Equine Grass Sickness – an update

Equine Grass Sickness (EGS), a pasture-associated multi-system neuropathy of horses, continues to present a diagnostic, therapeutic and prophylactic challenge to clinicians. The associated high mortality rates and the potentially devastating implications for both horse-owners and premises managers, combine to make EGS an extremely emotive disease. This has resulted in almost continuous research activity throughout the years, principally aimed at identifying a causal agent, but also focussed on improving diagnostic accuracy, treatment success and the effectiveness of preventative strategies.

This article will (a) briefly review the established facts regarding EGS derived from decades of research and (b) highlight recent research which has aetiological, diagnostic and prognostic relevance.