Help please. Strangles

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BeautifulPassage

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My horse had to have a blood test a few days ago for something unrelated, HOWEVER he has tested positive for strangles :(

I was on the phone to the vet for an hour earlier and he told me that it's not confirmed that he HAS it, just that he has been exposed to the virus in the last 6 months. He is well in himself, displaying no symptoms, it has come as such a shock :(

He is kept at home however all my neighbours have horses too. He cannot touch neighbours horses when out in the field and obviously not when stabled. I have only had him for 5 months so it could have been at previous owner's yard or whilst I've had him as I do occasionally hack with people and I have competed him various times at various competition centres.

Vet has said to keep in isolation for 3-4 weeks. He said that this is a lot more common then people think and that often a horse's immune system just naturally clears it and then they are fine. He said they will re-test in 3-4 weeks and then put a tube down his nose that squirts antibiotics down there if he has got bacteria there??

Has anyone else been in this situation? I am pretty shaken, I love my horse and am horrified to think he could have it. It is a waiting game and I don't want to wait :(

Does anyone know how soon if a horse HAS got it, do the symptoms start to show? Thanks
 
Firstly - don't panic!! As I understand it, horses can be carriers but not show any symptoms. Follow vet's advice and you can't go wrong. Good luck!
 
My only experience of strangles was last year when a pony we had just bought developed a small swelling under one side of her jaw. Called the vet after it had been there a little while as it wasnt typical and the pony was very well in herself.
She never became ill and none of the others contracted it . The vet thinks it was caught at a show a few weeks after we got her .
after a few weeks the swelling under her jaw burst and after a couple of days it was all over.
We were lucky that we didnt pass it on to any one else and that the pony was fine so sorry but you will have to sit it out for a little while.
hope it all goes ok
 
Symptoms show within 2 weeks of exposure and infection with the bacteria.

Don't panic too much as they will be testing for the anitbodies which are produced against the strangles bacteria. The way the immune system works is that it take a while to get up and running (hence the approx 2 week incubation period) then once it's going it fights the infection and once the horse has recovered the production of antibodies slows down and stops but that can take some time and there will be a higher level of antibodies in the blood for several months following infection with strangles. If exposed to strangles at some point in his life the horse will always carry antibodies against the bacteria that causes strangles although at a lower level than there is immediately following infection. This is what prevents future infection by a pathogen/bacteria.

Also there seems to be a mild strain of strangles kicking around - ours were exposed to a raging case (long story) and several weeks later we found one of them with a snotty nose, we panicked, had the vet out and swabs done. The horse, after one morning of snot with a minor temperature, showed no more symptoms and fully recovered within 24 hours. We, and the vet, were amazed when the snot tested positive for strangles. So it's possible your horse has had a case of strangles before you got him, or has had a minor dose or is a carrier (has the bacteria with no symptoms but will have antibodies).

In your situation I would be monitoring your horse's temperature once a day (do this at the same time every day as it varies throughout the day) as a raised temperature can indicate an infection (raised would be 38.5 C and above approx) and check under the jaw for enlargement of the glands that are there as well as keeping an eye out for a snotty nose.

Hopefully the blood work is the result of a previous infection :)
 
Our yard owner always scopes and flushes the gutteral pouch if any of our horses throw a positive blood test for strangles.

Give a very good indication of whether it is a live case or exposure at some point in the past.

Of the last 5 horses that have come to our yard, 4 have thrown a positive blood test but none actually had strangles.
 
Don't panic it always sounds worse than it is!

I agree with taking his temperature once a day at the same time.

Maybe just let your neighbours know the situation too and keep them updated, just in case one of theirs gets it they can't say you didn't tell them!

Try not to worry, lots of horses can be carriers of it and never show any symptoms.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I am all up in the air, I have 2 comps booked in next few weeks too that I now will not be able to do (although I know that's the least of my worries!)

