{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T15:01:11Z","timestamp":1790866871071,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Eosinophilic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) is an inflammatory eye disease of horses with an unknown cause and suspected immune-mediated pathogenesis. This single-center retrospective case series included 114 horses (163 affected eyes) examined at a German equine referral hospital from January 2012 to December 2020. Of these horses, 71 (62.3%) were Warmbloods, 77 (67.5%) were presented from July to September, and 49 (43.0%) had bilateral disease. The cornea was involved in 139 of 163 eyes (85.3%). During the study period, 114 EKC cases occurred among 5742 ophthalmology cases (2.0%), with an increasing overall trend in hospital-based relative frequency (p &lt; 0.001). All horses received medical treatment, and 90 (78.9%) also underwent surgery. Follow-up was available for 98 of 114 horses (86.0%): 78 (79.6%) recovered, 12 (12.2%) had persistent disease, and 8 (8.2%) underwent enucleation. Among recovered horses, median recovery time was 30 days. Exploratory analyses associated surgery with longer recovery (p &lt; 0.001) and corneal lesion morphology with adverse outcome (p = 0.020), but treatment was clinician-selected. These findings describe EKC in one referral-hospital population but do not establish population incidence, seasonal risk, breed predisposition, or comparative treatment efficacy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16192982","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T14:45:10Z","timestamp":1790865910000},"page":"2982","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Retrospective Analysis of the Clinical Findings of 114 Horses with Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"J\u00f3zsef","family":"T\u00f3th","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Tier\u00e4rztliches Kompetenzzentrum Karthaus GmbH, 48249 D\u00fclmen, Germany"},{"name":"Department and Clinic of Equine Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Dora Major, H-2225 \u00dcll\u0151, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Lieke","family":"Buijs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tier\u00e4rztliches Kompetenzzentrum Karthaus GmbH, 48249 D\u00fclmen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-5319-0878","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rike","family":"Lorenz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department and Clinic of Equine Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Dora Major, H-2225 \u00dcll\u0151, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-1970-182X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zoltan","family":"Bakos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department and Clinic of Equine Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Dora Major, H-2225 \u00dcll\u0151, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1327","DOI":"10.1111\/all.12009","article-title":"Ocular Allergy: Recognizing and Diagnosing Hypersensitivity Disorders of the Ocular Surface","volume":"67","author":"Leonardi","year":"2012","journal-title":"Allergy"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.1038\/sj.eye.6700675","article-title":"Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis","volume":"18","author":"Bonini","year":"2004","journal-title":"Eye"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1755-3768.2008.01347.x","article-title":"Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis: A Major Review","volume":"87","author":"Kumar","year":"2009","journal-title":"Acta Ophthalmol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1463-5224.2011.00920.x","article-title":"Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis in Two Rabbits","volume":"15","author":"Grinninger","year":"2012","journal-title":"Vet. Ophthalmol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"661","DOI":"10.1177\/1098612X12472181","article-title":"Feline Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis: A Retrospective Study of 45 Cases (56 Eyes)","volume":"15","author":"Dean","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Feline Med. Surg."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"341","article-title":"Immune-Mediated Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca in Dogs: Current Perspectives on Management","volume":"6","author":"Dodi","year":"2015","journal-title":"Vet. Med. Res. Rep."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"393","article-title":"Feline Eosinophilic Keratitis","volume":"37","author":"Pereira","year":"2009","journal-title":"Acta Sci. Vet."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"510","DOI":"10.1111\/vop.12621","article-title":"Equine Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis in California: Retrospective Study of 47 Eyes from 29 Cases (1993\u20132017)","volume":"22","author":"Knickelbein","year":"2019","journal-title":"Vet. Ophthalmol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1308","DOI":"10.2460\/javma.1994.205.09.1308","article-title":"Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis in a Horse","volume":"205","author":"Ramsey","year":"1994","journal-title":"J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0038-1623947","article-title":"Eosinophile Keratokonjunktivitis beim Pferd","volume":"37","author":"Hollerrieder","year":"2009","journal-title":"Tier\u00e4rztl. Prax. Ausg. G Gro\u00dftiere Nutztiere"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1136\/vr.k2969","article-title":"Eosinophilic Keratitis in Horses","volume":"183","author":"Hartley","year":"2018","journal-title":"Vet. Rec."