Prevalence of Streptococcus Species in Horses with Upper Respiratory Tract Infections. Systematic Meta-Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt

Abstract

In This study, according to the guidelines of PRISMA, the meta-analysis on prevalence of Streptococcus   species in horses with respiratory tract infections was performed. After compete search, data extraction and selection of studies, data were analyzed using comprehensive meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis of selected studies were 95% confidence intervals, effect size, heterogeneity, weight, and publication bias. A total of 1831 (32.25 %) out of 5678 diseased horses in 20 study with upper respiratory symptoms were found positive for Streptococcus species. The final meta-analysis model of the size effect and null test at fixed and random effect showed the effect has a Z-value of -3.371 (P-value = 0.001) as opposed to the fixed effect’s Z-value of -26.024 (P-value = 0.000). The degree of heterogenicity revealed Q-value (926.104), I-squared (97.948), P-value (0.000), and the Tau-squared of 0.989 with a 0.519 Standard Error are the final heterogeneity variables. Egger’s linear regression test for asymmetry did not indicate publication bias, intercept (-0.53), 95% confidence interval (-6.45- 5.39), t-value (0.18), df = 18. The 1-tailed P-value is 0.426, and the 2-tailed P-value is 0.852.  The outcome of Kendall’s tau with continuity correction (-0.00526), with a 1-tailed P-value of 0.487 and 2 -tailed P-value of 0,974. Duval and Tweedie’s trim-and-fill method (only one study trimmed at the left side) resulted in an adjusted correlation from − 0.857 to − 0.737 with 95% CI: − 1.345 to − 0.428. The results of the present study indicate the association of Streptococcus species with clinical upper respiratory signs in horses.  

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