Papiloma virus in horses

[Allie5]

Does anyone have any experience of this? Tommy has some serious warts on his face, first vet said they were grass/milk warts and not to worry. After nearly 4 months with them getting bigger and bigger I asked for second vet. Second vet chopped largest wart off (big enough to need 6 staples!) and sent it away for biopsy. Biopsy came back as a viral/papiloma type thing. He is coming back on Monday to remove staples and drop off creams to hopefully reduce the warts. My worry is that he had smaller versions last summer and surely a young horse would build immunity to viruses not have them worse? I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that he will fight these off!

 

[Hollycatt]

I am sure the cream the vet has will be effective Not all viruses are the same - for example the body will fight off flu by itself, but HIV it cannot fight off. So you can't expect or be surprised that he has not got rid of this virus himself. I wouldn't worry about it too much though. I don't think papiloma is serious and can be easily and quickly treated. It sounds like the vet has it under control and with the cream he will be perfectly clear in a very short space of time

 

[Tnavas]

They will drop off on their own accord - my mare got some a couple of years ago - they arrived out of the blue and then one day they were all gone.

They looked awful and I told her I couldn't kiss her lovely velvety muzzle anymore! Sad I know.

 

[SpruceRI]

My Shetland developed warts on his nose when he was a yearling.

It started off as one wart, which got quite big. He often knocked the crust off, and it bled like mad. Then I bought some aloe vera stuff and dabbed it on the crust, but he kept moving and I kept missing!

After a while he had a mass of little warts adjoining the big ones. I think I had spread them! Eek.

So, little black Shetland with a mass of crusts on his muzzle. Not nice.

And then out of the blue, they all disappeared! Just like that! There one day. Gone the next. And no scars either.

Remarkable!

But yes, the vet had said it was the Papiloma virus and the pony would just grow out of them.

 

[Bertthefrog]

We've had a few youngsters with them over the years - all vanished eventually and none of those affected every suffered from anything similar in later life.