strangles

Bossdog

Bossdog

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The new horse on our yard has just been diagnosed with strangles, he arrived the week before Katie. As she has only been there two weeks, she's not showing any symptoms yet. The vet said she will give antibiotics if and when symptoms appear but I have just read that there is now a vaccinne available, does anyone know anything about it, is it too late for us to do her?

We are following all reccommended guidelines and have notified people who need to know, I am so gutted, especially as we really wanted to move yards in two weeks, guess that going to go on hold for ages now.

Aaaghh, horses!

Jules x
 
Hi,

The vaccine can only be given as a preventative, not if a horse is suspected to have it. It is currently not available as there has been a recall but when it is out again be a good idea to get the whole yard on a vaccination programme just in case.

It can be diagnosed by swabbing- if yours is out of the incubation period and isolated, should be ok- if not and you are worried its showing any signs of glands swelling/nasal discharge get a swab done.

Vets are pretty good at advising so if you are worried just pone them up
smile.gif
 
Thanks for that, the vet has been great, I'm just gutted that I might lose the box at teh yard I want to move too, how long will a good YO expect me to wait before moving her to their yard?

Jules x
 
was the new horse on the yard put into an isolation box for 3 weeks on arrival or was it just allowed straight onto the yard ?

if it was kept in isolation (as all l. yards should....) then it should not have transmitted to other horses

if not..........then you are likely to be shut down for about 2 months
 
[ QUOTE ]
was the new horse on the yard put into an isolation box for 3 weeks on arrival or was it just allowed straight onto the yard ?


[/ QUOTE ]

I know this is best practice but i've never been on a yard that has the facilities to do it.
 
Hiya

Strangles is a pain in the backside, but try not to panic too much.

A couple of things to consider. Is it possible to isolate the horse in question? Strangles is spread via the air, fences, people's clothing, shared water / feed troughs and the like.

We had it on our yard last year and the yard got split into two; the infected side and non infected. The grooms were split and only dealt with their relevant horses and all liveries were asked to see their horse only and not wander around the yard. All turnout was stopped.

Regarding the vaccine. Two horses on our yard were vaccinated and both contracted strangles. There was also a couple of quite high profile cases where the producers of the vaccine had to pay out compensation to yards where horses contracted strangles despite being vaccinated. The vaccination was withdrawn from the market last year.... I wasn't aware that it had been made available again but it's possible it has. Never the less, unless they have made major improvements to it, it's effectiveness is very questionable.

Also, I did ask the vet about vaccinating mine when our first case was confirmed and he said it was too late.

Next thing - antibiotics. Most vets will NOT treat strangles with anti-bis for a very good reason. It increases the risk of strangles developing into bastard strangles. This is when the absesses form on the internal organs as opposed to the glands. Bastard strangles has a very very high fatality rate. Im fortunate in that our area is covered by a very good equine vet and he absolutly refused to give anti-bis to any of the horses on our yard with one exception and that was to a little mare who's temperature was running dangerously high. At this point it was decided that the horse was in immediate danger from this and they administered anti-bis.

Please please be very very careful in considering the use of anti-biotics for horses with strangles. Nearly all horses with strangles make a complete recovery by allowing their own immune system to get control of the situation. It's not a pleasant illness and it can make them quite poorly, but they're "ok". Certainly discuss the problem of bastard strangles with your vet before you let them administer any anti-bis to your horse!

In regards to monitoring it.... we took temperatures 3 times a day and kept a chart of each reading so we could get a feeling of what was normal for all the horses. An increase in temperature is usually an early warning sign that things arent right. I was quite lucky, my horse didnt run an insane temperature when he was ill and most were well within the "high but safe" zone (with the exception of the little horse i mentioned before).

If she contracts it.... it depends a bit on how the symptoms show. My horse have zero absesses but an insanely runny nose (ive never seen anything like it). It's a good idea to start using haynets in this case and try and raise their food. Everytime they put their heads down, it can literally pour out of their noses and obviously, aside from being unpleasant, can put them off eating. Similarly, if you can raise the water buckets, its a good idea for the same reason.

Try and wipe away any discharge from their noses to keep their airways as clear as possible. Absesses can be treated with hot cloths to encourage them to come out. All affected horses should be on box rest until completly clear.

Afterwards.... we had to wait 6 weeks from the last case clearing up before having swabs taken. We then had them taken again 3 months later. This was to ensure we really were clear and to check that none of the horses had become carriers. It's a very small % of horses that will develop into carriers, but those that do will spread strangles to horses they come into contact with. This causes enormous problems since it prevents you competing and basically grounds the horse for the rest of its life. But this IS a very tiny % of horses!

Most become immune to strangles after recovery, certainly for a few years... lots for a lifetime. Again, this is most though, there is always the risk of reinfection (although in theses cases the horses tend to be much less poorly).

We were diagnosed in January of last year and were able to start getting the horses out and about again by about May time.

Only other thing to remember is that if you're going to another yard / friends horses, make sure you change your clothes completly. Usually if you get any of the discharge on your clothes, it is only infectious for as long as its "wet" and as soon as its dry, you're ok... but I personally wouldnt take the risk.

Best of luck to you - she will be fine even if she contracts it but please be very hesitant about using antibiotics with strangles. There was a discussion about bastard strangles in the vet forum a short time ago and a quick session of googling should explain the risks pretty clearly.
 
[ QUOTE ]
was the new horse on the yard put into an isolation box for 3 weeks on arrival or was it just allowed straight onto the yard ?

if it was kept in isolation (as all l. yards should....) then it should not have transmitted to other horses



[/ QUOTE ]

It is just four boxes and a 6 acre field divided into paddocks, there's no facilities for isolation although he has been in a seperate field, am I looking at 8 weeks the before I can move her?

Jules x
 
You are looking at 8 weeks AFTER the last case has been swabbed and pronounced clear.....so look at it being at least another 3 weeks on top of the 8 weeks.

I am another, don't go down the Penicllin G route. My advice is to just let this run it's course and isolate all horses until they have all been clear for 60 days.
 
well with a BHS approvals inspection the yard is expected to have isolation facilities (and use them)

so one thing in favour of a BHS approved yard - I know some people don't think it makes anydifference but........
 
We currently have strangles on our yard too - only 2 horses out of 36 got it - and they all share a field together so with a bit of luck yours won't get it. Little word of warning re swabs though - the first horse on ours who got it had 2 clear naso-pharyngeal swabs just before the 1st abscess appeared!
 
my pony roxy had really bad strangles last year. Everyone thought she was going to die.
frown.gif

They put her on anti-biotics, and they saved her life!! But they didn't even close our yard, and people still went to shows.
 
you have just given the exact reason why I have every horse in my yard vaccinated against strangles.

It may not be the 100% protection but I'd never forgive myself if I didn't vaccinate, could have, and then any of mine got strangles

yard up the road had strangles 2 years ago and they didn't realise (it's a very odd yard) that they had strangles until a horse DIED !! (and up to then they'd all been out and about
 
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