Positive strangles test, yo not taking it seriously. What to do?

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blackandwhite

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My pony has returned a positive strangles screening after testing before going on loan. I informed yo straight away and she informed other liveries. No animal shows any signs of infection, we suspect pony is a carrier. However, yo has implemented the most lax bio-security (there is none at all as standard) I have ever seen and other liveries are looking to me for answers. I have no idea what to tell them. Well, obviously I do but as I'm not in charge I can't actually do anything apart from screen my own animals.

Can anyone offer any advice? I'm tearing my hair out because I know what should be happening but what can I do?
 
Ask the vet for his advice on what you should do. If a carrier you can have antibiotics put in to the gutteral pouch, not cheap or easy, this may clear it but you may need another GP.
If there is actiVe strangles in the yard the YO should take vet advice as this is treated as a herd problem. The temperatures would be taken twice per day.
 
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Difficult one but YO needs to speak to your vet to find out what to do. Maybe if all the liveries got together to suggest this?

Theres a venue near me who is reopening after an outbreak and cant possibly have taken the proper protocols as per Animal Health Trust as the timescales dont add up for the time between swabs. I dont think competitors have really thought about it but then you wouldnt expect an organiser to risk spreading it by opening early..
 
Was it a swab or the blood test? If a swab, then yes I'd been concerned, if it's the blood test simply showing antibodies, then no I wouldn't, it simply means your pony has been exposed to the virus at some point in the last few months.
 
If it'still a positive blood test you may be worrying over something that has been & gone. However, you should isolate the pony until a second test or swab that can tell you whether this is a current or historic problem. I know some vets don't like blood tests pre-move as they can give false assurance/unnecessary panic. They take 2 weeks after exposure to show +ve & the antibodies remain in the blood for months after the infection has gone.
 
I guess it has to have been a blood test. Basically useless and meaningless. Bob the nota cob lived next door to a horse with strangles ,for three months, Caught something ,and shrugged it off fast.yet two years later he shows ZERO antibodies in a blood test . Certainly had my vet confused.
 
If he's a carrier it's not going to make much difference having a bio security policy now anyway, presumably your pony has had contact with every other horse there anyway.

You need to speak to the vet to get this sorted out. If it's just he has antibodies that only means he's had strangles at some point, you can't assume he's a carrier, from the blood test. Only a swab will tell you and it doesn't sound like he's had one as you would know for sure if he was a carrier in that instance.
 
That's good advice. When my 2 had strangles all the other horses were blood tested. It showed up that 3 of them had had strangles before but nobody has any idea when despite all of them having been on the yard for at least 2 years. You basically have 2 options for testing - a 2nd blood test at least 2 weeks after the 1st will show whether the antibody level is falling - if yes definitely an old case, rusing- definitely an active case or stable - could be either or a carrier. Or a swab. IME the swab tests take longer to come back than the blood test so ask your vet which would be best in your circumstances
 
Swabs tests are unreliable even in the case of an acute yard outbreak, as the bacteria may or may not be present at the time of the swabbing. As I understand it, a wash of the gutterl pouch with a visual inspection by endoscope plus injection of long term antibiotic in to the GP may resolve the problem, or it may not. The vet may need a second GP procedure. The endoscope may not be able to enter the GP, esp in a pony, so it is not failsafe.
The blood tests are a historic view.
Only the vet with the blood results can really understand and explain fully.
 
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