The Disease Horses and Humans Share
Horses are one of the few animals that share a common illness with humans, and like humans it can seriously affect the quality of their lives. I’m Jeff Keane stay tuned after the break to learn more about a disease common in both species. Horses are one of the few animals that exhibit asthma symptoms like humans, here’s Susan Allen with some insight into an illness that sidelines horses just like people. Jeff unfortunately respiratory ailments are pretty common in the equine species. I remember when my son Austin was young how desperately he struggled to breath and now I have a mare that is often coughs or works hard for a breath in certain situations, like climbing hills. Unfortunately I don’t have any horse size humidifiers or inhalers at my disposal. The equine community calls this type of coughing, work intolerance and labored breathing, heaves. Currently at Virginia Tech’s Vet school they are researching why a horse might be predisposed to asthma and the best methods to treat it. It’s interesting Jeff that albuterol, a drug that has been used for years to treat asthma in humans looks like it will work well on horses. The school has discovered that adding magnesium to albuterol makes is safer for a long term treatment and affordable. Susan, the best part of this new asthma research is that the Virginia Tech vet students working on the study feel that their results could have a profound Horses are one of the few animals that share a common illness with humans
