Why isn't strangles a notifiable disease?

C

Chambon

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My friend's yard near Peterborough has strangles and one of my horses is at her yard (and is now in quarantine and will miss the start of the show season
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- but totally NOT my friend's fault, I must add!).

She bought a yearling a couple of weeks ago and it had a snotty nose when it was delivered, turned out to be strangles
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The stud that she bought the yearling from didn't know it had strangles, and they have several outbreaks now, but with all the comings and goings at the stud they don't know where it came from.

If it was a notifiable disease there would be better control over these outbreaks?
 
The trouble is that making it common knowledge is a double-edged sword; you're damned do and damned if you don't; mainly because of the ignorance and shock-effect so many horse owners put upon the word Strangles.

If people bothered to find out more about the condition then there wouldn't be all this fear-factor and I'm sure yards would be far happier to tell everyone that it had reached them rather than quietly hushing it all up over the quarantine period. It's these sorts of people who, in my opinion, actually create mayhem often by accusing yards which are clear of it or telling the whole world and his dog that a particular yard had strangles 20 years ago.
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You know this is interesting as not ALL that long ago I and another forum member suggested that it would be a good idea if there was some sort of notification place or something. More so that ppl could then make their own minds up if they wanted to visit the area or not. It was not so that any yards could be stigmatised - as carthorse says its not anyones fault who gets it.

We were shot down in flames.

I for one would rather know so that the spread could be contained. Surely this would help to eventually eradicate a rather unpleasant illness - eventually.
 
but do you not think if people hold there hands up and say look we've got strangles its far better than denying it carrying on as normal still going to shows and then when everyone finds out anyway you look totaly irresponsible, and selfish. that happened up by me, my vet confirmed to me that this yard had it, well he didnt actually tell us he just said no to every other yard we suggested and nothing when we mentioned this one as he could have got into trouble if he had told us outright! which is unbelievable.
 
One word - Quarantine. At present it is voluntary - it should be mandatory. However even that won't stop the spread of Strangles.
 
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I for one would rather know so that the spread could be contained. Surely this would help to eventually eradicate a rather unpleasant illness - eventually

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I cannot see how you can possibly believe this LOL!! The only way that Strangles can be "eradicated" is if every single horse in the UK remained at it's abode for the rest of it's life......clearly impractical, therefore other management issues need to be taken up.
 
The problem with strangles is that horses can show no sign of the disease but remain carriers and pass it on to others. Some animals will only have a snotty nose and not show any other symptoms but actually have strangles. How many people completely shut down a yard for a mild snotty nose or even call a vet.
 
Personally, I would rather it be notifiable and there be somewhere that it has to be logged. I will explain why:

Last year I had a pregnant mare who I was still competing. We went to a local show ground and a week later there was a post on here saying there had been a horse with known strangles (it had come off a quarantined yard) at that show because they had been banned from one near them as it was known in the area the yard had strangles.

Could you imagine my worry knowing that my pregnant mare could have come in contact with that horse! I spoke to my vet at lengths, because obviously she could not have the vaccine being in foal and I went through all the symptoms very carefully with them.

A week later she started with a very snotty nose
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The vet was called up immediately and she was quarantined by me... luckily she did not have strangles, just a snotty nose but the anger I felt for that competitor during the hours I waited for the vet was understandably immense!

Because of this, I put a post on a local website about this particular show so others knew about it, were aware of what to look for and could be more cautious with their daily checks on their horse. I ended up getting a phone call from the show ground owner quite annoyed because a few people had cancelled for their up and coming shows due to Chinese whispers that the show ground had it. Once I explained why I was so concerned, showed him the posts on here and the one I wrote on the local website it was cleared up and the owner agreed the lack of responsibility from the competitor.

However, had there been one place that people could check, run by DEFRA, there would be no doubt of the yards that were quarantined, and people could not be so irresponsible as to try to go out competing! It would also avoid Chinese whispers too.
 
I did say EVENTUALLY.... and surely prevention is always better than cure? Sorry that you found my suggestion a laughing matter but I believe that sometimes lots of suggestions in a melting pot often come up with a good solution.

What other management strategies would you suggest (apart from enforced quarantine as previously mentioned)? Why is it that Strangles is not a notifiable disease? Is it because its not considered as life-threatening or perhaps it is due to the fact you can have carriers that show no signs. If its not a notifiable disease then how can you enforce quarantine? How effective was the strangles vaccine? What was the REAL reason behind its withdrawal? Why is Strangles seen as such a stigma in this country but less of one in another?

There are so many questions that need to be asked before a really good solution can be found. Laughing at people who make suggestions only ensures that less questions are asked and less suggestions are made, thereby making a solution harder to come by.
 
Eventually or not - it will never happen. There are no strategies in modern life that can eradicate strangles....absolutely none. The condition is carried by carriers and as I said, there's no way that it will end for as long as horses move about. The only possible way of ensuring it's total end, is for NO horse to ever go off property.....for the whole of it's entire life. Completely impractical obviously.

Not sure why you are getting so defensive to be honest. So I laughed.....and?
 
Tia - if everyone had your point of view then a lot of other human/animal contagious diseases would never have been virtually erradicted.

I was in South Africa and I got stopped by armed police who searched all cars for pig products due to an outbreak of Swine Fever. It does work. Not suggesting that we should shoot people who don't comply
 
Not my point of view I'm afraid - it's fact; for as long as horses silently carry this condition it will always be around.

What would be your suggestion to eradicate strangles?
 
If it cant be eradicated, surely measures should still be taken to prevent unneccessary spreading?
It is well known that people take horses to shows knowing that it could have strangles, and this is one way that it spreads so quickly around an area.
Strangles would be devastating for my horse, as he will not be isolated or stabled for any length of time, and I would be furious if he caught it because some irresponsible person had taken an infected horse to a show.
The fact that strangles is a carrier disease that cannot be easily identified is precisely the reason it needs to be a notifiable disease as ALL horse on an infected yard are at risk and should therefore be stopped from moving on or off a yard.
 
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