Equinedegenerative myeloencephalopathy in five Quarter Horses: clinical and neuropathological findings

This study reports the clinical signs, clinicopathological results, radiographic and neuropathological findings in 5 Quarter Horsefillies with equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM).EDM is considered to be one of the most frequent causes of spinal cord disease in the horse in the USA but, in Europe, it has been reported less frequently. The published European studies concern a few horses from different stables, but this is the first report in Europe of a cluster of cases from the same farm. The gait abnormalities in our horses may have been consistent with a more diffuse lesion of the spinal cord, since the thoracic limbs were less affected than the pelvic limbs. Moreover, all horses had significant reduction of the cutaneous local cervical and truncal reflexes. Clinical and neuropathological observations are consistent with those reported previously [...