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Current Therapeutic Approaches To Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, L. Dirikolu, Jonathan H. Foreman, Thomas Tobin

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis is the most important infectious neurologic disease of horses in the Western Hemisphere. Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis can interfere with a horse's ability to race, work, and perform; untreated, EPM can be lethal. Antemortem diagnosis of EPM is challenging, requiring careful evaluation of the animal's history, clinical signs, and laboratory data, with rigorous exclusion of other causes.

Therapeutic approaches to EPM are evolving. First-generation therapeutic approaches for EPM were based on the classic anti–Toxoplasma gondii pyrimethamine–sulfonamide combinations; treatment is prolonged and can be associated with a considerable relapse rate, which may be associated with the difficulty in …