome of chronic grass sickness cases [1][2][3][4]. The survival rates of 49.4% for all (241) horses hospitalised for management of chronic grass sickness during the study period, and of 53.5% for the 213 horses included in the study, were higher than previously reported (35.6% [1] and 42.7% [2]).…”

“…While long-term follow-up of cases was not done, previous studies indicate that the majority of chronic grass sickness horses return to full athletic function [2][3][4]. While long-term follow-up of cases was not done, previous studies indicate that the majority of chronic grass sickness horses return to full athletic function [2][3][4].…”

“…While acute and subacute grass sickness are invariably fatal, some chronic grass sickness cases survive [1][2][3][4]. Currently there are no objective criteria for predicting the outcome of chronic grass sickness cases.…”

Systemic antibodies to Clostridium botulinum type C: do they protect horses from grass sickness (dysautonomia)?

“…The disease can occur in 3 forms, defined on the basis of clinical signs and severity of the disease (Doxey et al 1991a). T h e acute and subacute forms of the disease are invariably fatal, whereas some milder chronic cases can recover with appropriate treatment, the mainstay of which is currently thorough nursing care (Milne et al 1994;Doxey et al 1995aDoxey et al , 1998Milne 1997). The duration is 12-48 h, in the acute form, and 7 days to several weeks, in the chronic form.…”