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Re: [RC] [RC] FDA Warning Letter to Fort Dodge - heidiThere is NOTHING wrong with my horse's eyes. The blindness was caused by a abscess inside his head, which put pressure on his optic nerves. His eyes are as healthy as the day he was born. His optic nerves are damaged. Raven Again, this could be the outcome if a horse had a lesion somewhere in his gutteral pouches or in a sinus or nasal passage. Similar scenario--a little over a year ago, I had bacterial meningitis. The apparent cause? A mild upper respiratory infection which crossed the blood-brain barrier because of erosions in my sinuses due to chronic allergies. Had the bug been one that was prone to abcessation (fortunately it was not, and it responded well to aggressive antibiotic therapy), I could well have ended up just like your horse. Bottom line--when you give the IN vaccine, you are putting a large population of live bacteria up your horse's nose. There is risk in doing this! The risk is less than the risk of a strangles outbreak, if your horse is apt to be exposed. But that is how the vaccine works--a related bacteria to the strangles bacteria that has common antigens is put up the horse's nose so that the horse develops a local immunity against those antigens and will subsequently fight off the strangles bacteria, should it be exposed. I'm not defending Fort Dodge or any other big drug company--but they are forthright about how the vaccine works, the warnings are fully disclosed in the literature that accompanies the vaccine, and it is up to the owner and the veterinarian to determine if the risk of such a procedure is justified given the degree of risk of exposure that a given horse is apt to encounter. Again, Raven, I'm really sorry that this happened to your horse. I likewise have a friend who has a child in a wheelchair for life due to a vaccine reaction. Even though the odds of a bad outcome are rare, they still exist. Does that mean that vaccines are bad? No, they save an overwhelming number of both humans and animals every year. But just like winning the lottery--the extremely small bad odds also come home to roost somewhere. That doesn't automatically make the drug company the bad guy. Heidi ============================================================ In my experience (22 year worth) most endurance riders are great people who will go out their way to help and be friendly. ~ Laura Hayes ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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