strangles - advice needed

[jasperconran]

Hi, I am new to this forum and have got a question. I am in the process of buying a 2 year old cob for myself and my daughter. The owner has had him for 8 months and never had him vaccinated or anything. I sent a vet out to do a blood test for strangles and it came back positive although the horse is showing no signs of the disease. He is just over the safe levels, ie, 0.7. The vet is saying that this due to antibodies building up to fight it, as he has obviously been exposed to strangles at some point in his young life.

The vet is recommending another blood test in 14 days time, and he is pretty confident that it will be negative. So my question is this, shall we just wait for another blood test or is it worth looking into getting a guttoral pouch wash done straight away? I know that this is not a cheap procedure, but the animals owner is not convinced that the test will come back negative in 14 days time.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My daughter is very upset and the yard will not take the horse until the tests come back negative.

thanks in advance

 

[Busterdude]

Personally I would leave with owner and re- test in 2 weeks. If clear go from there. If not clear then you will have prevented any infectionto your new yard. Showing no symptons isn't 100 % guarentee that it won't spread. Two weeks isn't to long as you will have many years to spend with him if he is only 2. If you are bringing him home get his first vaccination done at the owners yard. I suspect he hasn't been wormed either so try and give him a good wormer a few days before you pick him up so he can the leave the worms with the present owner. I wouldn't rush in to spend money on pouch washes etc. Good luck.

 

[stranger1612]

The titre will still be high in two weeks and will tell you nothing. Either decide you want to know for sure by performing more invasive tests or accept that in the abscence of clinical disease that it is unlikely the horse has strangles.

 

[Mohawk]

Of course the titre will still be high in 2 weeks time but that is irrelevant - what is important is whether or not the titre has increased in the last 2 weeks which indicates that the horse is mounting an active immune response, suggesting recent exposure/current infection, or if the titre has remained at the same level indicating that the horse has been exposed to strangles in the past, causing it to produce antibodies, but is not suffering from current infection.

 

[brighteyes]

Quick Q

Out of interest, what made you want the test done? Has your yard requested it? Never heard of it done routinely before, only as part of the cleanup exercise.

And the no signs but able to infect thing, is why my don't eat or drink out of anything other than our own buckets (including nibbling grass at shows) so we can better avoid picking up nasties. Including worms.

 

[GreedyGuts]

Of course the titre will still be high in 2 weeks time but that is irrelevant - what is important is whether or not the titre has increased in the last 2 weeks which indicates that the horse is mounting an active immune response, suggesting recent exposure/current infection, or if the titre has remained at the same level indicating that the horse has been exposed to strangles in the past, causing it to produce antibodies, but is not suffering from current infection.

It's not irrelevant at all. An increasing titre would indicate current infection but a consistently elevated titre might be an indicator of carrier status. Agree with Stranger1612; either get it guttural pouch washed to be sure or take the risk that it was probably exposed some time ago if all else seems well, but personally I'd go with the first opion. Chances are that if you do retest in 2 weeks the titre won't have changed significantly and you'll be in the same position.