EQUINE BACTERIAL PLEUROPNEUMONIA .2. CLINICAL SIGNS AND DIAGNOSTIC EVALUATION

Horses with bacterial pleuropneumonia exhibit a wide range of clinical signs depending on the severity and duration of pleuropulmonary disea se and the volume of pleural effusion. Any combination of the followin g signs may be present: fever, anorexia, depression, nasal discharge, cough, exercise intolerance, dyspnea, respiratory distress, flared nos trils, weight loss, sternal edema, and pleurodynia. Pleurodynia may be manifested by pawing; anxious facial expression; stiff forelimb gait; abducted elbows; and reluctance to move, lie down, or descend an incl ine. Fever can be persistent, intermittent, or absent. Pulse and respi ratory rates range from normal to severely elevated. Nasal discharge c an range from absent to copious and from serous to mucohemorrhagic or mucopurulent in character. Horses with a ruptured pulmonary abscess of ten have blood-tinged nasal discharge. Putrid breath odor is usually a ssociated with anaerobic infection. The presence and severity of respi ratory distress are related to the volume of pleural effusion. Diagnos tic modalities that help to characterize pleuropneumonia include physi cal examination, thoracic auscultation and percussion, hematologic and biochemical testing of serum, thoracic ultrasonography and radiograph y, pleuroscopy, tracheobronchial aspiration, thoracocentesis, and pleu ral fluid analysis. This article discusses these procedures in detail.