Mystery Illness post flu and tet vaccination

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logical decision

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Dear all,
I am looking for anyone who has any ideas about my two year old who has abnormally high globulins and low albumin which have been at a sustained level for 7 weeks. Clinically he is very well but the bloods are not returning to normal (he did have a normal blood profile last year). I will try and keep this post as short as possible but really hoping someone might have had a similar experience as my vets are unable to provide a diagnosis, even after asking other vets across the world but I am hoping that the power of social media might either help or flag up other horses that have had a similar illness/ vaccination reaction.
On April 20 th I had my three year old and his half brother (the two year old) vaccinated with Duvaxyn flu and tetatanus. On the 28th April I noticed that the three year old had a swelling in a hind limb. He had this in previous years with a change in grass and as we had just moved fields and after discussion with vet gave him a bute morning and in the evening. Saturday morning the swelling had spread to the other hind and a fore leg so phoned the vet who suggested adding in an antibiotic to the bute and continue to monitor. Saturday evening the swelling was worse and was now also localised to joints. The vet came out and treated him. By Sunday morning he was in a terrible state and taken into hospital. His bloods at this point were very abnormal with high globulins and low albumin, very high SAA and White blood counts. No toxicity markers though so very odd. He developed laminitis and after battling very hard to save him unfortnately was PTS. This was a much loved and adored homebred and so it has been heart breaking.
We had all the other horses in the field blood tested and only my two year old came back as abnormal, with nearly the same profile as the three year old, apart from not having the very high SAA. He has not become clinically unwell but I am sure that you can understand how worried I am as we do not what triggered the three year old to become so unwell.
My vets have been fantastic but with no diagnosis I thought I would see if anyone had experienced anything similar. The timing of the onset of symptons does not tie to a reaction to the vaccination but the fact that these are the only two effected has made me think maybe this is the cause.
If you have read this far- thank you.
 
What an awful thing to happen. I would also suspect a vaccine reaction - it's worth reporting the batch number to the manufacturer in case there have been other reactions.

No lumps or heat noted at the injection sites in case anything entered that way?

I hope you get some answers x
 
Thank you for the reply. There was no local reaction at the injection site and the vets don't think that the timing is right but I can't see why only these two had the weird bloods. I will talk to the manufacturer and see if they have had any other issues. I just want to try and make sure that I don't also lose my two year old. The not knowing what has happened is very difficulty to deal with.
 
logical decision said:
Thank you for the reply. There was no local reaction at the injection site and the vets don't think that the timing is right but I can't see why only these two had the weird bloods. I will talk to the manufacturer and see if they have had any other issues. I just want to try and make sure that I don't also lose my two year old. The not knowing what has happened is very difficulty to deal with.
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As the vets have no ideas what is going on then I don't see how they can rule out the one common factor that could have been the trigger if not the actual cause, like most unusual illnesses or reactions there is rarely a set pattern or timescale, it was only 8 days before you noticed there was a problem, the youngsters may have been unwell but showing no symptoms for several days, a ridden horse may have shown more obvious signs during exercise.

No ideas but I hope your 2 year old pulls through, I would chase up the manufacturers as it is too much of a coincidence for only these two to be ill which rules out the field or environment as the cause.
 
sorry i can`t help, and about the three year old how awful.

i have in the past had a horse react to vaccine flu tet, but he was unwell for a few days only, and also a dog, a stray, who i had vacced and she was immediately unwell, however neither had a repeat, but it makes you nervous, you know there is a possibility of reaction.
 
rara007 said:
Have you had protein electrophoresis?
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Yes we had the results from the electrophoresis and it showed the following, so the bulk of the increase in the Beta-1 fraction- I don't fully understand the significance of this so would be interested for your thoughts.

Total Protein 86 dl [53-73].H
Albumin 23 gll 129-411.L
Total Globulin 63 gil t1s-38l'H
Alpha 1 1.41 g/l t0.4-2.01
Alpha z 8'39 gl {3.2*8.4)
Beta 1 43.18 gfi [4.0-10.8] r H
Beta 2 5.96 gl t1.z -s.9)
Gamma 4.05 #l [a.6-13.41r1
 
Thank you - it is making me nervous of future vaccination but I think this kind of reaction is very rare if indeed it is caused by the vaccinition. I have been in touch with the manufacturer of the vaccine and they have not had any other reports of this type.
 
If the affected horses are related I would be wondering if it's an autoimmune condition. The vaccination could be somewhat of a red herring in that case.

I've seen it in dogs where they appear to be totally normal then at vaccination at 8 weeks they start to have issues. It's easy to assume it was the vax but in these cases the dog was compromised already and the vax just pushed it on a bit if that makes sense.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
Hi I have managed a livery yard for around 30 years and had horses for a lot longer, over those years I have seen a small minority of horses have reactions to the Flu and Tet, usually random swellings high temperature and looking a bit down, but I did actually loose a horse many years ago as a direct result of the flu and tet, through the grapevine I found that this does happen occasionally, it is not widely spoken about and in my case I feel that it was actively hushed up. A few years after it happened I heard through a friend of mine that a friend of hers in another county had lost her mare, exactly the same symptoms as mine had within a few days of the vacs, she asked if she could contact me for more details and I found that she too had the same experience. My horse had been fully fit, was competing cross country, ODE and in fact three days before her vacs had won a county level working hunter, the next day had been placed in a good level cross country, there was nothing at all wrong with her, she had the jab, next day was not right, had the vet as no droppings, her temperature was extremely high, two days later we lost her, absolutely gutted!! After a lot of research the vet told me that it was thought it was not the actual vacs (flu and tet bug) but the stuff it is mixed in to administer it. My insurance company told me it was obviously the vacs and that they would get the money out of the chemicals company, next day completely changed their tune and just paid out, not that any amount of money could replace our beloved mare. My advise is if your horse is not right after a vacs, keep checking their temperature and if there is any raise at all call your vet immediately. I have heard of horses that have recovered from this extreme reaction but they have taken a very long time over it. So there you are, from being a little unwell to the unthinkable, in my case, my horse had always had a particular brand of the vacs, on this occasion it was changed for whatever reason to a different brand, whether this had anything to do with it we will never know. There is obviously a lot more to this story which I cannot put down here, just please watch your horses carefully after what is a 'routine' vacs. All the best.
 
As a postscript to my previous, after this had happened I refused to let my other horse have the vacs, he was only three, two years later he got the flu and was seriously ill, so there we are, since then all my horses have been vaccinated and have been ok, but I still watch them!!
 
I've had one react very badly to flu&tet but reaction occured within 12hrs of jab. All 4 legs swelled, horse was very unwilling to move and off food. Iv steroids were given by vet for 5 days before the reaction started to subside but was many more weeks before a full recovery. We nearly ended up at the vet hospital but at the last minute we turned a corner.
Drug company paid the huge vet bills and vet suggested it was an issue with the carrier agent in the vaccine most likely. So sorry to hear of your loss. I also now dread when vaccines are due with any of my horses, however they compete so are required
 
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