[Entero-colitis in the horse. A description of 46 cases (author's transl)].

A description is given of 46 cases of non-parasitic enteritis, treated in the Large Animal Clinic during the period 1965--77. A group of 12 horses showed an acute or peracute clinical course with rapid development of shock and high lethality (83 per cent). A smaller group of 9 horses showed a subacute course while 22 horses had chronic enteritis with intermittent diarrhoea--often semisolid like cow's dung--increased peristalsis, weight loss and, in some cases, hypoproteinaemia with subcutaneous edema. Lethality rate in this group was appr. 40 per cent. Predisposing factors--especially physical stress, medical treatment (antibiotics, anthelmintics) and pulmonary diseases--could be demonstrated in appr. 40 per cent of the cases. Appr. 66 per cent appeared during the period January--July. Recent studies on "colitis X" and chronic enteritis are discussed and it is suggested that the cases described here do not represent one single disease entity but rather several aetiological groups with a similar symptomatology.