Re: [RC] Advise on Strangles from the Vets - Stephanie E Caldwell
I'm not a vet, but this was the understanding I got
from Gluck when my horse had Strangles. She had a relatively mild case, but I
wanted to understand Strangles and how it works, my vet made the mistake of
telling me they were foremost in research, so I called them. What I learned
suprised me greatly.
Strangles is highly contagious. It can be passed
through the air (short distances), direct contact with an infected or carrier
horse, sharing feed troughs/water buckets, contact with humans that have been
around infected horses, or most suprising through cheap feeds that use animal by
products.
Once a horse is subjected to it and begins to come
down with it you can treat with Penicillin before they get the runny nose and
it's effective. Once the horse has full blown Strangles anti-biotics are not a
good idea, something about it not allowing the infected areas to
drain.
The guy that I talked to felt like treating with
Anti-biotics and being on Alfalfa hay made carrier horses, my horse was on both
through her ordeal with Strangles and she is apparently not a carrier. Also
learned that unless the pockets burst under their neck they can get Strangles
again, if those burst the incidence of Strangles is very small. The IntraNasal
vaccine is also very bad to make carrier horses. The average horse sheds the
disease for between 2 weeks and 8 weeks, some much longer.
The incubation period can be upto 6 weeks,
depending on the horses immune system. In my horse's case I can pinpoint the day
when she started being off, and it was 3 1/2 weeks before she developed full
blown Strangles symptoms. It took her about 2 months to completely recover, but
she had other problems along with Strangles.
Subject: Re: [RC] Advise on Strangles
from the Vets
Curious.......I understand that
once a horse has strangles, they build up an immunity and "usually" don't "get
it" again. Are there different strains??
Tony, I'm not a vet but there is tons of info out there on
strangles. The consensus seems to be that penecillin is *not*
indicated on a routine basis. It is also possible for a horse to be an
asymptomic carrier for quite some time, and that horses can be contagious
for 6 weeks after recovery. Incubation period is 4-14 days.
Spread of the disease can also happen via clothes and shoes of people
in the area.
I personally applaude the folks who are willing to self-impose a
60-day quarantine on their horses and not inadvertently (and selfishly) risk
exposing potentially hundreds or even thousands of other horses to this ugly
disease which does carry a risk of mortality. It's one thing to go to
a ride and then discover that your horse was exposed or carrying something,
but completely another to consciously make the decision to do
so when there is a chance, albeit remote, that you could infect other
peoples' horses. I personally would not even think of
attending rides under those circumstances.
Dana,
also in CA who would rather not share a trough with you less than a
month after your horses have most likely been exposed to strangles (they
might be separated by distance, but insects and other creatures travel, and
people are woefully careless with aseptic technique)
