Lymphocyte immunostimulation in the diagnosis of Corynebacterium equi pneumonia of foals.

A lymphocyte stimulation test using antigens of Corynebacterium equi was used to compare the response of peripheral blood lymphocytes from foals with C equi pneumonia with those of clinically normal foals and adult horses. The test clearly distinguished infected foals from normal foals when tested in animals less than or equal to 2 months old. After the 2nd month, stimulation response from individual normal foals sometimes exceed those from infected foals, but mean stimulation response to C equi antigens was significantly (P less than 0.025) greater in 3- to 5-month-old infected foals when compared with mean values of 3- to 5-month-old normal foals. Mean stimulation responses in 5- to 7-month-old foals, which had recovered from C equi pneumonia, could not be distinguished from mean responses of normal foals. The test could still, however, be used diagnostically in foals greater than 2 months of age if stimulation responses were low. The test indicated the great extent of exposure to C equi in the normal horse population.