Equine Piroplasmosis: Uncommon Transmissible Disease with International Impact

In the Equine Diseases course, students were tasked to create a slideshow and video project on a disease or condition that is rare or foreign to the United States. Equine Piroplasmosis is a blood disease that is majorly unidentified to the average horse owner. It is a condition where protozoa (single-celled organisms) enter the bloodstream through a tick bite and attach themselves to the horse’s red blood cells. The protozoa develop and reproduce the best in warm, tropical climates. It is not something we see much in the United States, but this equine disease has a human counterpart that is common around the Northeast known as babesiosis. The ticks that carry Piroplasmosis also survive in the United States, however, they do not have access to the protozoa or asymptomatic carriers. As researchers and students, we believe that horse owners and the general public should be informed of this due to the increasing vector (ex. ticks and mosquitos) populations over the past several years