The fecal bacterial microbiota of healthy and sick newborn foals.
Authors: Gomez Diego E, Wong David, MacNicol Jennifer, Dembek Katarzyna
Journal: Journal of veterinary internal medicine
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Fecal Microbiota in Healthy and Hospitalized Foals Researchers at this institution used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterise the faecal bacterial communities of 21 healthy foals and 17 hospitalised foals (subdivided into septic and non-septic groups), examining whether microbiota composition differs between health and disease in the neonatal period. Surprisingly, bacterial membership and structure were broadly similar across all three groups, though diversity was significantly higher in sick foals than healthy animals—a counterintuitive finding suggesting either greater environmental exposure or microbiota instability during illness. The most abundant bacterial taxa identified in both healthy and sick foals included Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus and Streptococcus, with pathogenic organisms commonly associated with septicaemia appearing at considerable relative abundance in faecal samples. These results implicate the equine neonatal intestine as a potential source or reservoir for bacteraemic pathogens, rather than indicating that microbial dysbiosis alone predisposes foals to systemic infection, and suggest that practitioners should consider the gut as a critical site for intervention in sepsis prevention and management strategies in at-risk neonates.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Increased fecal microbiota diversity in sick foals may indicate high environmental microbial exposure or an unstable colonic microbiota; monitor housing and biosecurity protocols in hospitalized neonatal foals
- •The presence of sepsis-causing bacteria in normal fecal populations suggests the intestinal barrier and microbiota balance are critical for preventing bacteremia in newborn foals
- •Current microbiota composition alone cannot reliably distinguish between healthy and sick foals, indicating clinical assessment must accompany any microbiota analysis for diagnosis
Key Findings
- •Fecal bacterial diversity was significantly lower in healthy foals compared to sick foals (P < 0.05)
- •Bacterial membership and structure were similar between healthy, septic, and non-septic sick foals (AMOVA, P > 0.05)
- •Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus, and Streptococcus were abundant in both healthy and sick foal feces
- •High relative abundance of bacteremia-causing microorganisms in fecal samples suggests the intestine may play an essential role in foal sepsis pathogenesis