Clinicopathological and pedigree investigation of a novel spinocerebellar neurological disease in juvenile Quarter Horses in North America.

Background: In 2020, a novel neurologic disease was observed in juvenile Quarter Horses (QHs) in North America. It was unknown if this was an aberrant manifestation of another previously described neurological disorder in foals, such as equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (eNAD/EDM).

Hypothesis/objectives: To describe the clinical findings, outcomes, and postmortem changes with Equine Juvenile Spinocerebellar Ataxia (EJSCA), differentiate the disease from other similar neurological disorders, and determine a mode of inheritance.

Validation of a point-of-care polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of subspecies in rostral nasal swabs from horses with suspected strangles.

This study aimed to validate a point-of-care polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for detection of subsp. in rostral nasal swabs from horses with suspected acute strangles and to compare the results against the molecular gold standard of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Two hundred thirty-two individual swabs of rostral nasal passages were characterized by qPCR as positive, subsp.