If you want to find something out these days, chances are you Google it! The word is now even in
the dictionary: Googling – to search the internet for information; to use a search engine to find information.
I guess a lot of people realise how Google works. It learns what you search and what you “like” or read and then it shows you more of the same. Sounds great. But if you have a habit of clicking on poor, inaccurate and misleading information….guess what? It will show you more of the same. And, of course, by spending money on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Google Adverts, anyone can get their information to appear at the top of your page, or at least on page 1. So when something pops up on page 1, just think: it could be very popular, but it could have also been very heavily funded to get there.
If you really want to know what the internet looks like, other than see what the internet thinks you want to see, then try opening an incognito window and/or clearing your cache. This is an exercise I do now and then.
I like to believe I know a little about the topic of Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH) or “bleeding” in horses. I have published a number of papers in that area, worked with Dr Colin Roberts, Prof Bob Schroter, Dr Richard Newton and Prof David Poole and others on a number of projects, attended two Havemeyer workshops on EIPH, being the organiser of the second one. So today I went incognito and typed in “EIPH horse” in Google. This is what came up on page 1.
No.1. The Horse.com – EIPH: Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage.
A post by Dr Ray Geor from Nov 1 2001! Overall, it’s a well balanced review of the topic, but of course there has been a lot of new research since 2001 – 88 papers to be precise. So this article, whilst very good at the time, is now clearly out of date.
No.2. MSD Vet Manual – Exercise-induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage in Horses.
An article by Bonnie Rush, a vet who was at Kansas State University at the time. Content last modified 2014. 32 new papers on EIPH since 2014. It’s a very short and superficial entry.
No.3. Plusvital – EIPH: Everything You Need To Know About “Bleeding” In Horses.
No author. No date. It’s a very superficial piece and essentially is written to introduce and promote a supplement for EIPH support. There is no evidence provided to show that this supplement’s ingredients can help reduce EIPH and this promotion would be illegal if the website was in the UK as it mentions the supplement in relation to a clinical condition (EIPH) and so contravenes the Veterinary Medicine Directorate rules. The position of this piece at no.3. means that it has been heavily funded to appear here.
No.4. Wikipedia – Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
Enough said! In the past, I attempted to correct some of the errors on this entry, but they were reverted by someone else, so I gave up. A mixture of accurate and misleading information.
No.5. Haygain – Lung Bleeding (EIPH) in Horses – It’s Not Only Racehorses!
February 2019. Author – Dr David Marlin! This surprised me. It’s a short article aimed at horse owners. At least haemorrhage is spelt correctly.
No.6. Veterinary Clinics: Equine Practice. Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
A multi-author entry by Rik Birks, Mary Durando and Steve McBride. A fairly thorough and balanced review but dated April 1 2003. 72 new papers published since then, so out of date.
No.7. American Association of Equine Practitioners – Review of Alternative Therapies for EIPH.
Prof Howard Erickson, Tammi Epp and Prof David Poole (all Kansas State University). A good paper but
2007!
No.8. Vetstream. Lung: EIPH (exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage)
Contributor(s): Christopher Brown, Timothy Mair, Nicola Menzies-Gow, Prof Jonathon Naylor, Colin Roberts. Should be good but not accessible unless you subscribe. No indication of when it was published or updated. Shame an English site is using American spelling ☹
No.9. Protect from EIPH (Lung Bleeding) – FLAIR Strips.
Generally some good information. I contributed some material to this site. But not dated.
No.10. Vet Times.
Exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage: risk factors, clinical signs and prevention. David Rendle. July 2016. 20 new papers since 2016. Sadly fails to cite a number of relevant papers.
So, as an illustration, the first page of a Google search only reveals one recent article on EIPH, although I’m actually pleased it was one of mine. Generally, the information on EIPH is reasonably accurate although in most cases outdated. Of the top ten, three articles were from companies and one source was not accessible without a subscription.
In the future, I’m going to look at some other search terms and see what they throw up! Sarcoids, turmeric and sweet-itch treatments would seem to be good contenders.
