Immunitary pathologies in equids, a descriptive study

Abstract

Equine allergic dermatitis is a genetically predisposed immunitary disorder, with characteristic clinical manifestations of hypersensitivity to insect bites, food, environmental allergens, or asthma. Is a disease with a prevalence that is increasing during the last years, and there is not so much information about this condition, and the information that exists often is not correctly unified. Because of the cost of a correct diagnosis often is misdiagnosed so the confirmation of the disease is commonly done taking in account the clinical history, literature, or seasonality of the disease. To date, the presence of horses with this condition has been reported, but a correct descriptive study has not been done. The aims of this study were to do a detailed descriptive study of the clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment, and epidemiological characteristics of the disease based on reports made by veterinarians and owners. The results show the need to make correct diagnosis of the disease in order to search for the most efficient treatment, even if it is a chronic disease, and the most effective diagnosis is to avoid the allergen.