atypical myopathy..any experiences?

charlie76

charlie76

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We lost a pony last night. She was found in the field stuck under the fence. Managed to free her and get her in a trailer to the yard But she Was struggling to walk and was freezing cold.she was well rugged
. The day before she was her usual cheeky self.
She was Also struggling to breath. The vet came and she had to be pts as she was in a bad way. The vet took blood tests and the muscle enzymes were extremely high So they think it was myopathy. We Have been advised to remove all horses off of the grass and All are being blood tested tommorow.
We have managed to bring all sixty plus in.
its very scary.
Has anyone had any dealings with it?
also has anyone known horses to bleed from their eyes and mouth in the last stages as she did. Horrid
Thanks
 
How awful. RIP little pony. I'm pretty sure kokopelli has a facebook page dedicated to this... which is a sad subject but necessary. She is usually in CR so you may want to do a search for her threads on the subject.
 
A horse at our yard died from it last weekend & it's not nice at all. She had all the signs of colic, the vet wanted her in for an op, but when they got her to horsey hospital they relised it was atypical myopathy virus & she died later that day so within 12hours she went from a healthy horse to a very poorly one. The horse was out with her baby who had to come straight out the field & was blood tested & no horses are allowed back in the field until we get a frost as it's a virus in the ground that only a frost can kill it off. Really not nice. Sorry to hear your loss.
 
I'm so sorry. It's rife around here at the moment. These are the symptoms we got given which were put on our tack room door....





Equine Atypical Myopathy



Clinical signs

· Acute onset of dullness, head down, reluctant to walk, stiff legs with hindlimbs>forelimbs.

Mild sweating especially in the pectoral (neck-shoulder) region, flanks.

Reduced appetite, water intake, urination/defecation but no overt signs of “colic”.

Increased respiratory rate, heart rate, gum colour from pale pink to darker pink.

As the disease progresses the above become exaggerated with eventually recumbancy, dark brown urine (muscle breakdown products) and eventually death.

Veterinary treatment/prevention

EAM does have a very high mortality rate but early intervention can lead to recovery.

Clinical signs described along with a blood sample can greatly increase the probable diagnosis of EAM.

If your horse appears as above do not walk your horse and call your veterinary surgeon.

The main aims of treatment include pain relief, intravenous fluids, antibiotics and husbandry for the recumbent horses. Treatment does not guarantee a positive result.





Antioxidants including vitamin E/Selenium, salt blocks may help.

Regular pasture management, poo-picking, vaccination, worming regimes, feeding, exercise.

When and where Sporadic condition mainly in autumn, after spells of warmth, heavy rain, humidity and winds.

Occurs in cluster areas with several horses affected on same pasture.

Wet, boggy, leafy fields.

Any age of horse, no sex/breed predisposition but young females overrepresented.

Animals not in training, good/bad condition.





Causes



No known cause but factors including weather conditions, poor health status and certain leafy pastures may predispose.

Dead leaves, humidity may favour growth of moulds/mycotoxins that may increase risk of EAM.

Speculation that a toxin producing bacterium called Clostridium sordellii and bifermantans may have a role in the disease.

Poor antioxidant status of horse may predispose horses to EAM.





I haven't heard of the bleeding before. From what I heard the most common late symptom is for their urine for be very very dark brown.

Really hope the weather turns freezing cold asap!
 
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