Welcome to EquineVet!

My name is Dr.Hans-Erich Weiss and I am a veterinarian. Herewith I would like to offer you my help as a professional with my experience of more than 35 years as a microbiologist! My homepage is useful for both colleagues of mine, as well as for horse-owners and animal-friends in general! As you might have heard bacteria are getting more and more resistant to antibiotics, which means that autovaccines are definitely a considerable alternative. So, please join me!   ■ See list of my publications and patents

■ Autogenous vaccines (horses/mares/foals)

This site provides information for veterinarians, breeders, and animal keepers about autogenous vaccines (autovaccines, herd specific vaccines, autologous biologicals) for the treatment of infectious diseases in horses (e.g. bronchopneumonia, metritis, others).

Introduction about autogenous vaccines/autovaccines:
Treatment of infectious diseases by use of autogenous vaccines has a long tradition in veterinary medicine. Unlike antibiotics, which target the micro-organism directly, autogenous vaccines pursue the strategy to gently help the immune system of an infected animal to cope with an infectious disease causing micro-organism. Consequently, autovaccination is a method to specifically modulate the immune system of the infected animal by offering a tailored antigen (i.e. the autogenous vaccine). Autogenous vaccines may be used for prophylaxis (i.e. like bacterins) or for the treatment of infections already present and manifest diseases. Obligate requirement is that the disease causing micro-organism (i.e. the etiologic agent) is available (within any specimen, e.g. swab, tissue, faeces, etc.). Application form may vary, per oral, intra nasal, intra vaginal and subcutaneous applications are possible, depending on the type of disease to be prevented/treated.


■ Infectious diseases in horses

Horses maybe subject to a large variety of different pathogenic micro-organism. While in a number of cases treatment with an antimicrobial drug might provide relief for the infected animal, antimicrobial therapy may fail in other cases. Treatment failure and repeated therapy are a source of potential harm for the animal, making it weak and triggering development of both, antimicrobial resistance and chronic, incriminating disease. Infections of the reproductive tract most likely cause temporal or enduring infertility, making expensive treatments necessary.


■ Autogenous vaccines/autovaccines as alternatives

In an article printed 2004 in a German veterinary journal, I have provided data regarding the effectiveness of autogenous vaccines in the treatment of diseases of the respiratory tract in horses. The data show, that while attempts to control infection by use of antibiotics may not be successful, autogenous immune stimulation by autovaccination is a highly promising alternative.

Similar results have been observed in the treatment of metritis (H.-E.Weiss et al, 2007).