Abstract
Rhodococcus equi has been recognized as an equine pathogen since 1923 and is a worldwide pathogen in foals. Up to now, there has been one report on R. equi infection in an Arabian foal in Turkey. We report here two cases of R. equi pneumonia diagnosed in Turkish foals. R. equi was isolated from pure cultures obtained from lung abscesses of two dead foals which were sent to the laboratory from distinct stud-farms in the Izmit district, Turkey, due to the increasing mortality of foals with pneumonia. These isolates were analyzed by plasmid and protein profiles: one isolate had an 85-kb type I virulence plasmid and the other was considered avirulent. Virulent R. equi strains possessing an 85-kb type I or an 87-kb type I were isolated from one of the stud-farms with the problem. These results indicate that the stud-farm was contaminated with virulent R. equi.
