Echinococcosis of horses

The hydatid disease of the horse is a parasitic disease in horses . The pathogen is the Finn stage of Echinococcus equinus (formerly the horse tribe of the three-part dog tapeworm ), which affects dogs as the ultimate host (→ dog tapeworm diseases ). The tapeworm is mainly found in the United Kingdom and Ireland , and evidence is also available from Belgium , Switzerland and Italy .

The disease is mostly unspecific with emaciation and a decline in performance, but can also run without clinical symptoms. The echinococcal bladders are mainly located in the liver , and more rarely in the lungs or spleen . Laboratory diagnostics can show an increase in liver values . With sonography , blister-like structures can be detected in the liver. The treatment is not very promising. Long-term treatment with mebendazole and albendazole, as is the case with cystic echinococcosis in humans, does not make sense due to the low chance of success and the associated costs.

literature

M. Herrmann et al .: Clinically manifest echinococcosis in a horse. In: Pferdeheilkunde 4 (1988), pp. 263-267.