Preliminary trial on the reproducibility of epizootic lymphangitis through experimental infection of two horses

Abstract

Epizootic lymphangitis (EL) was experimentally reproduced in four horses that had been purchased from an EL-free district. Two horses were injected with either 0.2 mL of the yeast form of Histoplasma capsulatum var. farciminosum (HCF) in pus (Horse 1), or 0.2 mL (ca. 20 mg) of a suspension in saline of the mycelial form (Horse 2), both into the pre-scapular and pre-femoral lymph nodes, with scarification of the skin of the left hind limb, conjunctiva of the right eye and the nasal membrane of the right nostril. The two other horses served as controls. Nodular lesions of EL appeared during the fourth week of infection at all sites in the horse infected with the yeast form. Lesions only appeared in the lymph nodes and skin scratches of the horse infected with the mycelial suspension after three months. The control horses showed no clinical signs. The yeast form was recovered from the lesions of both infected horses. Similarly, the mycelial form was isolated from both horses on Sabouraud’s Dextrose Agar. This experiment showed the reproducibility of clinical EL through experimental infection, and has laid the groundwork for the evaluation of the potency of a vaccine against EL using a vaccination and challenge experiment.