The study of clinical and hematological features of Insect bite hypersensitivity in horses of Khuzestan province

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and hematological features of Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) among horses in Khuzestan. The study was performed on 257 Arabian horses kept in 6 cities of this province (including Shushtar, Bavi, Ahvaz, Susangard, Abadan, and Ramhormoz). The horses were examined for the presence or absence and location of skin lesions, along with the individual animal information, which was recorded. Blood sampling was done in some animals (32 healthy horses and 61 affected horses), the blood samples were evaluated for hematologic appearance. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results showed that the main lesions visible in infected animals were hair loss (with a frequency of 93.1%) and the lowest was scarring (1.4%). The location of skin lesions was reported to be mainly in the head and neck area (85.6%). Also, in the majority of the infected horses (37.5%), there were skin lesions in all parts of the body (including head and neck, trunk, and limbs). The distribution of the skin lesions observed in different areas of the body of the studied animals was almost similar, and so all three sites of alopecia demonstrated the highest frequency and the lowest frequency of scars. The analysis of hematological findings indicated that only the difference between the number of basophils and MCV and MCH values of healthy and IBH affected animals was found to be significant(P <0.05). The results of this study showed that the affected animals were marked by skin lesions diversity, frequency and distribution