Thomas Divers, DVM, DACVIM, DACVECC, of Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, offered CVC Kansas City attendees a sampling of research and practical developments that can aid equine veterinarians with their patients. A new therapy that has been used with a 90 percent success rate in human medicine has also been used successfully in horses with diarrhea under Divers' supervision at the Cornell veterinary hospital. In this procedure—called "bacteriotherapy" in human medicine—a fecal sample is obtained from a healthy, Salmonella-free donor horse, diluted with water and transmitted into the ailing horse via tube. Horses (and people) treated in this way can have normal feces the next day. The procedure is most successful in treating diarrhea associated with Clostridium difficile or antibiotic-associated GI upset, Divers says.
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