EQUINE CLINICAL PATHOLOGY - Rossdale & Partners

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T h e B e a u f o r t c o t t a g e l a b o r a t o r i e s surgeons and some others. Very highly infected materials such as that containing foot and mouth disease virus or some especially dangerous human pathogens are excluded from this exemption. 2. Members of the public may send specimens through the post only at the express request of a registered laboratory or veterinary surgeon. 3. Only first-class letter post or data post may be used. Parcel post must not be used. 4. The Post Office requires that all samples be packed in a particular way. These rules must be followed otherwise the Post Office may remove and destroy the specimen. a. Every specimen must be enclosed in a primary container, which is securely sealed. This container must not exceed 50ml (although special multi-specimen packs may be approved). b. The primary container must be wrapped in sufficient absorbent material to absorb all possible leakage in the event of damage. c. The container and absorbent material must be sealed in a leak proof plastic bag. d. This package must then be placed in either: i. A polypropylene clip down container. ii. A cylindrical light metal container. iii. A strong cardboard box with full depth lid. iv. A specially grooved two-piece polystyrene box. 5. It is recommended that this completed package should be placed in a padded bag. 6. Multi-specimen packs may be used provided that each primary container is separated from the next by absorbent packing. 7. Any other packaging systems must have the prior approval of the Post Office. 8. Labelling: The outer cover must be labelled ‘Pathological Specimen Fragile. With Care’. It must show the name and address of the sender to be contacted in case of leakage. 9. Therapeutic and diagnostic substances, such as blood, serum, vaccines etc. are classified as pathological specimens. Ensure that anything you send by post complies with the regulations otherwise it may be removed from the mail and destroyed, and you will lose a valuable specimen. You may be prosecuted by the Royal Mail. You may cause injury or disease to someone handling the package either during its transit through the mails, or at the receiving laboratory. 10
G u i d e t o e q u i n e c l i n i c a l p a t h o l o g y reference ranges Clinicians and clinical pathologists must rely upon so-called ‘normal’ reference ranges to interpret laboratory results. Unfortunately it is not possible to produce one set of ‘normals’ to suit all equine animals, as horses and ponies of different ages, types, uses and stages of training all have significant variations in some parameters. Another problem is that individual horses vary considerably not only in their own ‘normal’ reference results but also by the effects that variations from reference range and even clinical abnormality will have on their clinically-apparent health and performance. Sub-clinical disease, e.g. low-grade anaemia, viral ‘challenges’, low-grade myopathy, hepatopathy and nephropathy will all produce effects on the appropriate laboratory results although the horse is considered clinically ‘normal’. The owner, rider, trainer or manager’s assessment of each horse as an individual remains essential and laboratory results should never be used to 'train' performance horses. Experienced interpretations are required for different types of horses used for different purposes. The ‘classical’ method of producing reference ranges for laboratory tests was to use the ‘bell-shaped curve’ of two standard deviations either side of the mean of large numbers of clinically normal horses. This requires the measured parameter to have a mathematically normal distribution within the horse population to be applicable and this is rarely the case. Alternatives are to work with percentiles (the range within which the results of 90% of clinically normal horses fall). Even then clinically normal horses will have significant subclinical changes and individual horses will have idiosyncratic ranges different to the population range. Clinicians and clinical pathologists must use reference ranges that they are comfortable with. Reference ranges for the more commonly used haematological and clinical chemical parameters, for adult non-Thoroughbred horses, neonatal and older Thoroughbred foals, Thoroughbred yearlings and two and three-year-old Thoroughbred horses in training can be found on pages 56-71. 11
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EQUINE CLINICAL PATHOLOGY - Rossdale & Partners

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