Using specially bred mice with a specific aspect of their immune system altered could give insight as to what might be compromised in the horse immune system. The Western blot test is extremely useful in determining if a horse does not have antibodies for S. neurona . To answer these questions and many more, EPM research requires horses. The spinal cord, brain, and tissues of experimental horses must be examined to make the best use of each horse's sacrifice to EPM research. Teamwork is essential.
Research requires money.
The speed of solving this problem now is directly related to the amount of money available to conduct research. There are more specific questions that are being and will be studied, but in order to solve the problem of EPM, we need to address the last ones first. Whatever you want to call it, researchers need dollars. They can only do the work they can afford to do, no matter how many educated, experienced, dedicated, and eager people there are to solve the problem. Someone might have a great idea for determining what triggers a horse's immune system to slow down, thus allowing the S. neurona parasite to flourish and cause disease in a previously healthy horse.