Habronema????

[llrice67]

my 24 yr. old gelding quarter horse has a sore on his chin. this started out as a cut on underside of chin from a gate. we treated w/betadine and kept corona on every day when first happened. as the summer progressed the flies got worse and they would eat away at this wound ,it was healing nicely up to this point. we have tried animax (triple anti), gent violet spray, corona oint, fly spray and other ointments to repel the flies. because of the location it's hard to keep medication from coming off in the water and horse from rubbing the irritation of the wound on his legs. now it's quite a large sore, size of a silver dollar and not healing. i am suspecting habronema. what can i do for this? i am a certified veterinary technician with many options? is this something i can treat myself? thank you for your time and help, Laura

 

[llrice67]

here is a photo of his chin.. thanks again. ~Laura

 

[appylass]

I had to Google habronema and see that it is a type of stomach parasite - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habronema

Could you try a different type of wormer? For the open wound, have you tried honey? I appreciate anything would be hard to keep in place and it would need reapplying as frequently as possible?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

No idea what habronema is and why, if it's a wormer, it should be implicated in a lesion on the chin that won't heal??? You'll be aware that flies have been implicated in the spread of sarcoids, especially if one horse in a herd/group has a sarcoid/s and another horse has an open wound or sore. Any lesion that doesn't heal after careful management and a sensible ampunt of time needs to be treated with suspicion. If it IS a sarcoid, take expert advice before you try to treat it yourself. Sarcoids are skin cancers and some treatments can make them more aggressive, as can the application of the sort of products that say things like "promotes healing" such as tea tree and/or aloe vera products. Keep well away from them as the last thing you want in the event of a skin cancer is anything that promises to speed up further growth.

 

[Carow]

You may be correct. It does have the appearance of a habronema granuloma or summer sores.

Personally I'd get a veterinarian to intervene and not attempt to treat it myself at this point. Granulomas can be difficult to heal and this may need surgical intervention as it's not responding to current treatment. You'll probably need an Ivermectin based wormer and topical and/or systemic corticosteroids, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.

These type of lesions can be confused with sarcoids and squamous cell carcinoma so a biopsy may be required for definitive diagnosis.

 

[Helena72]

External Fly repellents are effective against Habronema

Thats not correct at all. Fly repellents are effective in PREVENTING the flies that transmit the Habronema, but not for curing it in any way!
cortisone and dewormer are the treatments, and there are some new theories that recommend the dewarmer be applied topically as well.