Íslenskar landbúnaðarrannsóknir - 01.09.1981, Page 77

HEYMÆÐI í ÍSL.ENSKUM HESTUM 75
hafa örugglega jákvæða svörun fyrir M.
faeni. Enn vakti athygli, hve aðbúnaður
þessara höfðingja var misjafn og stundum
beinlínis lélegur. Er hér ekki efni til um-
hugsunar fyrir hestamenn, samtök þeirra
og forsvarsmenn?
öndunartíðni heyveikra hesta (2. tafla)
ABSTRAGT
Hay-sickness in Icelandic horses. Precipitin tests
and other studies.
T ORKELL J ÓH ANNESSON
Department of Pharmacolog))
University of Iceland, Reykjavík
Eggert Gunnarsson
Institute of Experimental Palhology
University of Iceland, Keldur, Reykjavík
and
Tryggvi Ásmundsson
Vífilsstaðir Hospital, Garöabœr
Elay-sickness or farmer’s lung in humans
and hay-sickness in horses have several
clinical features in common. Both diseases
have long been connected to mouldy hay
although ideas on etiology have varied.
About 20 years ago Pepys and coworkers
published the first papers which irrefu-
tably connected hay-sickness in humans
causally to the presence of precipitating
antibodies in serum against extracts of
certain theromophilic actinomycetes,
notably Micropolyspora faeni. Although
positive precipitin tests do occur in serum
from persons not clinically ill and the im-
munopathogenesis is not exactly known, it
is now generally accepted that hay-sick-
ness in humans is an allergicdisease caused
var meiri en heilbrigðra hesta
(1. tafla) og var sá munur marktæk-
ur. Skal þó enn á það bent að öndunar-
tíðni heilbrigðra hesta er mjög breytileg
(TryggviÁsmundsson^íz/., 1981) ogþví
ekki gott einkenni til þess að meta
sjúkdóma í öndunarfærum þeirra.
by thermophilic actinomycetes found in
mouldy hay. As studies in horses along
this line of evidence apparently have been
very few until now, we decided to study
the occurrence of positive precipitin tests
to six different antigens (Micropolyspora
faeni, Thermoactinomyces vulgaris, Aspergillus
fumigatus, Alternaria, Penicillium, and Rhiz-
opus) in 56 horses of both sexes in four
groups (Groups A, B, C and D). Group A
comprised 18 healthy horses in two stables
under our own supervision. Group B were
15 horses having been diagnosed by the
attending veterinarians as hay-sick. These
horses were kept at various places and
with one exception indoors. Group C and
Group D were closely related (C) and in-
bred (D) horses, 10 and 13 in number.
Horses in Group C were kept in one
stable, formerly used as sheep-shed, with
some hay stacked inside with the animals.
Horses in Group D belonged to the same
owner; nine were kept in a stable, but four
were fed in the open land. The study also
included 82 registered stallions (Group E).
However, in studying precipitating ant-
ibodies in this group only antigens from
the three first mentioned organisms were
used. Blood samples (approx. 30 ml) were
drawn from the jugular vein. Precipitin
tests in sera were performed at the Dep-