10th Annual European College of Equine Internal Medicine Congress: 2—4 November, 2017

Significance: Microbiome could influence the development of AM, but this role deserves further investigation. Bronchoalveolar lavage is a method for the recovery of respiratory secretion from the lower airways and alveoli. It is used primarily for cytological evaluation of non-septic conditions, and is especially helpful when severe equine asthma, mild equine asthma or exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) is suspected. Some clinicians have observed by endoscopy that in some horses the sampled bronchus collapses when vacuum is applied to retrieve the BAL fluid, and thereby reducing the amount of recovered fluid. Poor bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) recovery has been observed in horses with moderate to severe inflammation. The objective of this study was to investigate if the administration of a single dose of a bronchodilator in equine patients with a suspicion of severe equine asthma could help in improving recovery of BALF. A total of 15 horses with severe equine asthma were evaluated: 6 horses were once pretreated 30 minutes before BAL with 0.001 mg/kg of inhaled salbutamol, while 9 horses was not treated. Bronchoalveolar lavage was performed with BAL-catheter by instilling 300-350 mL of warm sterile saline, using 60 mL syringes. Amount of recovered fluid was recorded. Statistical analysis was performed with a two-tailed Student T-test using Excel. Mean BALF recovery in treated group was 53.9%, while in not-treated group 35.61% (P < 0.05). We can conclude that single pretreatment with salbutamol in horses with severe equine asthma improve the volume of recovered fluid after BAL, therefore clinicians should consider such procedure before performing BAL on horses with suspicion of bronchoconstriction. Strangles is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi) and is a highly contagious disease with numerous outbreaks every year. Questions remain after an outbreak; what is the optimal duration of quarantine? How and when should stables and materials be cleaned and disinfected in an ideal situation? The purpose of this study was 1) obtain knowledge about how S. equi survives on various materials and 2) identify efficient methods to disinfect contaminated equipment.