Equine Herpes Virus

Pipkin

Pipkin

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My mare has been diagnosed with possible ehv (awaiting blood tests) She's staying in hospital until tests are back.
Has anyone experienced this, can you tell me what I can expect.
Vets thought wobblers at first but x rays have ruled that out
 
Sorry to hear this Pipkin, where in the country are you? There has been a recent outbreak in Devon but as far as I know it was contained within th trainers yard and I think he has had the all clear with no other cases reported. I don't know enough about it to be very helpful but hope your horse responds well to treatment. All the best at this worrying time
 
I'm sorry to say it, but my friend's horse didn't have a happy ending :( The spinal cord had swelled and therefore been compressed, which gave the Wobbler's like symptoms. Bute brought it down, but the compression had caused lesions. As soon as the bute was stopped, the swelling came back.

I don't think EHV ever leaves the system, a bit like herpes in humans. I'm sorry to type such bad news, but hopefully you have caught this early and something can be done for your horse. Sending you good luck vibes and please let us know how things go :)
 
sychnant said:
I'm sorry to say it, but my friend's horse didn't have a happy ending :( The spinal cord had swelled and therefore been compressed, which gave the Wobbler's like symptoms. Bute brought it down, but the compression had caused lesions. As soon as the bute was stopped, the swelling came back.

I don't think EHV ever leaves the system, a bit like herpes in humans. I'm sorry to type such bad news, but hopefully you have caught this early and something can be done for your horse. Sending you good luck vibes and please let us know how things go :)
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Yes from what I've read not always a great outcome but the x rays on her spinal column show no inflamation yet. She went in with suspected wobblers but x rays have showed thats clear, Because of ataxia and she had a temperature they are going down the herpes route. She hasn't shown other clincial symptoms such as lack of appetite or nasal discharge. She's pretty upbeat she just walks like she's drank a bottle of smirnoff.

She's in Cotts Equine at the moment.
 
Thank you, I've had so many possibles thrown at me my head is all over the place. I faced up to the fact i would be going home with an empty box and never getting to see my number 1 ever again. I really am hoping we have caught it early enough. I'm hoping to hear soon so I can vaccinate the others and get on with disinfecting the yard
 
Majority of horses carry the EHV virus. Sometimes and often through stress, this mutates into EHV1 which is the neurological version.
Unfortunately it can cause paralysis and the outcome is not good.
 
Vets seem to think she will make a full recovery because we caught it within 12 hours of the virus breaking.
She has perked up a lot more this morning and use of hind legs is better than it was yesterday.
She will stay in hospital and see how she progresses throughout the week.
She is on steroids at the moment and awaiting outcome of blood test.
 
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