Him being a carrier will not be good will it? If I want to compete etc? Also, beginning of next year I wanted to move him onto a yard, I doubt they'd let me on if he's a carrier??

God, sorry, I know I'm whinging but I am really worried. I work full time in a very demanding job and we are coming up to our busiest period so taking time off will be difficult yet need to monitor him regularly.

So I need to look out for swollen glands underneath throat, nasal discharge, what colour does anyone know?
 
If he's a carrier then he can be treated and will no longer be a carrier once he has swabbed clean three times and treatment shouldn't take that long so shouldn't affect the yard move although you won't be able to go compete for a couple of weeks - nothing in the rules to say you can't usually but personally I wouldn't.

You're looking for a raised temp, swollen glands under the throat latch area and lots of snott which is usually a thick yellow/green colour.
Monitoring wise so your usual visit will be enough whether thats once or twice a day - there's no need to be going multiple times a day.
 
muckypony said:
Don't panic it always sounds worse than it is!

I agree with taking his temperature once a day at the same time.

Maybe just let your neighbours know the situation too and keep them updated, just in case one of theirs gets it they can't say you didn't tell them!

Try not to worry, lots of horses can be carriers of it and never show any symptoms.
Click to expand...

But just a word of warning to people that I've been on a number of yards that have had strangles outbreaks and usually everyone recovers and the worst thing is the quarantine and not being able to go to shows for a while.

However, a couple of years ago there was a strangles outbreak at my last yard. My youngster (rising 4) had a snotty nose for a few days but wasn't treated with any antibiotics or anything as the vet advised (with my agreement) that it's better just to let the young horses fight it themselves and develop a natural immunity. About 8 months later my youngster went rapidly downhill over a couple of days (before that he appeared fit and healthy and bright and had been broken in and turned away). Diagnoised with septecemia. Rushed to vets, large 'lump' identified in small intestine, operated on and the lump was identified as an abcess, attributed to the '*******' strangles, which had been unable to heal. Was too bad to be removed so horse was PTS.

Don't want to scare the OP because out of all the horses I have known to have strangles this was the only one to have died. Mainly just wanted to warn others to be vigilant.
 
re blood test for titres (antibodie levels in the blood) to see if they are rising or falling, gives an indication of when the horse was exposed to the bacteria.

I would also be looking into having the horse swabbed - the vet takes a nasopharyngeal swab, usually sedation is required, which is tested for the bacteria. 3 clear swabs taken on seperate occasiona is the usual to consider a horse clear of strangles.
However if there are no symptoms within 2-3 weeks then you can breath a sigh of relief as if your horse was going to be symptomatic then it would have shown by then, you will still need to rule out him being a carrier tho.
 
emmah1979 said:
But just a word of warning to people that I've been on a number of yards that have had strangles outbreaks and usually everyone recovers and the worst thing is the quarantine and not being able to go to shows for a while.

However, a couple of years ago there was a strangles outbreak at my last yard. My youngster (rising 4) had a snotty nose for a few days but wasn't treated with any antibiotics or anything as the vet advised (with my agreement) that it's better just to let the young horses fight it themselves and develop a natural immunity. About 8 months later my youngster went rapidly downhill over a couple of days (before that he appeared fit and healthy and bright and had been broken in and turned away). Diagnoised with septecemia. Rushed to vets, large 'lump' identified in small intestine, operated on and the lump was identified as an abcess, attributed to the '*******' strangles, which had been unable to heal. Was too bad to be removed so horse was PTS.

Don't want to scare the OP because out of all the horses I have known to have strangles this was the only one to have died. Mainly just wanted to warn others to be vigilant.
Click to expand...

8months later, i am surprised any vet would say that the 2 incidents are definatly linked
 
jools1234 said:
8months later, i am surprised any vet would say that the 2 incidents are definatly linked
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Sorry jools, you are wrong there. We had a horse on the yard who 12 months later was found to have an abscess in his abdomen (b@stard strangles). He was operated on but struggled to recover from the surgery and was PTS.
 
jools1234 said:
I am wrong that I am surprised?;)
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Lol, yep! :D

Sorry I assumed you meant it was unlikely, but I should have read your post more carefully.

