Kichan Lee
Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Republic of Korea
Title: Outbreak of tetanus in a mare in Republic of Korea
Biography
Biography: Kichan Lee
Abstract
Tetanus is an acute, often fatal, infectious diseases caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin of the anaerobic spore-forming bacteria Clostridium tetani. Tetanus spores are commonly introduced into tissues through wounds and they convert under anaerobic conditions to a vegetative toxin-producing form. We report here a case of C. tetani infection in a horse. A seven-year-old thoroughbred mare had laceration on the fetlock of right hind leg two weeks prior to her death. She had a raised tail, extended head and neck, and was salivating profusely.The third eyelids were prolapsed and covered the eyes. Almost all voluntary movement was impossible bacause of hyper-responsiveness to tactile nad auditory stimuli. The necropsy was performed, and there were no specific lesions. C. tetani was cultured from wound swab of the fetlock of right hind leg. Based on the characteristic clinical sings of generalized tetanus and detection of C. tetani from wound, a diagnosis of tetanus associated with C. tetani was made.