Actinobacillus suis septicaemia in two foals

A 24-hour-old Hackney pony filly developed signs of weakness, depression and a poor suck reflex, with harsh lung sounds over both fields, and a 48-hour-old Arabian colt from a normal birth which had sucked vigorously developed loose stools and became depressed, weak and anorectic. Both foals had serum IgG concentrations greater than 800 mg/dl, but each had a severe neutropenia with a left shift, and blood cultures from both of them yielded Actinobacillus suis . The A suis isolates had different antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and, in the case of the Arabian, the isolate was resistant to commonly used broad spectrum antimicrobial agents.