The fact is b@stard strangles can fester for many many months after the initial infection, with the horse showing no outward symptoms until it's too late.
 
Normal strangles has a pretty low mortality rate but about 10% develop b**tard strangles which has a much higher mortality rate. Interestingly I've been told by several vets that treating normal strangles early on with antibiotics actually encourages the development of b**tard strangles, not sure how accurate that is or what research there is to confirm but interesting thought
 
mynutmeg said:
Normal strangles has a pretty low mortality rate but about 10% develop b**tard strangles which has a much higher mortality rate. Interestingly I've been told by several vets that treating normal strangles early on with antibiotics actually encourages the development of b**tard strangles, not sure how accurate that is or what research there is to confirm but interesting thought
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert on this at all so would be quite interested what people's thoughts are about treating strangles with antibiotics. I seem to think that after he was PTS I asked the vet whether antibiotics at the first signs of the infection would have made a difference and they said probably not.

I often think over what happened and what I could have done to have prevented him dying. The worst thing was that he appeared fine in the 8 months between having strangles and eventually being PTS. No indication at all that he was in any pain or discomfort. He was broken in, did some light hacking, did a couple of little dressage clinics and was then turned away.

I agree with Jools1234 that it seems hard to believe that he had an abcess for the whole of that time.

I know that b****d strangles is rare but next time I want to make sure I do everything possible to prevent my horse dying so any thoughts gratefully received.
 
Quick update- I spoke to the vet again this morning and said I wasn't really happy being in limbo for 3 more weeks before we even act or do anything. I said I felt uncomfortable knowing there are horses a few yards away and yes, although he can't touch them they are still close (closer than you'd want your horse to be if you knew another horse potentially had strangles!)

I said I couldn't tell anyone though as it is a tiny village, they are all gossips and it would be all over the village/surrounding villages in a matter of hours and total pandamonia when actually, there might not be anything to worry about. She agreed and agreed to come and do a gutteral swab Wed morning. She said that it would benefit me financially to wait 3 weeks as then they would probably only need to do one guttural swab but if they do one on Wed and the results come back not clear then they'd have to do another one to check whether he's a carrier/squirt antibiotics down his throat etc. It's not ideal however I am prepared to risk the extra expense to know whether my horse has strangles or not within the next 8-9 days as opposed to the next 4 weeks (it takes about a week to get results from swabs back)

Could I please have lots of 'clear swab' vibes for Wednesday morning.

P.s, horse is still bright as a button and showing no symptoms which is good.
 
you need 3 clear swabs a week apart for a definative negative strangles result.

You could go for gutteral pouch wash, that way you would have an answer one way or another with one test.
 
Okay so he had the gutteral pouch wash this morning.

Vets let me look at the camera and both nostrils were healthy and normal, free from any puss/gunk. He was such a good boy, the sedation wore off halfway through as it took them ages to get the camera/tube down and he still let them continue what they were doing. He is brilliant.

Still not displaying any symptoms. Results within 10 days. Please keep everything crossed for my boy. xxxx
 
at least there's not active infection so at the worst he could be carrying it but the most likely is that he had a mild dose a few months ago so it's still showing in his antibiody count
 
Well just thought I'd update you all.

Had the swab results back today and they were clear :D:D I am so happy and relieved. He hasn't got strangles and he isn't a carrier.

God knows why the bloods showed Strangles but I am so pleased he's fine :)
 
BP - is that swobs done prior or from the guttarl wash.

And i am sorry to hijack your thread but he results from nasal swobs are a
load of rubbish. They are not worth the money, time and effort - reason
my horse has had 2 of them - both negative - the last one on the same day her abcess was lanced and the pus has come back positive.

Sorry but the truth on these swobs needs outing - they are not to be trusted, they are a waste of time and money.
 
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