Hands-On Lawsonia Screening
Proliferative enteropathy, caused by the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis, is an important disease of older foals, particularly in certain regions and on specific farms. Infection by this bacterium results an abnormal small intestine, which ultimately causes severe loss of blood protein. One major problem with this disease is that it is not often spotted until it's very advanced. Like many diseases, the earlier you can diagnose it, the better you can treat it. Unfortunately, sometimes foals are so sick by the time anyone notices, it's very hard for them to recover, even with intensive care. There are a couple of different ways to diagnose Lawsonia infection, but I'm not going to get into specific testing (more information on that can be found in our archives and on the equIDblog Resources page). The point I want to emphasize is finding this disease early.
On farms that have had problems with Lawsonia in the past, specific testing may be part of a routine diagnosis and control program. However, that's not going to be the case for most farms. While specific testing for Lawsonia is hard to justify in those circumstances, close attention to early signs of diseases is critical.
This disease usually hits foals that are a few months of age (and is most commonly diagnosed in 5-6 month old foals). Foals this age are not always watched and handled closely, compared to younger foals and older animals. With Lawsonia, foals can look good from a distance, despite being quite sick. It's even more of a problem in the fall in cooler climates where a longer haircoat can more easily mask weight loss and poor body condition.
So, what can you do to help find the problem early?
- Get your hands on the foals. Handling them regularly will give you a better assessment of their strength, body condition and overall health. Actually touching them will let you feel muscle mass and tone, and detect foals that are not growing well or not in as good body condition as they should be. Such foals should be examined by a veterinarian promptly, with Lawsonia being one of the considerations for a cause.
Having good, regular contact with foals is a free and (relatively) easy way to help protect their health (and as a bonus, it also gets them used to people and used to being handled from an early age).
