Strangles carriers? Anyone had one?

[Shadowdancing]

My horse had elevated antibodies from a blood test for strangles, which I was not expecting. I've been advised to not agree to subsequent tests and just go straight for the guttural pouch wash. This will apparently tell me and the person who's yard I want to move to if she is a carrier..

I'm so worried she could be! No horses anywhere she's lived since she's been with me, arrived 5 years ago, has had strangles.

How likely it is that this will come out of the test, and if she is, what do I do?!

 

[LKKB]

Elevated antibodies just mean she has come into contact with it, not that she has actually got it or is a carrier. Some horses can come into contact with the bacteria and fight it, never getting symptoms. When we tested the whole yard after we had it a few years ago (about 30 horses) there were quite a few who showed elevated antibodies, but the guttural pouch flush showed nothing. There also seemed to be no rhyme nor reason to it. Young, old, competition horses, happy hackers, the lot. One (very old) horse was found to have chondroids.

I went straight for the guttural pouch flush when I bought and moved my boy as he had been in a known strangles field a few weeks before I bought him.

Guttural pouch showed no puss, no chondroids, jobs a good un.

If she shows either than she will probably need to be retested (I can't remember if that will be blood our pouch flush).

 

[Red-1]

Hi, a work horse had a positive result before we bought him, where a previous yard he was at got strangles soon after he arrived, and he washed as positive, and the vet told them he was probably a carrier who had started to shed because of the stress of moving, thus spreading the infection.

He was on trial then, and was returned to the owner.

We did not (of course!) know any of this until we were much later told by the previous potential buyer, once we had already owned him for 2 years.

We took him for testing, and he was totally clear. Our vet said even carriers can lose it after time.

I would contact your vet and take advice re re-test or wash. Many horses have a positive test, and have no current infection. The antibodies stay in the body a lot longer than the illness. That is one reason the tests are not popular,as they have a high number of positive results, even when the horse is no threat.