THE CORRELATION BETWEEN MORPHOPATHOLOGICAL EXAM AND EVOLUTIVE STAGE IN EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA (EIA)

<h1>THE CORRELATION BETWEEN MORPHOPATHOLOGICAL EXAM AND EVOLUTIVE STAGE IN EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA (EIA)</h1>
<h4>Authors: Flavia Oancea, Loredana Olar
Scientific coordinators: Pompei Bolf&#259;, DVM, PhD student, Teaching Assistant;  Marian T&#259;ulescu, DVM, PhD student, Junior Teaching Assistant
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 3-5 Manastur Street, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, e-mail: flavia_nogo@yahoo.com</h4>

SUMMARY
The aim of the present study was to correlate the evolutive stages of EIA with the pathological and hematological exams in horses. Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a lentivirus, with tropism for monocyte-macrophage cells, infecting equids worldwide.
The biological material was represented by 19 horses, EIAV positive (diagnosed at different time points with the reference AGID test) both males and females, with ages between 4 and 17 years, from Bistrita-Nasaud county. The animals were euthanasied in May 2009. Blood samples on EDTA were collected and the necropsy examination took place at Protan Dej, where the animals were incinerated. Hematologic exams included: total leukocytes count, complete blood count and hemoglobin quantification. The biological samples (spleen and liver tissue) inserted into fixative agent (10% formalin, pH 7) were transported to the Pathology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca. Histopathologycal examination of the samples was performed using an Olympus BX 41 optical microscope and the obtained images were processed using the CellB software.
Most of the horses presented the following macroscopical lesions: spleen hypertrophy with enlarged splenic follicles, liver hypertrophy, yellowish discoloration of the organ and hepatic fibrosis. The microscopical lesions from the EIAV infected equines, were represented by:  focal mononuclear cell infiltrate in the liver (Kiernan space, porto-biliary space) composed mainly of lymphocytes, hystiocites and macrophages; fibrous tissue proliferation around the centrolobular vein and the porto-biliar spaces, forming fibrous bridges; accumulation of siderotic macrophages both in liver (Disse space) and spleen (perifolicular sinuses). The hematological exam revealed values within the normal range regarding total leukocytes, blood count and hemoglobin. 
The results revealed by both pathological and hematological exam leads us to the conclusion that at the time point of the examination all investigated horses were in the chronic asymptomatic evolutive stage of equine infectious anemia.