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"609","DOI":"10.1111\/eve.12937","article-title":"Equine Eosinophilic Keratitis: An Emergent Ocular Condition?","volume":"31","year":"2019","journal-title":"Equine Vet. Educ."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2042-3292.2010.00099.x","article-title":"Limbal Conjunctival Plaques and Idiopathic Eosinophilic Conjunctivitis","volume":"22","author":"Wolfe","year":"2010","journal-title":"Equine Vet. Educ."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1283","DOI":"10.2460\/javma.1996.209.07.1283","article-title":"Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis in Seven Horses","volume":"209","author":"Yamagata","year":"1996","journal-title":"J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cveq.2004.04.014","article-title":"Corneal Epithelial Disease","volume":"20","author":"Cutler","year":"2004","journal-title":"Vet. Clin. N. Am. Equine Pract."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1463-5224.2009.00740.x","article-title":"Equine Immune-mediated Keratopathies","volume":"12","author":"Matthews","year":"2009","journal-title":"Vet. Ophthalmol."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"T\u00f3th, J., Hollerrieder, J., and S\u00f3tonyi, P. (2012). Augenheilkunde beim Pferd: Atlas und Lehrbuch, Schattauer. [1st ed.]."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.1111\/vop.12148","article-title":"Treatment of Nonhealing Corneal Ulcers in 60 Horses with Diamond Burr Debridement (2010\u20132013)","volume":"17","author":"Cutler","year":"2014","journal-title":"Vet. Ophthalmol."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.12691\/ijcd-3-4-8","article-title":"The World Incidence and Prevalence of Autoimmune Diseases Is Increasing","volume":"3","author":"Lerner","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Celiac Dis."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Kropp, J., Holsten, A., Lissner, T., Roithmeier, O., Hattermann, F., Huang, S., Rock, J., Wechsung, F., L\u00fcttger, A., and Pompe, S. (2009). Klimawandel in Nordrhein-Westfalen\u2014Regionale Absch\u00e4tzung der Anf\u00e4lligkeit ausgew\u00e4hlter Sektoren, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Pachauri, R.K., and Meyer, L.A. (2014). Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"van R\u00fcth, P., Sch\u00f6nthaler, K., and von Andrian-Werburg, S. (2019). Monitoringbericht 2019 zur Deutschen Anpassungsstrategie an den Klimawandel, Umweltbundesamt."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1111\/vop.12076","article-title":"Eosinophilic Keratitis in 46 Eyes of 27 Horses in the Mid-Atlantic United States (2008\u20132012)","volume":"17","author":"Miller","year":"2014","journal-title":"Vet. Ophthalmol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.21836\/PEM19950605","article-title":"Eosinophilic keratoconjunctivitis in three horses-symptoms and treatment","volume":"11","author":"Brandt","year":"1995","journal-title":"Pferdeheilkunde Equine Med."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1000","DOI":"10.1002\/ccr3.350","article-title":"Equine Eosinophilic Keratitis in Horses: 28 Cases (2003\u20132013)","volume":"3","author":"Edwards","year":"2015","journal-title":"Clin. Case Rep."},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"2","article-title":"Ocular Allergy: An Updated Review","volume":"1","author":"Kubaisi","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Allergy Immunol."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cveq.2004.04.007","article-title":"Inflammatory Stromal Keratopathies: Medical Management of Stromal Keratomalacia, Stromal Abscesses, Eosinophilic Keratitis, and Band Keratopathy in the Horse","volume":"20","author":"Brooks","year":"2004","journal-title":"Vet. Clin. N. Am. Equine Pract."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2044-3862.2010.tb00561.x","article-title":"Equine Eosinophilic Keratitis","volume":"15","author":"Kafarnik","year":"2010","journal-title":"Companion Anim."}],"container-title":["Animals"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2615\/16\/19\/2982\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T14:53:30Z","timestamp":1790866410000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2615\/16\/19\/2982"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"references-count":28,"journal-issue":{"issue":"19","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]}},"alternative-id":["ani16192982"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ani16192982","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-2615"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-2615","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]}}}