Summary and Keywords
Septicemia can be a tragic illness in neonatal and young foals. Sick
foals may manifest a variety of clinical symptoms all related to a
common infection and its systemic effects. While the pathogenesis of
this disease is the same as for adult equids, the clinical signs seen
can be very different. The rapid changes seen in foal are reflective of
their low endogenous reserves of glucose and innate immune mediators as
well as the poor ability to self-regulate their metabolism. The neonatal
immune system is reliant on maternal antibodies at birth and development
of the foal’s own system takes a significant amount of time. This
non-competent immune system changes how the foal responds to infection
when compared to the adult. Clinical signs in septic foals include
tachycardia, tachypnea, depression, anorexia, colitis, and fever. Less
commonly, foals may show petechiation, swollen joints, anterior uveitis,
and coma. This article is the first of a two part series on neonatal
sepsis and will present a review on the neonatal immune system, the
pathophysiology of sepsis, and the range of clinical signs seen in
foals.
Horse, septicemia, colitis, neonate, pathophysiology