In order to provide surgery, intensive medical treatment and nursing care for horses, it is often necessary to admit them to a veterinary hospital.
Horses are complex animals; individuals respond differently, and occasionally unpredictably to challenge by infectious disease and to medical treatment. Before agreeing to admission of your horse to hospital, it is important that you understand that hospitalisation of all animals may involve some risk to the patient. These risks include acquiring infections that were not present prior to admission – Nosocomial Infections. The risk of nosocomial infection in equine hospitals is comparable to the situation in human hospitals where nosocomial infections occur in approximately 5% of all patients, with higher rates reported in intensive care patients.
Several factors place hospitalised horses at risk of developing nosocomial infection. These include stress (associated with illness or being away from their home environment), transport, fasting or change of feed, invasive medical or surgical procedures, administration of medication, and the presence of gastrointestinal disease, which can alter both the normal motility and flora of the intestines. Veterinary hospitals are complex environments. They house sick animals with a range of conditions. Some diseases are contagious and some disease conditions increase the infectious potential of the bacteria or virus. Some horses may be carriers of disease agents but show no clinical signs of infection. The health status of hospital patients can range from healthy animals which are in hospital for elective surgical treatment, to horses which are critically ill with severely compromised immune systems. In addition, sick foals are usually accompanied by healthy mares; sick mares may be accompanied by healthy foals and occasionally, both the mare and foal are sick on admission or become sick during their hospitalisation.
Hospitals are also subject to high levels of human and equine traffic, making quarantine and disinfection challenging. The consequences of a horse suffering from a nosocomial infection can range from minor to fatal, depending on the degree to which the horse is affected and the organ system involved. SEG Veterinarians are aware of the risks and potential consequences of hospitalisation and nosocomial infection and act to manage these risks as far as is practically possible. Occasionally, and in spite of all precautions, horses are affected by nosocomial infection when they are hospitalised. This most commonly occurs when the horse is already suffering from disease or injury, is very young, is an older animal or has a compromised immune system; however, it can also happen to horses which appear fit and healthy and show no signs of compromise.