by: Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc 

After years of studying equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a serious neurological disease in horses, scientists have mapped the first steps in the migratory path of Sarcocystis neurona—the chief parasitic cause of EPM.

“Before now, it was unclear how the parasite gained entry to the horse’s central nervous system to cause disease,” explained study co-author William Saville, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, chair of the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at The Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

After feeding six ponies S. neurona sporocysts, the parasite was identified in abdominal lymph nodes, the liver, and lungs between Days 1 and 9 post-infection.

In addition, microscopic evidence of EPM-like lesions was found in the horses’ brains and spinal cords within seven to nine days of infection.

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