(2014-04-04) Castillo Franz, Cristian Alejandro; Mira Hernández, Juliana; Suárez Ortega, Ana Patricia
The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of recurrent airway obstruction
(RAO) through bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in a group of twenty Colombian native hor -ses with respiratory symptoms. Each animal underwent a clinical examination in order to
corroborate the respiratory disturbance and later perform the BAL. The results obtained
showed that 65% of the animals under study tested positive for RAO, based on the clinical
and BAL results, and that, among the total number of animals that tested positive, 61.5% su -ffered a severe form of such condition. We also found an association between the number of
neutrophils and the color of the BAL fluid, and an inverse relationship between cell cytology
of macrophages and neutrophils. It is concluded that the Colombian native horse, like other
horse breeds, suffers from RAO, sometimes severely, related to predisposing factors such as
accommodation and stabling.
