odd barn illness
Raina Hodgson (srponies@seanet.com)
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 22:01:05 -0800 (PST)
I talked with a friend on the phone the other night and she
described to me an odd illness that went through her mothers barn a few
weeks ago. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
This info is second hand so I may be a little off in the details...
This happened in a closed barn, none of the horses had been anywhere and no
one new had come in. 6 of 14 horses went from fine, to not eating, to high
temperatures (105) with some colic like symptoms, within a few hours. One
of the horses had to be put down, he apparently developed CHF. The current
word from the vets is that it was a viral infection that turned into a
bacterial infection? All sick horses were treated with Naxal (sp) and
gradually (over several days) began to eat, drink, and get better -- except
the one. My friend thinks the only common denominator is that all 6 of the
sick horses were on the same grain, the other 8 in the barn are on a
different feeding program. The horses that did not get sick did have some
nose-to-nose contact with the others just prior to the onset. Has anyone
heard of something like this being transmitted through grain? If she were
to get grain tested (in West. Wash.) where should she send it?
Any info would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Raina